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Food-Waste Fighting Meals | the lunches-only edition

When I make breakfast and lunch for myself, I almost always do so with an eye to using up odds and ends of food. And every now and then, I post a collection of these breakfast and lunch meals I make.

Oatmeal topped with berries

However, I have not had a string of creative breakfasts of late. So, this edition will be comprised solely of lunch concoctions!

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Sometimes, I’m able to make a cohesive meal out of the random things in my fridge.

Other times, this happens:

A random plate of lunch items.

That’s a leftover hot dog, an avocado with a few bad spots cut out, some grape tomatoes, some leftover rice, and a fried egg.

This next plate is a result of an enormous bag of broccoli from Hungry Harvest. I sauteed some florets in bacon grease with salt and pepper, and I fried up some leftover bratwurst as well.

A plate of broccoli and sausage.

More broccoli! I mixed some florets with some leftover dressing (from this strawberry-pear salad recipe) and added the last of the sausage.

broccoli and sausage salad.

You might be thinking, “Where are the carbs?” Well, I’d eaten a container of Wheat Thins on the way home from class that day, so that pretty much covered my carb desire. 😉

Next, I had some pizza leftover from our date night, so I put it into the oven on convection to reheat it. So much tastier than microwaving, and it only takes a few minutes longer.

two pieces of Panera flatbread pizza on a white plate.

Leftover fettuccine with shrimp plus fresh basil from the plants on my deck.

Fettucine alfredo with shrimp.

Leftover ground beef from these Korean wraps, plus pickled carrots, an avocado, and dressed with the leftover sauce from the wraps.

ground beef salad in a metal bowl.

The next salad is made from a bagged salad kit that was an extra at the food pantry.

Fried egg on the side because an egg makes a meal!

Salad with a fried egg on the side.

A brussels sprout salad (another bagged salad kit) with lemon dressing and a sliced, browned leftover chicken sausage.

Brussels sprout salad with sausage.

Another food pantry salad kit. I added an avocado plus some crunchy seasoned corn kernels, which are delightful on a salad.

Cabbage salad in a metal bowl.

This next lunch was leftover chicken, heated in a skillet, sliced on top of spinach.

Hungry Harvest carrots on the side, dipped in Hungry Harvest hummus. Also, a leftover homemade oatmeal dinner roll.

A spinach salad in a metal bowl.

This is leftover rice topped with sauteed asparagus, a random piece of bacon, and a fried egg.

Rice bowl with veggies and a fried egg.

For this bowl, I sliced and browned two leftover chicken sausages (which I’d bought on a clearance markdown).

Then I combined them with leftover rice, the last few cherry tomatoes, and a container of takeout sauce that Lisey had brought home since she thought I’d like it (and I did!)

A bowl of rice, sausage, and veggies.

These fries were leftover from a date night I went on with Mr. FG.

I heated them up in the oven on convection (always choose dry heat over a microwave!) and I fried an egg as well.

A fried egg and sweet potato fries.

Lastly, I made a quesadilla with the last of the corn tortillas. On the side, I ate the last of a cucumber, the last of the blackberries, and the last of the watermelon.

A quesadilla on a plate with produce.
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If you just looked at these meals, it would seem like we eat a LOT of sausages! It is true that I buy chicken sausages and bratwurst fairly regularly.

But, I think they feature so prominently here because they are a super easy protein to go along with other random things that need to be used up.

And the same goes for eggs. Eggs make a meal!

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If you want to see more food waste fighting meal ideas, here’s the first one I posted.

Here’s edition #2.

And here’s edition #3!

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LB

Wednesday 22nd of September 2021

I agree with others, those meals all look great. I mostly just reheat dinner leftovers, since most recipes seem to make 4 servings at the least and my kids are too young to eat a full serving so we always have at least some leftover. I do like when I have a chance to be a bit more creative though. It’s like a game to see how I can fix up something unappealing to make it appealing. Sauces and crumbled cheeses really help, I also like adding everything bagel seasoning and I recently had some French’s fried onions leftover from a recipe which add a nice crispness to things.

BJS

Wednesday 22nd of September 2021

Those are some mouth-watering and inspiring photos!

Rebekah in SoCal

Wednesday 22nd of September 2021

I eat a lot of "scraps" and odds-and-ends lunches. It is a great way to keep the food budget down and it's more interesting than a sandwich. Adding an egg or cheese or salsa makes almost anything into a meal.

Gina

Wednesday 22nd of September 2021

All of that looks good and as result, I added chicken sausage to my grocery list!

EngineerMom

Wednesday 22nd of September 2021

Protein, veggie, carb, fruit - that's my general goal for anything for lunch!

Today, my lunch will be: - some homemade broth poured over some leftover frozen mixed veggies to make a soup - a can of tuna - a container of Two Good yogurt (I bought some Two Good containers try, and BLECH - I'd so much rather just eat regular Greek yogurt with a small amount of jam to keep the "sugar" down than literally anything with artificial sweetener. Thankfully, this is the last container!)

I don't have a fruit because my pears aren't ripe! Boo. Hopefully tomorrow.

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