We’ve all been there: Almost-empty jars of jam or gifted artisanal fruit butters lurk in the back of the refrigerator, because “I was saving the last bit for you.” The roasted vegetables from last Sunday’s farmers market haul no longer excite. The rotisserie chicken you grabbed from the grocery store looks as if a horde of angry vultures descended on it.
The carton of french fries you took home “because maybe they’ll re-crisp in the oven” is getting pushed farther and farther back, out of sight and out of mind. Or, the worst, you open the refrigerator door and out tumbles half of a formerly juicy lemon, taking with it the tiny Polish teacup that was housing it, which promptly shatters on the floor.
By keeping a few things in mind, you can save your leftovers, your sanity and your teacups. Of course, you can easily reheat most. Often, though, you want something different, without starting from scratch. Repurposing your leftovers means a lot of the work is already done: You just have to mix them together.
See our accompanying chart as a jumping-off point. Dig into the depths of your refrigerator and freezer, crack open that languishing takeout, and gather your oils and vinegars. We’ve got work to do.
A few guidelines
1. Keep it safe. Check that your leftovers are still safe to eat, and adhere to basic food safety guidelines. Store leftovers for three to four days in the refrigerator. (Labeling containers with contents and date of preparation helps.) If the food smells off, or if you are at all in doubt, then play it safe and throw it out.
2. Taste, adjust. Repeat. Taste as you go, remembering that balance is key. If flavors are flat, add something acidic to brighten. Be generous with salt, pepper and other seasonings.
3. Consider textures. Dressed green salads puree nicely into soups, but they don’t stand alone equally well. (Beware of slime.) Leftovers can dry out, so be ready with sauces, broths or vinegar to add moisture and flavor.
4. Carbohydrates are powerful. We are hard-pressed to think of any leftover that wouldn’t work in a sandwich, wrap, taco, crepe or dumpling; most foods can top toast, pizza, rice or other grains. And, of course, most anything can go into fried rice.
5. Think about flavor affinities. Leftovers scented with cumin? Add curry powder. Vegetables roasted with herbes de Provence? Sprinkle in ground sumac.
6. It’s okay if you don’t like it. Not all experiments end in tasty revelations, but you’ll most likely still have something edible; try something different next time.
Recommended reading
For more leftover inspiration, we suggest flipping through Love Your Leftovers, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall; An Everlasting Meal: Cooking With Economy and Grace, by Tamar Adler; The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg; and NOPI: The Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully, where we got the idea to make croquettes from shredded meat.
An airtight case for storage
Until we all started taking our own reusable bags to the grocery store, there was the inevitable question at the checkout lane: paper or plastic?
Now there’s still at least one material question to consider once we get that food home and start cooking, eating and storing it: glass or plastic?
If you’re like me, at least one of your kitchen cabinets is overflowing with an assortment of containers intended for storing leftovers. Occasionally I’m tempted to cull the herd and pick up a few new workhorses that aren’t stained, cloudy or missing lids.
But where to start?
Because the number of options can be overwhelming, employees at the Container Store are trained to ask customers a series of questions, says Kim Kimbriel, a buyer for the national chain.
Think about who’s going to be using the containers and what they’ll be using them for, Kimbriel says. Kids taking lunch to school? Plastic. Mom storing food in the freezer for oven-ready meals? Glass. “There’s a trend that we see that people are really loving glass as an option,” she says.
“Generally, glass is the most airtight,” says Sharon Franke, kitchen appliances and technology director for the Good Housekeeping Institute in New York.
Good Housekeeping recently published its “best of the best” on food storage, with Frieling’s Emsa Clip & Close containers coming out on top. They kept air out for 14 days, which Franke and her team tested in a hot and humid climatology lab. (For the record, even inexpensive disposable plastic containers performed respectably for about a week.)
Franke says containers with silicone gaskets and lids that snap on all four sides are especially effective at keeping food fresh.
There have been other user-friendly developments in food storage. Many manufacturers no longer make plastics with bisphenol-A (BPA), the controversial chemical that has been linked to possible health risks, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers it safe.
And in light of the ongoing conversation about food waste, companies are exploring new ways to help consumers hold onto their produce longer. Oxo’s GreenSaver products, for example, feature activated carbon filters, “floating” baskets and adjustable vents that are designed to, respectively, trap ethylene gas (which causes some produce to decay), promote airflow and control humidity.
Kimbriel says container materials also have expanded beyond glass and plastic to include stainless steel and silicone. The Container Store sells a line of silicone containers that are microwave- and oven-safe.
Some silicone containers collapse for easy storage. Another organizing solution: sets with nesting containers and lids, such as Joseph Joseph’s Nest Food Storage collection. Other brands feature lids that snap onto the bottom of containers, such as Snapware Airtight, which Cook’s Illustrated highly recommended in its rigorous testing of plastic food storage containers in 2010. No more mismatched sets or cascades of tumbling plastic.
The shape of the container is another factor to consider. Most people gravitate toward rectangular pieces, Kimbriel says, as they’re easier to store and optimize available space. The depth of the containers is important as well. Cook’s Illustrated noted that low, flat versions make it easy to stack items above or below them. The magazine added that shallower containers also facilitate quick cooling, to get food out of the temperature danger zone where bacteria can thrive (40 to 140 degrees), as well as heating, which means dinner can get on the table that much faster.
Whatever you end up buying, follow the manufacturer’s care instructions. Most plastics belong on the top rack of your dishwasher, if you put them there at all. “I’m an advocate of hand-washing things,” Kimbriel says.
Sometimes you might not need to bother with a container. Franke says food companies have worked on packaging that keeps their food fresher. A good clip might be all you need to close a bag of coffee or chips, she says.
Tami’s French Fry Soup
Servings: 2 or 3 (makes about 4 cups)
Notes: This soup is the creamy, hearty solution to leftover french fries that don’t reheat well, and it can use up what’s left in cartons of cream or broth, too.
To create even more body, add a few dabs of cream cheese or handfuls of your favorite shredded cheese; to add tang, stir in a little yogurt or sour cream. Have a few roasted carrots or sweet potatoes? Toss ’em in. The recipe is adaptable.
Ingredients:
9 ounces (about 3½ packed cups) cooked french fries
3½ cups store-bought or homemade no-salt-added vegetable broth (may substitute no-salt-added chicken broth), or more as needed
Splash white wine (may substitute malt vinegar)
Splash heavy cream or milk (optional)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons ketchup
A few dashes malt vinegar
Method:
Put the french fries in a medium saucepan and pour the broth over them. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low; cook, uncovered, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the french fries are quite soft. Remove from the heat.
Use an immersion (stick) blender to puree until smooth. Stir in the wine and the cream or milk, if using. Taste, adding salt and pepper as needed (the amounts depend on how the fries were originally seasoned). If the consistency’s too thick, stir in more broth.
If desired, stir together the ketchup (to taste) and enough malt vinegar to thin it out to the desired consistency.
Ladle the soup into bowls. Dot or drizzle each portion with the thinned ketchup; serve hot.
Nutrition information per serving (based on 3): 270 calories, 3 g protein, 37 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 3 g dietary fiber, 6 g sugar
From Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, resident Tami Elder.
