Favorite weeknight recipes with lunch leftovers

[Anonymous]

My kid doesn’t eat sandwiches, so I’m often struggling to find easy weeknight recipes that easily lend themselves to leftovers.

I’m a vegetarian. DH and DS are not. So it’s a bit harder. DS is an athlete, lunch is his biggest meal by nature, and he doesn’t ever crave mid afternoon snacks so lunch has to be hearty and big enough + energizing to get him through the school afternoon and practice until 6 or so.

Many things are on repeat — e.g., I’ll buy a roasted chicken and DH will break it down for me. We’ll serve some with rice, a sauce, and salad for dinner. Serve next night on pasta. Wednesday it will be maybe lentils, w quinoa, and vegetables.

DH helps and enjoys cooking, but works much longer hours so I do the meal planning and just can’t think of anything interesting anymore. And as a lifelong vegetarian, I don’t have a good sense for poultry or meat dishes that are really satisfying and tasty. Any suggestions? 30-45 min or less is ideal.

[Anonymous]

Lasagna is great for leftovers. I have three varieties that I rotate: American style, Italian style, and spinach. I often make one on Sundays since it can take a bit longer to make.
I make extra of most dinners though and the kids will take it to school for lunch. The ES kid in a thermos and the high schooler will use a microwave to heat it. This week is Thai curry over rice, quesadillas (was tacos for dinner), mandoo, and chicken shawarma with pita.

[Anonymous]

Big pots of soup/stew? Chili? Easy to do vegetarian ones, and you could do fake meat or tofu in the chili.

Indian or Thai curries? Again, lots of good vegetarian options-or you can separate some out and throw in shrimp or cooked chicken right at the end for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lasagna is great for leftovers. I have three varieties that I rotate: American style, Italian style, and spinach. I often make one on Sundays since it can take a bit longer to make.
I make extra of most dinners though and the kids will take it to school for lunch. The ES kid in a thermos and the high schooler will use a microwave to heat it. This week is Thai curry over rice, quesadillas (was tacos for dinner), mandoo, and chicken shawarma with pita.

Casseroles in general are good, as are most pastas.

In your case, however, it might make more sense to focus on proteins your son can build a lunch around, and then let him pack for himself. Brown some taco meat on the weekend and add taco or sloppy Joe seasoning and then he can eat it with rice, chips, etc. for lunch. Give him access to large amounts of sandwich meat, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, (frozen) grilled chicken/chicken patties, canned tuna/chicken/ham, etc., along with breads/bagels/rolls/wraps, salad/sandwich vegetables, fruits, yogurt, etc.

[Anonymous]

Two individuals, one a full grown man and one a presumably male teen athlete who needs big meals and you make a single grocery store roasted chicken last for two dinners plus leftovers? Buy a second chicken and double the amount you're making.

We are moving into colder weather so focus on soups and filling pastas or healthy-ish casseroles. I make a very hearty beef barley soup that my family will eat for days. The barley soaks up the remaining broth while it's in the fridge so it ends up being more pasta than soup for lunches the next few days but no one cares since it's warm and filling. Big batches of taco meat are a good call, and you can use turkey instead of beef if you don't want as much red meat. Chili with beans and ground meat is another option.

I also keep on hand deli turkey, cheese, crackers and plenty of cut vegetables with hummus. My teen athlete can put together a filling lunch or snack.

[Anonymous]

Enchildas work great for this - make some bean and cheese and others ground meat, beans and cheese. My kids love leftovers as school lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two individuals, one a full grown man and one a presumably male teen athlete who needs big meals and you make a single grocery store roasted chicken last for two dinners plus leftovers? Buy a second chicken and double the amount you're making.

We are moving into colder weather so focus on soups and filling pastas or healthy-ish casseroles. I make a very hearty beef barley soup that my family will eat for days. The barley soaks up the remaining broth while it's in the fridge so it ends up being more pasta than soup for lunches the next few days but no one cares since it's warm and filling. Big batches of taco meat are a good call, and you can use turkey instead of beef if you don't want as much red meat. Chili with beans and ground meat is another option.

I also keep on hand deli turkey, cheese, crackers and plenty of cut vegetables with hummus. My teen athlete can put together a filling lunch or snack.

This stood out to me too. They need more protein, especially a teen athlete. One grocery chicken (they're usually on the smaller 2ish lb side) is not enough for 2 dinners and a lunch.

[Anonymous]

Taco meat
Cooked salmon
Chicken wings
Ribs

These are the meat leftovers that get consumed like crazy in my house (including for breakfast)

Taco meat is good on so many things - tacos, quesadillas, taco nachos, on baked potatoes, with eggs

Baked potatoes are another good thing for lunch

I buy precooked ribs from costco as I find the raw ones completely unappetizing.

Almond flour chocolate chip cookies are also a good way to get lots of calories in healthfully, my teen son gobbles them up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two individuals, one a full grown man and one a presumably male teen athlete who needs big meals and you make a single grocery store roasted chicken last for two dinners plus leftovers? Buy a second chicken and double the amount you're making.

We are moving into colder weather so focus on soups and filling pastas or healthy-ish casseroles. I make a very hearty beef barley soup that my family will eat for days. The barley soaks up the remaining broth while it's in the fridge so it ends up being more pasta than soup for lunches the next few days but no one cares since it's warm and filling. Big batches of taco meat are a good call, and you can use turkey instead of beef if you don't want as much red meat. Chili with beans and ground meat is another option.

