Planned-Overs

Planned-overs, cooking shortcuts, lazy mom in the kitchen! Ways to save time. Cook once, eat twice.

Whatever you want to call it, here’s a post about meals you can make by cooking once and eating twice. It’s not leftovers, it’s planned overs! You make a pot of taco meat and plan to use it in two or three different meals. This saves so much time, dishes, and meal planning. Take a look at some awesome meals with minimal cooking effort.

Leftover meatloaf in spaghetti sauce

I use 3 lbs of meat and 3 cups of oats to make a really big meat loaf. We eat about ⅔ of it and the rest I cut into little squares, scoop the crumbs out of the pan with it and put it in spaghetti the next day. Meatballs are ready! Or you can just make meatballs at the same time you’re shaping your meat loaf, but I’m a lazy cook and would rather just use my leftover meatloaf for meat in my spaghetti sauce.

You can also use leftover meatloaf in:

• stroganoff
• meatball soup
• tortellini soup
• BBQ meatball sandwiches
• BBQ beef pizza
• pumpkin chili
• any chili
• and so much more!

If you have leftover meatloaf, be creative and find a way to use it again.

Double an ingredient and use it twice

Whenever I make something that uses beans or rice, I double the amount needed and use it in a future meal. I don’t like cooking rice so this allows me to only do it once. And it saves on washing the pot and using stove top energy. Here’s what you can use extra rice or beans in:

Rice

• Hawaiian haystacks
• Stir-fry
• Creamy chicken and rice soup
• Enchilada casserole
• Burritos
• Creamed tuna on rice
• Add to taco meat
• Add to any soup

Beans

• Any chili
• Pumpkin chili
• Taco soup
• Enchilada soup
• Taco meat
• Chimichangas
• Burritos
• Enchiladas
• 7 layer dip
• Sprinkle on Cobb salad
• You can even put in chocolate cake!!

Taco Meat

• Tacos
• Burritos
• Nachos
• Enchiladas
• Chimichangas
• Taco soup
• 7 layer dip
• Navajo tacos
• Taco braid (put in pizza dough)
• Taco stuffed shells
• Enchilada casserole
• Anything Mexican!

White sauce

I don’t like making white sauce so I always make a huge batch and use it in: 

• Chicken alfredo pizza
• Macaroni and cheese
• Chicken enchiladas
• Hawaiian haystacks
• Chicken alfredo pasta
• Potato soup
• Hash brown casserole
• Chicken and rice
• Creamy chicken and rice soup
• Creamed tuna on toast

You can use white sauce in any other recipe that calls for cream of chicken soup. Make yours from scratch and it’s way healthier!

Here’s how I make it: I melt a stick of butter in a pot on the stove. Then I add about a cup of whole wheat flour and stir. Then I open a new gallon of raw milk and slowly pour in the cream off the top while stirring. If you don’t have cream you can use any milk. If you want it to be more like “cream of chicken soup” add some chicken broth instead of so much milk. I’ve never measured how much liquid but I just pour while stirring with a whisk or wooden spoon until it’s a good consistency. Then let it cook for a bit and sometimes add more liquid. I also add in some garlic salt and onion powder and pepper.

What really makes this recipe healthy is using organic grass-fed butter, whole wheat flour, raw milk, and organic chicken broth. I don’t use all of these all of the time but I try to. Sometimes I just feel like being cheap so I use regular butter or maybe I have some milk to use up that isn’t raw. That’s ok. I just try to use the healthiest 80% of the time. I always use whole wheat noodles and organic wild rice so that helps me feel better if I need to scrimp on an ingredient in the sauce. But if I have non organic potatoes or other ingredients in the main dish then I try to compensate by using more in the sauce or sides. I love it when the entire dinner is organic or from our own garden (or neighbors or farmers market) but that’s not the case too often so I just shoot for 80% of the meal to follow the real food guidelines.

Using chicken as a planned-over

The cheapest way to use chicken in meals is to cook a whole chicken. Whenever I buy a chicken then the first meal I make with it is chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice, or chicken and dumplings. Then I use the rest of the chicken for other meals that doesn’t use the broth like enchiladas or chicken salad.

Cooking a whole chicken

You can cook the chicken in a pot on the stove and fill it with 2” of water or in the crock pot with no water. I don’t have a big enough pot so I always use my 8 qt. crock pot. Cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. When the chicken is done I pull most of it out and put it in ziplock bags or containers and freeze (if I don’t know when I’ll use it) or put in the fridge if I know I’ll be using it soon.

Making chicken noodle soup or any recipe that calls for chicken and broth

In my pot on the stove I saute carrots and celery in butter (and sometimes onions but I usually season with onion bits I dried myself b/c I’m too lazy to cut an onion during cooking.) When they’re soft I add the chicken broth from the chicken and the noodles. Cook for 8 minutes until the noodles are soft. Add shredded chicken and any spices your family likes. We like a little basil, garlic salt, and pepper.

You can also use this method for making creamy chicken and rice soup. Saute the carrots and celery and onion in butter. Add the broth and rice. Cook until rice is done. Add some whole milk or cream. Add chicken and spices.

If you wanted chicken and rice then you would add less broth and more rice. But everything else is basically the same.

So many things to do with a chicken! Here are some more ideas:

• Chicken salad
• Chicken and rice
• Chicken enchilada casserole
• Fajitas
• Chicken and dumplings
• Cobb salad
• chicken enchilada soup
• chicken taco soup
• egg rolls

Odds and ends planned-overs

Leftover bean water for pasta water

And vice versa. Instead of pouring the water in the sink when you drain your beans, use it for pasta water and your pasta will absorb some of those nutrients. Same thing with your pasta water. I use lentil pasta, whole wheat, or chickpea pasta and the water is great for cooking my beans or rice.

Baked potatoes

I wash potatoes, stab them with a knife, and cook them in the microwave. I cook 10-15 potatoes at a time and can use them for so many things:

• Baked potatoes
• Mashed potatoes
• Hashbrown casserole
• Beef stew
• Chicken stew
• Cheesy funeral potatoes

I hope having some planned-overs makes feeding your family easier and less-stressful. You got this! You’ll get in the habit very quickly and making dinner will be a snap now. Print it out or pin it and look at it whenever you need to plan meals for the week.