I use beans to stretch meat. When I make tacos, I not only do refried beans but I'll add whole cooked beans to the meat making it go further. Soups, same thing. Add extra pasta, rice or beans and extra broth to make it stretch.

I cooked 3 whole chickens, 3 lbs of ground beef and 2 lbs of London Broil (I think that was the cut). That made 2 crock pots full and 10 stock pots full of soup. I'm guessing we have enough soup to last us into next month (OAMC). That's not bad for a family of 6. I still have enough chicken leftover for another pot of soup... just have to figure out what kind to make with it.

Chicken enchiladas freeze well. I make mine up, roll them, put them in a baking dish and freeze them. Then I put them in freezer bags. Good thing they are kinda like frozen burritos. You can pull out as many or as few as you need and cook them!

I will also use the Pillsbury biscuits -not the flaky- in the can that we havebeen getting free or cheap- as a replacement for crust on some of my casseroles in stead of using the expensive dough or crusts! They really work pretty well for most things! ( mexican pies, chicken n dumplins...)

Tristin’s Zucchini-Sausage Cornbread
Just saw this recipe to use 1/2 lb of meat and stretch the main dish cornbread by adding zucchini. Sounds good to me.

I also add beans or extra beans (depending on the dish). My excuse to hubby is that I am anemic and the extra beans help keep my iron levels up and me off the iron pills. (wink wink)

I save all extra bites of meat and when I make different dishes I will add them and cut or eliminate the beef needed.

I add corn to my Hamburger Helper but didn't think of adding Broc and cheese.

[QUOTE=laurapeeples;762651]I also add beans or extra beans (depending on the dish). My excuse to hubby is that I am anemic and the extra beans help keep my iron levels up and me off the iron pills. (wink wink)
QUOTE]

Im going to have to pull that one on DH

wife to Jason mommy to Josiah and Jonathan ..................

I want to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Great thread - love the ideas!

Started doing this to save time but got the unexpected bonus of stretching the food - I rarely cook meat for one meal....ground beef - brown 3-5 pounds at one time then heat & use as much as needed for other meals (sloppy joes, spaghetti, HH, casserole, soup, whatever). Often we don't know til late if we'll have 1 or 10 people for dinner (teenagers - they travel in packs) so I can use as much or as little as needed and tend to use less - when browning a pound-ish for a meal, it's just more likely I'll use the whole thing. Same with chicken - if I'm fixing chicken soup, wraps, pot pie, etc, I go ahead and fix enough for another meal or two so part of the work is already done later. Same with pasta - prep a whole box, bag, whatever & use what's needed for that meal then put the rest in the fridge (w/a little olive oil so it doesn't stick) then later have prepped pasta on hand for pasta salad or to toss into whatever I happen to be cooking that night.

Aside from the fact that I've noticed a tendency to use less when cooking for more meals than one, it also removes the urge to grab something on the way home from work on days like the one I'm having today...it's just about as simple to warm up some ground beef and toss in some hamburger helper as it is to deal with the drive through.

Gina

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Here's how I make pot pie.........mostly from ingredients from the mega sale at Kroger's. Cut up leftover chicken or use 2 cans of chicken.....u can also use beef. Add one can of mixed vegetables...with the liquid too. Stir in one can of potato soup and one can of celery or chicken soup. The liquid from vegetables keep it from being dry. I usually throw in about 1 cup of frozen peas. Place in frozen pie crust. Bake until golden brown. I have served this to company many times and they all think I did a big deal.......yummy!

I never waste leftovers. When I cook chicken, I cook a lot. We have liked baked chicken one night, then chicken soup or chicken pot pie the next night. And, I use some for chicken salad for lunches. I had leftover chili from hotdogs last week, and tossed it in the pot with the chili beans. When I cook sausage for breakfast, usually I crumble it up to put in omelets or breakfast burritos, it goes further. I always freeze anything left over. It's nice when you have had a long day and its cold outside to just grab a bag of frozen veggie soup out of the freezer, let it thaw, and just heat it up!

Serving bread and butter, corn muffins(think Jiffy) or biscuits can stretch your meals also simply because you are eating less of the main dish.