How to Salvage Leftover Night

A couple months ago, Mama Manifesto highlighted an idea we had seen on several other mommy blogs: Muffin Tin Monday. I must admit, I thought it was a cute idea, but I never got around to doing it. But . . . I found another great use for that muffin tin: leftover salvage.

Last week, we had one of those nights where the fridge was full of single-serving leftovers that needed to be eaten. We had a half-full box of takeout, a couple of previous nights’s meals in tupperware, and a few perishable items that just needed to be eaten asap. Lots of food, and yet none of it was enough to stretch out for the whole family. However, I knew that no matter how much I strategized, if each of us was eating a seperate meal around the dinner table, there would be trouble. My kids are notorious for coveting the food on someone else’s place, and a single-serving leftover night seemed like a recipe for disaster. Enter the muffin tin equalizer.

Rather than casting lots for each individual meal, I used our muffin tins to create equal portions of the leftovers we had. Each kid got a bit of mexican lasagna, shredded chicken, sweet potato stew, chinese fried rice takeout, and some fruit and corn chips. A mish-mosh of a meal? YES. But . . . the kids were thrilled. They thought this was the coolest dinner ever. Jafta was so excited that he asked me numerous times, “Mommy, how did you do this???” (Um, the microwave, my dear). They didn’t care that they were eating random bits of cuisine that didn’t necessarily go together. And there was no fighting. Just two full kids and an empty fridge. And that makes mama happy.