As a family we tend to cook mostly on Saturdays and Sundays. That often means that if we don’t eat everything, there’ll be left overs in the fridge Monday morning. I’ve now got into the discipline of using whatever is left over to fill the kids’ lunch boxes. Having had a stuffed pepper and steak dinner on Saturday, I found myself on Sunday evening with two red peppers and some carrots in the fridge. We had some pitta breads and dips on Sunday evening and there were four pitta breads left over.
I went for pitta bread carrot and red pepper wraps with cream cheese (I always have light cream cheese in the fridge!) I washed and dried the peppers and then cut them into thin strips, making sure all the seeds were removed. I then washed and peeled the carrots and cut these into small thin pieces, about the size of a baby’s finger. Making sure that I didn’t over-fill the pitta bread, I placed pepper and carrot in the wrap and added the light cream. I then completed the lunch boxes by adding a low fat yoghurt and a pear. Off they went to school, and I was pleased to see that later that afternoon they came trotting back to the house with their lunch boxes empty. Clearly the fridge leftover makeover worked!
Another favourite with my kids is making a tasty salad in a plastic bowl that I seal with clear cellophane and pop into their lunch boxes. Depending on what is leftover in the fridge, you can make this with turkey, tuna or chicken. Cut the meat into small pieces and then add sliced celery, some walnuts and raisins. Mix them altogether with a low fat mayonnaise. Pop the sealed bowls in the lunchboxes along with an apple and a couple of crackers with a low fat cheese slice or two. Hey presto!
Finally- what to do with that leftover potato salad? Here’s what you can do to give the kids a really tasty lunchbox special: Add some tinned tuna, balsamic vinegar, a little corn-starch and some chopped parsley (or other herb that the kids like). Mix it all together in a bowl and then spread out into fritters. Fry in a little vegetable oil. They can then be put into a plastic bag and kept in the fridge until the morning. Put them in the kids’ lunchboxes next morning along with their favourite low fat dip or salad cream, and remind them to heat them up in the school’s microwave for a tasty and nutritious lunch.
The secret is really just to be inventive when coming across leftovers in your fridge. And don’t call them leftovers! That can be off-putting for the kids. I call mine “second helpings”.
Good luck! Some more creative ideas here!
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