16 Satisfying Ways to Use Up Leftovers

Plan meals around ingredients

Not the other way around. Consider the ingredients that are going into your first meal and do a quick search on a site like MyFridgeFood.com or SuperCook.com to see how those ingredients could be used in another meal the following day—no extra grocery run required.

Bring a reusable container

Stainless steel containers are lightweight, making them travel-friendly to bring in a bag or keep in your car when going to restaurants or friends’ dinners. A utensil set is also good to have on hand for the occasional picnic or drive-through.

Plan a grazing night

Designate a night of the week a no-cook night where you graze on all your leftovers from the week, mezze-plate style. This is great for using up dishes when there’s only a little left from each but maybe not enough of each for a whole meal. It’s also perfect for after having houseguests, when the fridge can get chaotic.

Our toxic trait: Needing to have a fun lunch every day 🥢

Start a meal swap

If you made more food than you can handle, ask your neighbors or friends if they want some. You could even start a weekly meal swap where you make enough to deliver neighbors a home-cooked meal one night, and they do the same for you the next. No more restaurant delivery needed.

Have extra muffins or cookies? There’s a good chance they’ll get gobbled up at your workplace. Your neighborhood might also have free food fridges where you can drop off extra food for those who need it.

Take recipe notes

When meal planning, it helps to have reminders written on your recipes like “makes enough for 2 nights, just get extra salmon” or “makes .5 meals leftover.” You’ll be able to plan meals for the next day with zero waste.

Designate a night of the week a no-cook night where you graze on all your leftovers from the week, mezze-plate style

Save the sauces

If you’re someone who hates eating the same thing two nights in a row, try pairing the same ingredients with a different sauce. Voila: it’s a whole new dish. This is also a perfect way to use up leftover ramekins of sauces, dips, and dressings from restaurants. Yesterday’s takeout taco crema can become tomorrow’s grain bowl dressing.

Shake up a jar sauce

Speaking of sauces. Have a little bit left over in a jar of honey, peanut butter, jam, tahini, miso, mustard, or another condiment? This is a great time to make a zero waste jar dressing, clearing out your jar while switching up your sauce at the same time. A few recipe ideas here, here, and here.

Choose refill

Tare weight shopping, or scooping your own ingredients at a zero waste grocery and buying them based on weight instead of having to buy a certain pre-packaged amount, is a great way to ensure you have no leftover ingredients that need to be used up. This can really come in handy when shopping for pasta, grains, nuts and seeds, and anything else that would otherwise leave you with a random amount in the package.

That last little bit of peanut butter doing what it does best 🫙

Spray your produce

Giving your produce a quick spray or bath in a dilution of our organic Fruit & Veg Wash will help keep ingredients fresh long enough to make it to leftover status in the first place. Our coconut vinegar formula is more effective than distilled vinegar, with aminos, minerals, and antioxidants that slow down oxidation in fruits and veggies.

Get into a food storage flow

We all have the best intentions when it comes to keeping produce fresh, but in the moment, it’s easy to throw everything in the fridge without tending to the needs of each item. To make it easy on yourself to get into the flow of storing produce properly: set out your food storage methods before you go to the grocery. That might look like jars, knife, peeler, cutting board, salad pouches, tea towels, veggie wash, or something else.

Keep a cheat sheet on or by your fridge if you find yourself forgetting the best way to store limes, say, and follow us on Instagram for our favorite produce storage hacks.

Put perishables in front

Designate a shelf in your fridge or pantry right up front for items that need to be used up first, making leftovers and excess ingredients impossible to ignore. For sustainable pantry organization tips, read our full guide on the topic.

Set out your food storage methods before you go to the grocery

Keep it listed

It’s also helpful to have written reminders on your fridge, taped on the inside of your kitchen cabinet, or where you write your grocery lists. Have a running list of items you need to use up first. Also keep a handy inventory of ingredients that might be in less visible or hard-to-reach places, like specialty spices or seasonings, so you don’t end up buying what you already have.

Batch your meals

Meal prepping or making big batches of food for the week can help you get the maximum number of meals out of minimal ingredients, reducing the likelihood of random leftovers. Add tare weight shopping at re_ grocery and it’s truly zero waste.

Could expired spices be to blame for meh flavor?

Make an “everything salad”

Many ingredients that often fall in the “need to use up” category are perfect as salad toppings: leftover goat cheese crumbles, a few slices of charcuterie, a handful of microgreens, some nuts or seeds, herbs, stale bread croutons, dried fruits, or pickled red onions. If you have a little of this and a little of that, toss everything together with some dressing and a base of greens and you’re good to go.

Freeze ingredients

If you don’t love eating the same meal multiple nights in a row, freeze it into portions for a time when you need a quick dish but don’t have any groceries. It’s like money in the bank. We love silicone Stasher bags for organizing a freezer full of meals for later.

Many ingredients that often fall in the “need to use up” category are perfect as salad toppings

For smaller ingredients, ice cube trays will help you freeze anything from extra tomato paste to red wine to pre-portioned cookie dough.

Grow your own herbs

Excess herbs are one of those ingredients that can often go to waste if not stored properly or used up in a few days. For this reason, it’s waste- and cost-effective to have potted or planted herbs at home so you can cut off the exact amount you need. No more leftover bunches of scallions or cilantro wilting in the fridge. More on gardening for a sustainable lifestyle here.

Fresh herbs are also a great way to punch up second-day leftovers, making them far more flavorful. Don’t forget that leftover herbs are also great in iced tea infusions and as beverage garnishes too.

Smoky summer tacos 🌮

Some go-to meals to use up leftovers 

Some meals just lend themselves well to using up whatever you have on hand. Here are some of our favorite dishes for throwing together what you already have:

• Tacos
• Fried rice
• Earth bowls
• Scrambles
• Energy bites
• Fritattas
• Panzanella salad
• Smoothies
• Pasta
• Stir fry
• Sheet pan dinners
• Frozen yogurt bark
• Seed bars

Not everyone likes leftovers. We hope these tips helped spark some ideas on ways you can plan for more leftover love and less food waste in your life! Sometimes it’s as easy as changing up the flavor profile of your second-day grain bowl with a whole new sauce, or jotting down some recipe notes for next time. Bon appetit.

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