Mum's tried and tested hack for getting kids excited about leftovers
The easiest way to save on grocery costs is to make the most of leftovers, particularly dinner leftovers. But how to get your kids exciting about eating the same meals over and over and over again?
It's taken me a few years to come up with a way to make this work in my home. When my kids were toddlers they'd eat whatever I put in front of them, even if it was three nights in a row.
My now-teenagers are trickier. This is how I do it.
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The easiest way to save on grocery costs is to make the most of leftovers, particularly dinner leftovers. Getty
Step 1: Make lots of something they love
Talk to your children regularly about what they love to eat. Kids' tastes change often. Ask them what they are enjoying and ask if there are any meals they'd like to try.
Then you make a plan.
Also take note of those meals they are able to eat over and over again as those are the tried and tested additions to your meal plan you can rely on.
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It is possible to get your kids exciting about eating the same meals over and over and over again. Getty
Step 2: Only cook twice or three times per week
With a good system in place, you only have to cook dinner foods once or twice per week and no more. Every other night you'll be making use of leftovers that have been frozen and stored.
Sometimes you'll be adding in some new ingredients or freshening things up or serving them with new side dishes, but the main parts of the meals will be done.
With a good system in place, you only have to cook dinner foods once or twice per week. Getty
Step 3: Purchase good food containers
You need some really good food containers you can use repeatedly and that can stand multiple uses, microwaves, dishwashers and storage in freezers and fridges.
Mine are a mixture of Sistema and Pyrex and this is a great time of the year to keep an eye out for sales so you can stock up and upgrade the food containers you are currently using. You can also use sandwich bags.
You'll also need some labels or a permanent marker.
Step 4: Pack individual meals and batches
My family loves eating pasta, butter chicken, minestrone, lentils and rice at the moment so each fortnight my partner and I will make a large batch of pasta sauce and butter chicken, but we don't eat them for days and days in a row or the kids will grow tired of them.
Instead we serve up a couple of days worth then pack and freeze the rest and only bring them out again in a couple of weeks in a rotation system.
Stir fry a dinner meal using leftovers stored in glass containers. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Step 5: Come up with a plan of when to use them
Note down what foods you have stored away and come up with a meal plan so you aren't serving them too often and they all get used up.
Keep a meal plan on your fridge or kitchen bench and include a plan for any other foods you have including breads and fruits and vegetables to avoid waste.
Note down what foods you have stored away and come up with a meal plan. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Step 6: Freshen them up with extra ingredients
With butter chicken, for example, we prepare some single serves of it in containers in the fridge then freeze the rest of the sauce for later use.
When we are ready for it again we just fry up more chicken, whatever we have on hand, and add the sauce and simmer for 20 minutes.
With pasta sauce we make enough for two to three servings and use different pastas, and maybe use some of it for lasagna or add in some side dishes such as garlic bread or different salads to freshen them up.
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