[rosie_plus_one]

So my idea of good meal planning is to make something like a chicken roast one night and then use the leftover meat a night or two later to make chicken fajitas or chicken curry salad or something.

However, I have a VERY hard time finding new ideas/recipes for this kind of thing. There's one food network chef who does it a bit but a lot of her meals seem really pricy.

Any of you mamas have any ideas for me? We're a meaty family, but there's just two of us to cook for.

 

[ashleyhaugh]

the chicken is a good idea- another one i do is to make a pot roast with veggies, and then later use the leftovers in a beef stew.... or make spaghetti, then use the sauce for pizza's, chicken parmesan, etc.

 

[rosie_plus_one]

I did find one recipe for a slow cooker pot roast that you can turn into asian beef wraps for later in the week, and I like that one.

Any other ideas? I always thought this is what "meal planning" really was...

 

[Om Girl]

I do this!!!!
My last weeks plan was this....

Monday: Chicken in the crock pot, (stock frozen for soup, meat divided up) with stuffing, au gratin potatos and broccoli.
Tuesday: Pizza with hamburger, onions, mushrooms and cheese. (brown 1lb hamburger with onions and mushrooms, reserve half)
Wednesday: Chicken (leftover) in a casserole with cream of mushroom soup and veggies.
Thursday: Spaghetti with reserved hamburger, onions and mushrooms.
Friday: Leftovers.

 

[texaspeach]

These aren't really new ideas.. but this is what I do:
If you make hamburgers for dinner you can break the left over patties up to use in chili. The other easy thing for me is to marinate a steak in southwestern flavors (cumin & oregano,or adobo) or really what ever flavor you want and have it as a main course along with vegetables and then use the left overs for tacos or burritos. If you make black bean soup, you can use the left overs for burritos or quesadillas just strain out the extra liquid or freeze it - the water seperates out when you thaw it. My mom would roast a chicken one night, then the next night we would eat casserole (usually king ranch chicken, loads of cream soup in that one!) with the left over meat and the next night was chicken and dumplings from the carcass.

 

[saratc]

Here are some meal ideas you can make using leftover meats (and carcasses)
- Wraps, rollups
- Broth/Soup
- Tacos
- Fried Rice
- Omelette
- Salad
- Pulled meat bbq sandwiches

The main thing is to make it different enough or spaced out (have today's leftovers the day after tomorrow) so you don't get bored or recognize it as leftovers. Sides and added ingredients make a big difference. For example, a roast with mashed potatoes and green beans one day, and then the second/leftover dinner would be wraps made with sliced up meat with sauteed onions and peppers with a side green salad. Last year, I shredded the meat leftovers from the Thanksgiving turkey, cooked it with some mexican spices and made tacos with lots of different topping choices. I also took the carcass from the same turkey and made a turkey soup.

 

[kayabrink]

I really want to do this! I was thinking of starting off the week with a roast- chicken, pork, beef, or turkey (my grocery store sells turkey legs). Then use the left overs as I can- soup from carcasses/ bone broth, casseroles...
But I'm at a loss as I don't know many (read: any) real recipes and dp and myself eat a very limited range of food... But I'm going to lurk to see if anyone posts any explicit recipes.

 

[yitlan]

After I roast or crock a chicken, I strip the meat off and I make broth. Then with the leftover meat, I either make "enchiladas" (I mix the meat with sour cream, spices, cilantro and cheese for the filling), put the meat on pizzas, put it in quiche, make soup of some sort.

 

[Lilcrunchie]

Real Simple Magazine used to do segments like this. Not sure if they still do? I've been boycotting since their stupid BFing comments

:

 

[boosmom]

I just got a book called Make-a-Mix by Karine Eliason from the library. The concept of the mixes is in the beginning of the book, they have several mix recipes such as a Chicken Mix, all purpose ground meat mix, five way beef mix, cubed pork mix etc... that you make in a large batches and freeze.

The second half of the book is full of recipes that utilize the mixes. This also has mixes for breads and desserts. The recipes look pretty good- I am getting ready to make the mixes- If I like the recipes I may just purchase this book.

