Welcome to another Wasteful Wednesday. If you missed it, here’s an explanation of what that means.
I’m getting closer to my goal of calling this “Not So Wasteful Wednesday!” Last night I dug around a bit looking for some food waste. The fridge is fairly clean (some might say lacking in food, I say clean). Good news for us, there wasn’t much waste! Boring news for the blog, though.
Wins this week:
- I made a huge pot of mashed potatoes to feed my big family last weekend. So I (of course) wound up bringing home leftovers. You know, I used to toss mashed potatoes because they don’t really reheat well. Then I learned that if you just mix them with some sour cream and top them with cheese (and bacon if you have it) you can make an awesome twice baked potato type of side dish for another meal. So that’s what we did.
- We used our leftover BBQ ribs in a tortilla for lunches (or over tortilla chips).
- I’ve started slicing up 1 apple and 1 pear for the kids to share at bedtime. They are enjoying dipping the slices into their own bowls and we aren’t wasting half an apple from them trying to eat one whole.
Question for the readers:
- One thing that we have trouble with is the bottom of the tortilla chip bag. Tortilla chips are the last chips that I buy with any regularity because we eat them with salsa for snacks (that’s a veggie, right??) and use them for things like taco night. However, inevitably there is 1/8th of the bag left that is teeny crumbs and no one wants to snack on them. I’ve wondered if there is a good way to use these before they go stale (or even once they are stale?). Perhaps a tortilla soup or something? What would you suggest?
Be sure to let us know how you did this week! Let’s root each other on in saving some major grocery bucks.
Sharing at: Waste Not Want Not Wednesday Encourage One Another Fabulously Frugal Thursday Penny Worthy Project Food Waste Friday
Yes, tortilla soup. I don’t really have a recipe, because mine is a grab and toss specialty. Or you can use them as a casserole topping in place of bread crumbs. I particularly like it with a taco meat, beans, corn, rice, salsa and cheese. My youngest daughter has a meltdown whenever there is rice in the house (she lives off of veggies and meat), so we don’t eat it often.
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I love the potato idea! I don’t necessarily like leftover mashed potatoes either!
We mix the tortilla chip bits into taco salad.
I use broken crisps (chips in US) as a topping – like breadcrumbs. So it would top a pasta bake, salmon pie, lasagne… anything really! I also do it with cereal that is left at the bottom of the packet.
Jo@simplybeingmum recently posted…Food Waste Friday / I Need To Bake
I make a taco meatloaf, using corn chip (or taco chip) crumbs, salsa and taco seasonings, an egg and a can of mild green chilies. I form it into a loaf, then put a layer of refried beans on top and cheese on top of that. It’s always a hit.
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I use them like crackers in any tomato based soup – I make Tortilla soup quite often so they usually don’t go stale. I am trying to reduce food waste as a way of saving money on groceries too.
You could use the leftover chips on top of a taco casserole or in soup. Both would be great.
I throw the left over corn chips into a seal-able glass jar for use later as part of a crunchy breading for Chicken or Fish. They work really well when mixed with bread crumbs for a crunch topping on baked dishes like homemade Mac and Cheese!
we use those crunchies in taco salad!! and on top of tortilla soup–you know I make a simple green salad and use salsa as a dressing and sprinkle on bits of chips EASY and yummy and not a whole meal taco salad–NOW I want a taco salad!!
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Yes, I would definitely use them as part of bread crumbs for chicken or meatloaf. I took pretzel crumbs and made a great topping for chicken one time; the kids loved it because of the salt.
Thanks for sharing at Fabulously Frugal Thursday. I need to get back into the habit of monitoring my food waste.
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