How to use meal planning to reduce food waste.

Food Waste. It’s a huge problem in the world and in the US. We have talked about the facts and figures behind the problem in my post and my friend Raquel’s post, but let’s spend some time today chatting about real-world ways you can use specific recipes and meal planning to reduce food waste. 

Having a few specific recipes and techniques in your repertoire can be a lifesaver in allowing you to use up older food in a recipe where it will get eaten. You have an easy recipe for an upcoming meal, (and many allow for some leftovers for tomorrow!), plus your fridge is a little emptier when you are done! 

I am doing this post in conjunction with Raquel over at Meals and Mile Markers. She is a passionate food waste advocate and together we are going to chat about food waste on IG Live Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at 5:00 pm pacific time (8:00 US Eastern time). I hope you can join us over on Instagram!

Just a quick note…..

When talking about salvaging food at the end of its life and using it in other meals, we are not recommending using old food or food that may have gone bad. Getting ill from eating food past its life, is not a frugal tip! 

Use your five senses to check out any food that is not fresh, and use common sense! If you are concerned, then toss it and make a plan to stay on top of this food waste next time! 

Substitutions can help reduce food waste

Learning how to be brave and confident in making substitutions in recipes can open so many new doors in the kitchen for you! Not only will substitutions allow you to use up something that may be close to the end of its life, but you can also transform recipes into something new, fun, cheaper, and dare I say…. Even more delicious! 

If you are a staunch recipe follower, start with some simple substitutions like:

• Use Greek Yogurt in place of sour cream
• Use leftover baked sweet potatoes in place of canned pumpkin
• Use crushed crackers or unsweetened cereal in place of breadcrumbs 

Tips for making substitutions 

*Start small. If this is your first time substituting something in this recipe, aim for replacing ¼ or ⅓ of it to start with. Mixing in ¼ cup of leftover spaghetti sauce into one pound of enchilada filling will not be noticeable. Mixing in an entire jar will give you some weird Italian-chelada flavor. Not recommended!

*Pay attention to flavor, texture, and moisture when you are thinking about making a substitution. Substituting Greek yogurt for buttermilk in a recipe is good, but you will need to add a little milk or water to the greek yogurt to get the moisture content closer to the buttermilk. 

*Think outside of the food you are making. Ethnic foods can offer great substitutions for products thought of as “American cooking”. Soy Sauce can be substituted with Worstechire sauce. Canned coconut milk is a great substitution for cream. 

How to use meal planning to reduce food waste?

I started with basic recipes that I found online or used myself. If you have a favorite recipe or family recipe for these items, feel free to use it!  

Our plan, by using recipes and meal planning to reduce food waste, is to use up previous leftovers or food at the end of its life, into a delicious fresh meal that everyone will love. In this, we are just looking to keep ratios and proportions similar to the written recipe, but substitute some of the listed ingredients for leftovers that you have in your fridge. 

Adding one of these ideas into your meal rotation once a week can give you an easy outlet to use up the inevitable leftover odds and ends that appear in your fridge. As you become more experienced with this, you will just start to pair meals that generate leftovers with meals that use up leftovers in the same week. 

I have listed common substitutions for each recipe based on my experiences, but get creative! There are no rules here! Try something new and see how it goes! The worst thing that can happen is your family eats a dinner that is not up to your normal standards or you call and order pizza! 

The more often you experiment with substitutions, the more comfortable you will be with making them! So be brave and let’s get started using meal planning to reduce food waste! 

Let’s get to those recipes!

Chicken Pot Pie

This is my personal favorite recipe for Chicken Pot Pie shared with me by a dear friend J. It is usually our dinner Friday after Thanksgiving with leftover turkey! 

In this, you can use up any leftover white meat (chicken, turkey, or pork), and add in diced cooked chicken breasts or rotisserie chicken to make up the remaining quantity of meat it calls for. You can use up any leftover veggies in your fridge, then add frozen peas/carrots, corn, or green beans to make up the rest. Cooked and diced white or sweet potatoes can also be a fun addition. 

Wraps

There is no wrong answer for a wrap. Just put things you like in it and roll! I linked a few recipes in the description to use as inspiration. 

Asian– Do you have leftover Chinese, Thai, or other Asian seasoned meat? Use in a wrap with leftover rice, shredded cabbage and a dressing of Hoisin or teriyaki sauce mixed with mayo. 

Tacos– Leftover spicy or plain fish or any type of meat. Use in a wrap with leftover rice, shredded cabbage, and a dressing of hot sauce mixed with mayo. Also can add in guac, sour cream, or salsa if you have it on hand. 

Ranch– Ranch is the magic sauce that goes with anything! Any meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese. Clean out your fridge, top it with ranch and roll it up! Magic Ranch Wrap!

Frittata

I love this frittata recipe for breakfast or dinner, plus she gives you 5 variations, which are basically just substitution ideas! Use any leftover meat in your fridge or freezer, and add in diced cooked sausage, bacon, or ham to make up the remaining quantity of meat. If you are making this vegetarian, you can substitute additional veggies for the quantity of meat too.

You can use any leftover veggies in your fridge, then add fresh or frozen peas, carrots, asparagus, spinach, or anything else to make up the rest. 

Bowl

Embrace your inner Chipotle! The bowl doesn’t have to have Mexican or Tex-Mex flavors. Think rice, cabbage, with a mayo/hoisin sauce mix, or peanut sauce! This idea is similar to the wrap, put a bunch of things you like in a bowl and call it lunch! Here are a few recipes for inspiration!