Along these lines I get whole chickens from a local farmer- they are free range and I boil them up and pick the meat off and freeze in 2 cup containers (the broth as well). I have several basic fast recipes I use with this. (usually involving left over rice, frozen veggies, and basic white sauce)

 

[Amys1st]

all great ideas btw! some others:

After cooking the chicken, cool and dice up into sizes that fit your family. Freeze in servings for a future meal or use up in:

cool chicken in chicken salad
put on top of a pizza
in enchiladas
on top of nachos
in stir fry w some bits of veggies

 

[rainyday]

But I don't always succeed very well. Here are some things I've tried that have worked really well. Whenever we grill, I make sure we roast lots of vegetables (peppers, onions, zucchini usually). The leftovers are great in tacos or made into a frittata-type casserole (just beat some eggs and milk and add some cheese; pour over the veggies). My husband absolutely loved that one, and it's definitely become a staple around here.

I'll also throw leftover vegetables (especially greens sauteed with garlic and olive oil) into pasta or lasagna-type dishes.

Leftover baked potatoes can be mashed skins and all with milk, butter, sour cream, and cheese. Just put them in a casserole dish and bake--twice baked potatoes!

If I make a double batch of bread, I'll plan to make French toast or a casserole with bread chunks (eggs, milk, sauteed onions and whatever veggies and cheese we happen to have).

When I'm sauteeing onions, I'll often do double what I need so that I have a quick base for something the next night. They could become pasta sauce, soup, a casserole, taco filling, etc.

 

[Justmee]

Another easy use for chicken is chicken spagetti. I take whatever leftover chicken I have, debone, and mix with tomato sauce. Cook pasta and mix together, instant meal. Even if the chicken was dry, mixing it in the sause revives it.

I make spagetti sauce in big batches. I freeze in the small square containers so I can take out and make lasanya, chicken spagetti, pasta w/ tomato & cheese, pizza etc. easily. You could also buy the canned but I'm too cheap for that

 

[AngelBee]

:

 

[Benji'sMom]

Bake chcken, take meat off bone, there should still be a small amount of meat stuck to the bone, so the bones make chicken and veggie soup, and the reserved meat makes quesadillas, chicken caesar wraps, chicken spaghetti, chicken & veggie pizza, etc.

Crock pot roast beef served with mash potatoes, and the next night add BBQ sauce and make BBQ sandwiches, next night add soy sauce and veggies to make Asian wraps, next night use corn tortillas & cheese to make steak tacos in our sandwich maker, etc.

Or put meat on top of greens to make dinner salad.

 

[*Jessica*]

Tonight we had ham (free from the grocery store at Easter-time for buying a certain $$ of groceries), mashed potatoes, and a really yummy zuchini dish that we both had to have seconds of.

Tomorrow I'm making bean soup with the leftover ham. There will be tons of soup, so most of it will get frozen for us to eat over the next couple of months.

The soup won't use up all of the ham, so what is left will get used with breakfast or for sandwiches.

The leftover potatoes will turn into potato soup sometime later this week.

That one (free) ham and half of a 5lb bag of potatoes (5lb bags, buy 1 get 1 free) has turned into at least 6 meals for the two of us. My 3-year-old won't eat any of it and my 1-year-old doesn't eat enough to count.

 

[mmgarda]

It's already been mentioned here, I know, but I often try to think in terms of ingredients, and do batch cooking on the weekends.

For example, I'll make a big batch of muffins on the weekend to be grabbed for breakfast, snack, dessert, dinner sides, etc. We buy the bags of frozen chicken breasts and we'll grill the whole bag at once. Those suckers are huge, so one can stretch a long way - sandwiches, salads, stir fry, pasta, soup, casserole, etc. I also do at least one roast or big crock of meat once/week to be eaten throughout.

Finally, get some good freezer bags and/or storage containers. Every time you look at a recipe or decide to make something, see if you can freeze some. Increase the recipe if necessary. Then two months later you can have that delicious minestrone soup you made!

 

[siennaflower]

I've been doing double duty with chicken for years but never made my own stock...any good recipes for this? Thanks!

 

[moms3kids]

I'm making chicken stock right now... i cooked about 5lbs of chicken legs in my crock pot yesterday, deboned them left all the skin, bones/ and yuck in the crock pot added about 8 cups of water to the juices that already cooked out of the chicken and will cook it on low for about 18-24 hours, add in some seasonings as needed, then will freeze it in glass jars. Makes about 12 cups i think...

 

[~pi]

We got Cook Once A Week, Eat Well Every Day from the library a while back. It had lots of ideas for double (or triple) duty meals.