I also keep on hand deli turkey, cheese, crackers and plenty of cut vegetables with hummus. My teen athlete can put together a filling lunch or snack.

This stood out to me too. They need more protein, especially a teen athlete. One grocery chicken (they're usually on the smaller 2ish lb side) is not enough for 2 dinners and a lunch.

OP sounds like chicken leg lady who made 10 chicken legs for her family of six and was surprised that they were hungry an hour later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two individuals, one a full grown man and one a presumably male teen athlete who needs big meals and you make a single grocery store roasted chicken last for two dinners plus leftovers? Buy a second chicken and double the amount you're making.

We are moving into colder weather so focus on soups and filling pastas or healthy-ish casseroles. I make a very hearty beef barley soup that my family will eat for days. The barley soaks up the remaining broth while it's in the fridge so it ends up being more pasta than soup for lunches the next few days but no one cares since it's warm and filling. Big batches of taco meat are a good call, and you can use turkey instead of beef if you don't want as much red meat. Chili with beans and ground meat is another option.

I also keep on hand deli turkey, cheese, crackers and plenty of cut vegetables with hummus. My teen athlete can put together a filling lunch or snack.

This stood out to me too. They need more protein, especially a teen athlete. One grocery chicken (they're usually on the smaller 2ish lb side) is not enough for 2 dinners and a lunch.

OP sounds like chicken leg lady who made 10 chicken legs for her family of six and was surprised that they were hungry an hour later.

NP. I thought of her too! She’s back!

[Anonymous]

https://umamimami.net/recipes/jewish-style-beef-brisket

My Beef Brisket was a great hit this week, the night of we had with roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Next day mixed it into pasta with some butter, olive oil and cheese for packed lunches. Next day we had brisket style tacos with lettuce, tomatoes and shredded cheese!

For me any weeknight dinner translates well into leftovers! Theres always something that can be made. If I have leftover rice for example, Egg Fried Rice. Leftover Rotisserie Chicken - Chicken Burritos with rice and beans. Leftover soup even can be cooked into raw rice the next day for a 'flavored rice'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two individuals, one a full grown man and one a presumably male teen athlete who needs big meals and you make a single grocery store roasted chicken last for two dinners plus leftovers? Buy a second chicken and double the amount you're making.

We are moving into colder weather so focus on soups and filling pastas or healthy-ish casseroles. I make a very hearty beef barley soup that my family will eat for days. The barley soaks up the remaining broth while it's in the fridge so it ends up being more pasta than soup for lunches the next few days but no one cares since it's warm and filling. Big batches of taco meat are a good call, and you can use turkey instead of beef if you don't want as much red meat. Chili with beans and ground meat is another option.

I also keep on hand deli turkey, cheese, crackers and plenty of cut vegetables with hummus. My teen athlete can put together a filling lunch or snack.

This stood out to me too. They need more protein, especially a teen athlete. One grocery chicken (they're usually on the smaller 2ish lb side) is not enough for 2 dinners and a lunch.

And lunch is the teens big meal. Cook him a lunch as a main and you can eat the leftovers. Make him a huge thing of jambalaya or other rice/paella dish with a mix of brown rice, vegetables, smoked sausage and chicken. Breakfast Burritos. Cottage pie with extra vegetables thrown in along with the beef and potatoes. There are lots of ideas on here for hearty mains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two individuals, one a full grown man and one a presumably male teen athlete who needs big meals and you make a single grocery store roasted chicken last for two dinners plus leftovers? Buy a second chicken and double the amount you're making.

We are moving into colder weather so focus on soups and filling pastas or healthy-ish casseroles. I make a very hearty beef barley soup that my family will eat for days. The barley soaks up the remaining broth while it's in the fridge so it ends up being more pasta than soup for lunches the next few days but no one cares since it's warm and filling. Big batches of taco meat are a good call, and you can use turkey instead of beef if you don't want as much red meat. Chili with beans and ground meat is another option.

I also keep on hand deli turkey, cheese, crackers and plenty of cut vegetables with hummus. My teen athlete can put together a filling lunch or snack.

This stood out to me too. They need more protein, especially a teen athlete. One grocery chicken (they're usually on the smaller 2ish lb side) is not enough for 2 dinners and a lunch.

OP sounds like chicken leg lady who made 10 chicken legs for her family of six and was surprised that they were hungry an hour later.

NP. I thought of her too! She’s back!

I loved that thread! She came back and updated and I was so proud of her.

[Anonymous]

I often grill a couple packages of the marinated chicken options from Trader Joe’s for DH and the kids and then throw it on top of rice for their lunch the next day (or pack a tortilla/wrap separately). They especially like the shawarma chicken thighs, pollo asada and carne asada. If we want leftovers from the orange chicken we have to make two bags! Hungry athletes and a husband who coaches practices 3x/week. I just make extra veggies for myself since I’m a vegetarian.

Also suggest meatballs, they hold up well for leftovers and are easy to eat quickly at school lunch.

I often pack Greek yogurt, multiple string cheeses and hard boiled eggs to get them some protein during the days. I also pack actual protein bars and try for lower sugar options, or even protein shakes. Of course also fruits, veggies and grains but that’s the easy part.

[Anonymous]

Bowls are a great option for you. Pick a meat and a plant protein, a grain, a sauce, something crispy, and whatever vegetables you have. Everyone can make their own and leftovers are abundant and super easy.

Popular bowls in my house - asian chicken, fajita/taco, greek with grilled chicken