Favorite leftovers?

What’s up, everyone?

I need to spend less $ buying lunches at work.

What are some of your favorite home made dinners that result in lots of tasty leftovers to eat for lunch?

(I’m not big on leftover seafood, but if you have a recipe that works I’m all ears!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We regularly cook "bulk" meals. Here are some of our favorites to eat the next day(s): Slow cooker chicken tortilla soup, stir fry chicken, chicken and yam stew (with every kind of veggie you can think of to add), mexican chicken quinoa casserole, and for seafood, ceviche works well in the days after due to the citrus (I blanch my rock cod before adding).

Let me know if you need help finding a recipe to any of those.  They are all pretty cheap to make and last at least 3 days for lunch and dinner for 2 people

Great suggestion, dtizz. Those all sound delicious.

I usually grill up half a dozen chicken breasts and make a big batch of hummus (been on a chipotle hummus kick lately) on Sunday evening. Chop up a handful of veggies from the garden and I've got a few days of lunches that I can easily eat on the go.

Italian! Better after flavors have time to mingle Spaghetti, Lasagna, ravioli... Also look at those Marie calender's meals. Surprisingly good and filling too... My work freezer is full of them

Big batch of spaghetti sauce, Costco style (we use ground beef, tomato paste, meatballs/sausage, and Raghu).  Freeze in sandwich bags, add fresh spaghetti and veggie of your choice.  Always a favorite.

You can also freeze stews and pre-spiced meats (i.e. steaks, you can use lesser costly cut, just cut them into cubes.  Or if you stew/slow cook, they will just just become soft).  Cook the pre-spiced meat during dinner (helps the SO with dinner) or in the morning.  Add rice or potatoes of your choice with steam veggies (again, Costco styles). 

since we got a mortgage my wife and I make a menu plan on shopping day, and the meals are designed to provide two lunches for the following day.

I've got a bunch of favs, but just from this week I'll suggest:

1.peanut butter sauce soba noodles with vegetables and grilled tofu
2.Azorean tuna salad (tuna, celery, red onion, garbanzo beans, plus whatever) over lettuce and shredded cabbage with seasoned rice vinegar and olive oil dressing
3.zucchini and tomato casserole with garlic and goat cheese, paired with Italian sausage patties

I got a set of rubbermaid pyrex containers at costco and use them to stretch out our food dollars, and be out "lunch boxes". The containers last forever, can be microwaved, and if the lids crack in a few years you can order replacement lids from amazon.

I make bulk meals for the week, my go to is usually slow cooker salsa chicken. 

any veg you want, potatoes, onion, garlic, bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc.  a jar or two of whatever green salsa you want 3-4 lbs of chicken in the slow cooker.  set it  on low for 6 hours or so.

if you have an instant pot, add the chicken and salsa, pressure cook for 7 min on low pressure, take out the chicken, add the longer cooking veg, and saute for 20 minutes to reduce the sauce/cook the veg. add the rest of the veg at the end if they are like broccoli and just need a quick steam.

If you have leftover baked salmon it makes for a killer salmon salad. I like it better than tuna for making sandwiches. I’m the main one eating seafood in my house so when I bake a whole fillet I have more than half left that I’ll break down and make salmon salad. Great on crackers and for making sandwiches.

Thank you all for the great suggestions! We’ve got our work cut out for us...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My favorite is definitely Japanese Curry
Always get better on next day when the potato, carrot & onion start to melt...