Makin It Last

[Trinity Bauer]

So, I'm pregnant and hungry.  Haha imagine that.  But, I'm also soo tired and too broke to eat out.  My solution might not sound good, but it works.  I cook a meal for me and my boyfriend every night for dinner.  I cook more than I need and use the leftovers creatively for lunch for the next couple days (about 2.)  Tonight I made tacos with spanish rice, corn mixed with rotel, and corn bread.   Kind of an expensive meal for 2 people for one night but I combined the leftovers (except the corn bread) in one big storage container (the rice, meat, corn/rotel combo.)  I mixed it all up and put it in the fridge.  Now I only have one storage container being used, I only need to use one to take my lunch with me to work, and its healthy..enough.  It tastes good together because they all had similar seasonings already and it doesnt cost but a dollar or two extra to buy a little more meat and a larger size can of corn so that I can have leftovers.  It might not be that appetizing. It might not be something I would crave, but it works.  Its cheap.  Its not fast food.  All I have to do is add an apple/orange/strawberries and grab a piece of cornbread and my lunch is good to go. I wouldnt suggest trying to sell this idea to your kids but it works for me and my boyfriend bc we're not that particular, we just want to eat and be full and not have to deal with all that grease.  I also do this with stuffed peppers.  Sure for dinner we'll cook the stuffing up (rice, tomatoes, rotel, ground beef, parmesan cheese--cooked using only one pan, EASY clean up) and stuff the peppers and cook those up (oven or crock pot) with some green beens and garlic bread or some kind of side dishes.  But we cook a LOT of stuffing and eat that for the next 2 days (with this one lunch and dinner both days usually.)  For lunch I just eat the stuffing and some fruit, for dinner we cook up some more quick sides and heat it up.  I'm big on making a dollar last-just thought I'd share!