A Leftovers Night Should Be Included In Your Grocery Savings Menu Plan

Leftovers -- A controversial subject to say the least. They are a great way to yield grocery savings on your weekly menu (and that’s what we’re here to do) is to include a leftovers night. Wow. I could hear the groans from here – right through my wireless router. I know, leftovers aren’t the most popular thing out there, but consider a few points I have to make about them.

First, leftovers made from meals made from scratch are a lot better than those made from processed food – they have to be, they start off better tasting, they’re bound to taste better when reheated. Second, the benefit is two-fold. You don’t have to cook on leftovers night and, better yet, you don’t have to pay for groceries for leftovers night. ...and what could yield more grocery savings than not having to pay for groceries for a night each week?

If I still haven’t convinced you, keep reading, I’m not done. There are a few different variations on leftovers night. The way we handle leftovers night in our family is we empty all the leftovers in the fridge onto the counter, then it’s first come first serve. You can have any combination of leftovers you like. Anything that doesn’t get eaten that night gets thrown away if I don’t decide to take it for lunch the next day. Another variation on leftovers night is to parlay those leftovers into completely different meals. This may take some creativity and I obviously don’ have enough because I don’t use this variation. You may be able to do better than I and you may be able to fool your family into eating incognito leftovers.

The last variation that I know of is to not have leftovers night, but have leftovers lunch. If you just can’t bring yourself to feed your family leftovers, make them take them for lunch. Even leftovers are better than a PBJ and definitely more economical than eating out.

You may be thinking that you’d rather cook just enough food to not have leftovers and I agree that is a great way to cook. However, I cook to have leftovers on purpose. Why? It enables me to have a leftovers night and the benefits of that are, I don’t have to fire up the stove that night (saving money) I have less dishes to do that night (saving money) and you get to take a night off. I guess you could call these indirect grocery savings. Additionally, that night off may just seem like a bonus, but it actually contributes to the success of your plan. That night off will help keep you from getting burnt out on cooking and avoiding burn out will avoid you scrapping your plans and going back to your old, inefficient, expensive way of feeding your family.

Another benefit of leftovers night is that you will actually use your leftovers. Think about how many times you’ve thrown those old moldy, forgotten-about leftovers away. This will avoid that and add to your overall grocery savings.

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