Learning to Love Leftovers

Learning to Love Leftovers
We all have them sometime or other. And we all know that throwing them out is wasteful.
So what do we do with them and how do we keep from having an abundance of them? A few of my ideas:

1) Don't overbuy.
Even if something is a great deal, if I can't use it before it goes bad, it's not a good deal. Think through your purchases carefully so as to avoid waste. I know this is probably one of those "it goes without saying" principles, but I still had to say it!

2) Share extra food.
One of my favorite things to do with extra food is to share it with friends and family. If you have someone over and have lots of leftovers, send food home with them. Or take dinner to some shut-in neighbors or the elderly the next day. Start thinking creatively about how you can bless someone with your abundance and you might find it drastically cuts down on your food waste!

3) Utilize your freezer.
If we can't use something up before it goes bad and I don't have anyone else I can share it with, freezing it is one of my next-best options. I literally have been known to freeze just about anything. Extra bits of meat and veggies can be thrown into a big container to make soup with. Extra muffins or cookies can be frozen and stuck in lunches. Extra main dish portions can be frozen and pulled out for a leftover night smorgasbord.

4) Creatively re-make leftovers.
I love experimenting in the kitchen and leftovers prove to be one of my greatest sources of inspiration for this. Make it a game to see how you can use up what you have on hand while re-making it into a new meal. Just this week, I use extra spaghetti/meat sauce and added it into our chili. There wasn't enough left to freeze for another dinner, so chili was the perfect way to "hide" it instead of tossing it. Best of all, no one noticed!

What about you? What are your favorite ideas for creatively utilizing or avoiding leftovers?