Most of the posts you’ll find on this site deal with saving money when you shop. But a great way to save money is by not letting leftovers rot in the refrigerator. We used to be famous for that! When I cleaned out the fridge, I could easily scrape science projects out of 10 or more Rubbermaid bowls. What a waste!
My husband has led the charge to use what we have before we make something new. I have truly appreciated that! I just cleaned out our fridge and only found three bowls with minor amounts of food in them. That’s a huge improvement, and our grocery budget has benefited from our behavior.
We used to buy lunchmeat quite often. Now I only buy it occasionally (when I have a great coupon for it!). Instead of buying additional food for lunches, we’ve been using up leftovers that aren’t enough for a whole dinner. It’s healthier than lunch meat, and it’s less expensive too. I have also stashed some canned soups and pouches of tuna (all bought at rock-bottom prices!) in our cupboards in case we don’t have leftovers to use for lunches. Sometimes we cook eggs or eat cottage cheese. We try to make our first choice something that might otherwise go to waste if left in the fridge.
By eating our leftovers for lunches (or dinners if there’s enough), we keep our fridge from gathering science projects AND we save money at the grocery store!
Do you have any ideas for using leftovers? Feel free to leave a comment and share your creative ways to reduce wastefulness.