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How I Turn Dinner Leftovers Into Delicious Lunches

How I Turn Dinner Leftovers Into Delicious Lunches
Carly Jacobs
This post is sponsored by Woolworths 
I

’m a lunch packer from way back. Mainly because I hate going to cafes and paying $18 for a lame salad with a shred of smoked salmon on it. I make way better lunches that actually fill me up and don’t cost the same as a bottle of fancy shampoo. I always over cater when I make dinner (I swear I’m part Italian) so there’s always a few containers full of random leftovers in our fridge. I’ve teamed up with Woolworths Created with Jamie (available exclusively to Woolies – obviously) to bring you some inspiration to turn your dinner leftovers into totally awesome lunches to have throughout the week.

created with jamie

I really love documenting things so here’s a weekly snap shot of dinners and leftovers from the Smaggle house.

Tofu and Baked Vegetables = Tofu Lunch Wraps 

tofu and baked vegetables

My partner and I love cooking but sometimes we just need something super quick and easy. On time poor evenings, we’ll grab some hard tofu, one of those easy bake veggie trays from the produce section at Woolies and a handful of leaves to make a quick and healthy dinner. For this dinner we used Created with Jamie Aussie Grown Dutch Carrots and Baby Beetroot.

dinner leftovers

It was super easy, we chucked them in oven, pan fried the tofu and we were good to go. The leftovers wrapped up beautifully the next day in gluten free wraps. The Jamie carrots are divine by the way so if you’re aiming to actually have leftovers you should probably cook something less yummy.

Beef and Cauliflower with Cous-cous = Mediterranean Beef Salad

beef couscous and cauliflower

Another favourite of ours is beef with cous-cous with some kind of awesome veggies. I’m partial to steamed green beans, some pan fried zucchini or roast cauliflower we used Jamie’s Indian Cauliflower and we’ve had it about four more times since, it’s so good and super healthy too.

dinner leftovers

The day after this dinner we had left over cous-cous and beef from dinner (but no veggies because we ate them all like little piglets!) so I popped it all in a bowl with some feta, greek yogurt, tomatoes, baby spinach and coriander.

Roast Chicken with Slaw = Chicken Salad Sandwich 

created with jamie

I used to be scared of roasting things until I figured out how bloody easy it is. It takes a while (usually an hour or two) but you don’t have to do anything while it’s cooking. It’s like having a chef. Sometimes I’ll buy a cooked chook but we wanted to try the Created With Jamie Whole Chicken With Lemon and Herb (we have the smashin’ chicken fillets at least once a week but there’s like 70 products in the range so we like to branch out occasionally).

created with jamie

It was freaking delicious and gluten free which is a bonus because a lot of ready-to-roast chickens have gluten in them. We served it for dinner with slaw and had the left over chicken the next day on gluten free bread with cheese and salad.

Tip: It’s best to eat left over chicken cold has heating and re-heating chicken is when bacteria forms.  You should eat left over chicken straight from the fridge or heat it till it’s steaming hot and don’t let it change temperature too much.

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Are you a leftovers lover? What’s your favourite dinner to have for lunch the next day?

 

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This post was co-ordinated by The Remarkables Group

17 Comments

  1. Steph 9 years ago

    Yum! I honestly just eat another serve of dinner for lunch though. I cook a meal that serves 4 (for just hubby and I), hubby has 2 serves, i have one for dinner and one for lunch the next day, sorted!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      I do that too but it depends a bit on what we’re having – It’s all those pesky little bits of a not-full meal that drive bonkers and I have to turn them into a proper meal!

  2. Anna Buckley 9 years ago

    Love your ideas. As you said left overs for lunch is a massive way of saving the dollars. Couldn’t resist doing the maths on the $18 ‘lame’ lunch saving…$18x 5 (days per week) x52 (weeks per year) = $4680. =a trip to New York!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Oh jesus. That’s terrifying isn’t it? Having said that you do need to be careful when making you’re own lunches too. I can easily spend $20 on salad ingredients! 🙂

  3. LOVE this post! As you know, I work full time and I bloody hate packing my own lunch – I always disappoint myself. But this? THIS I can do! Thank you so much for the inspo. x

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      You are welcome petal! You can totally do it! Even though I technically work from home I still kind of ‘pack’ my lunches. It stops me from snacking all through out the day!

  4. Melinda 9 years ago

    I love this post! I’m a bit obsessed with using leftovers as I don’t like wasting food. If there’s enough soup or pasta, I’ll just he-heat and eat as is. Leftover chicken is great in salads or if we have leftover veggies sometimes I’ll make fried rice or bake it into a frittata type thingy.

    One of my husband’s favourite things is when I put leftover mince (taco, bolognese, whatever) into puffy pastry and create little triangles.

  5. hugzillablog 9 years ago

    Jesus, woman, is there anything you can’t do? These look divine.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Ha! I’m very good curating what skills I share. I’m rubbish at lifting heavy things and I’m a very nervous driver.

  6. merilyn 9 years ago

    inspirational thanks hun!
    you are the teacher indeed!
    it all looks yummy!
    i hate waste so i love the leftover challenge! … it’s my type of creating!
    have a good one! love m:)X

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      It can be a bit of a challenge can’t it? I’ve done a little bit of prep this week thank goodness because it’s looking like it’s going to be a busy one!

  7. Christine 9 years ago

    I do like leftovers, but I’m a bit weird in that I don’t like to eat something cold, that once was hot. Got to be hot again. Though these days we don’t have many leftovers – I’m flat out making a meal big enough for my 6’6′, 100kg son. I think I’ll have to buy a couple of extra large plates to fit his dinner on! Yummy looking dinners at Smags house xx

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      I’m a bit weird in that I can’t eat re-heated chicken. I can have it cold but if I re-heat it, it taste like metal. I’m the only person I know who thinks that though!

  8. Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid 9 years ago

    So much inspo. I wish my lunchbox looked like that. It almost looks too pretty to eat!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Mine doesn’t look like that today! I’ve got soup in my lunchbox today… it never really photographs very well. 🙂

  9. Bec @ The Plumbette 9 years ago

    Everything looks delicious! Don’t vegetables make meals beautiful? I haven’t tried the Jamie Oliver range but after this I am so putting some in the online shop next week!

  10. I am so in love with the Jamie range. Delish. Especially the chicken things where you mash some breadcrumbs on and just pan fry…. YUUUUMMM. You’ve reminded me I need to go stock up actually. Usually not a lot left over but I’m a leftovers-for-lunch gal – saves a lot of hassle!

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