Cook Once, Eat Twice | Family Economics

By Trisha

Reduce unplanned leftovers with the “cook once, eat twice” cooking method. Not only will you save money and end the “we don’t want leftovers” complaints – you will also cut your weekly cooking time in half.

The idea is to cook a larger quantity of meat one night and use the leftovers to create additional meals through out the week. To begin you will need to plan out your meals including how you will incorporate the extra meat you have prepared.

Here are some ideas:

Chicken: Roast one large or two small chickens for your first meal then shred and cube the left- over chicken to create chicken pot pie, chicken fajitas, a chicken Alfredo pasta or your other favorite chicken dishes.

Roast Beef: Cook a larger sized roast then needed in your crock pot for the first meal then slice the left over beef for French dip sandwiches or cube it for stew or a noodle gravy meal.

Hamburger: Fry a large batch of hamburger dividing it up into separate meal portions. Make tacos the first night then use the left over fried hamburger for spaghetti, chili or sloppy Joes later in the week.

Pork: Bake pork chops for the first meal; cube the leftovers to be used in a pork and veggie stir-fry later in the week.

I think you are getting the idea of the “cook once and eat twice” method and once you begin you will find many more meal ideas that your family will enjoy.

What are some of your favorite recipes that you make into more than one meal?