• Taco Potato Bowl
• Asian Rice Bowls 
• Sweet Potato Chickpea Bowl

Casserole 

Mothers have long used casseroles’ to hide veggies from their kids, well you can hide leftovers in them too!  A saucy casserole with a strong flavor will help with hiding any additions that may feel like they don’t “go” with the recipe. 

This Sloppy Joe Casserole is perfect! Any leftover meat or veggies can get stirred into the delicious sauce and will just bake into their happy place once it is placed in the oven!

This chicken casserole also will be a great use of leftovers and give you a cozy creamy dinner!

Salad

A bed of lettuce can be the start of an amazing new home for leftovers. This is the perfect idea for pretty much any leftover items. Meat, veggies (cooked or raw), and you can mix it up a bit with some grains, or even pasta. Adjust the salad dressing based on the items you have leftover and the flavor you are aiming for. 

• Taco meat and corn leftovers? Add some black beans and a little ranch for Taco Salad.
• Noodles, peppers, and peanuts become a tasty Asian salad. 
• Leftover Thanksgiving dinner? This turkey salad will put a whole new spin on things! 
• Leftover rice from dinner last night? Add some spinach, olives, and a zesty dressing for this Mediterranean rice salad! 

Baked pasta, baked spaghetti, or baked ziti

Pick your form of pasta, add sauce, cheese, and bake! While you are doing that, sneak in some leftovers or about to go bad veggies or cooked meat while you are mixing! 

If you dice it in small enough pieces, they will disappear while it is baking and no one will ever know what you snuck into this recipe! 

Pro tip– Substitute any ricotta cheese for Cottage cheese. It is way cheaper and I think it melts better in baked dishes like this. Check out the links above for some recipe inspiration.

Soup

There are so many options here! Basically, any soup, unless it is a blended soup like butternut squash or tomato, will be incredibly easy to use leftover items like veggies, meat, grains, sauces, or pasta. Just make sure the ratio of broth to ingredients stays consistent so you have enough broth to make it plenty soupy. 

If the add-in leftover ingredients are already cooked, then you can just add them in the last few minutes of cooking so they heat through. 

You can use leftovers in blended soup, you just need to be a little pickier to make sure that the flavor goes well with the soup and the texture is ok to be completely blended until smooth. 

Here are a few soups for inspiration!

• Lentil Soup This soup is perfect for veggies or any greens that are on their last legs. 
• Tortilla Soup This is great to use up any leftover white meat, or beans in the soup! 
• Everything but the Kitchen Sink soup. I mean it’s in the name! You can put anything in this soup! 

Stir Fry

I know, this is kind of an easy one! Any meat and veggie can be repurposed into a stir fry. When you are serving, don’t just do rice. If you have couscous, quinoa, cauliflower rice, or any veggie that you can spiralize, you can mix up the base as well as the ingredients. 

My tip…. Find a sauce you love so much you don’t care what you are eating it on! I love both this sweet chili sauce and teriyaki sauce, I would eat a flip flop if I could cover it with the sauce! So, I don’t mind eating a boring or re-made dinner if I can add these sauces to it. 

Enchiladas

Just like the casserole idea, all sorts of leftovers can get hidden in the filling. People will eat anything covered with sauce and cheese! Things I have tried and enjoyed are below:

• Leftover rice, beans, meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes all work great to add to the filing. 
• You can also add in any mix of leftover or frozen veggies like corn, peas, onions, greens, or tomatoes. 

Or you can press the easy button and skip rolling them to make an enchilada casserole like this! 

Smoothies

Anything works in a smoothie if you blend it up enough! This can be a great use for cooked leftovers, just make sure they are not seasoned too strongly. Blending can also disguise any textures that may be a little soft or on the verge of going bad. Here are a few recipes for inspiration!

• Basic smoothie recipe
• Peanut butter and banana
• Fruit Smoothie 

Ratatouille

Any leftover veggie would work great in a nice hot pot of ratatouille! I love this recipe that starts with roasting the veggies before letting the flavors combine in a simmering tomato sauce! If the leftover veggies are already cooked, I would add them in the last 15 minutes to just heat through. Otherwise, the long cooking time can work magic to disguise veggies nearing the end of their life! 

Pumpkin quick bread or muffins. 

Any pureed veggie or fruit could supplement the pumpkin in the recipe. Some ideas include sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce, banana, pumpkin, even a little mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower.  

Quick bread is incredibly forgiving with their recipes and would be a great start to making substitutions in baking. Making sure your batter is moist enough is key, so using something dry, like potatoes in place of applesauce may need a little extra liquid to keep the consistency ok. 

Are you inspired yet! What substitution or leftover addition will you make with dinner tonight? I would love to have you chime into our food waste conversation over on Instagram!

Remember, as with anything practice makes perfect! If you make a substitution and the final product doesn’t come out as expected, it is ok! Make some notes on the recipe and try it another time with a different substitution, more or less liquid, or something completely different! 

There is no right or wrong with these. Remember way back at the start of this post, our goal is to use meal planning to reduce food waste. Experiment, add these dishes to the rotation when you know you will have meals producing leftovers the day before, and see how it fits into your meal planning schedule. 

PS! Don’t forget about the IG Live  Raquel over at Meals and Mile Markers on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at 5:00 pm pacific time (8:00 US Eastern time). I hope you can join us over on Instagram!

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