Secrets That Will Bring Your Leftovers Back To Life

The USDA paints a grim picture: 30 to 40% of food is wasted every year in the United States. This is the food that never gets eaten — it just gets sent to landfills instead of feeding hungry families. Moreover, the whole process of producing, packaging, and disposing of food consumes a myriad of resources. And, per the European Environmental Bureau, Europe wastes more food than it imports — some 153 million tons every year. In an age where we still have wars and famine, it's quite pressing to discuss this and try to limit food waste. So why not start with our households?

A quick (and, let's be honest, tasty) way of reducing waste is by transforming leftovers into brand-new meals. Leftover food doesn't have to be boring, and it definitely doesn't have to be thrown away. If you follow these simple tricks, you'll be able to store, reheat, and revamp your fridge leftovers to perfection and forget about tasteless microwave food. And remember, you're doing the planet a favor, too! Without further ado, let's explore 13 secrets that will bring your leftovers back to life.

If you're tired of having the same meal for two or three days in a row, the best thing you can do is completely transform it. If it's a salad, add new ingredients and make a fresh dressing to change its taste. If it's a side dish, add some fresh spices and serve it alongside something warm and fresh (and different from whatever you had the day before). But the options are truly endless when it comes to transforming protein.

We recommend the best fried rice recipe: It's quick, easy, and guaranteed to use up any ingredients you've got left in your fridge and pantry. This recipe uses barbeque pork, but it works perfectly with chicken, beef, and vegan protein as well (needless to say, fried rice is also a way to revamp leftover rice). 

Stir fries also make great new meals from leftover protein — as Mashed suggests, all you really need is five-spice powder, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and the vegetables and rice that you might already have at home. As per Tasting Table, you can also transform your leftover protein into fresh skewers with tropical undertones, such as pork and pineapple skewers. Generally speaking, feel free to go crazy with flavors you like — you'll turn boring fridge leftovers into a brand-new meal and you might even forget you're eating leftover food.

One of the main problems with leftover food is that it dries out in the fridge — even stored perfectly, it's simply not the same as it was fresh out of the oven. The answer to this age-old conundrum is revamping that dry dish into a juicy meal, such as soup, curry, or enchiladas. Pho and pad Thai ramen can take leftover protein to the next level. Meat is the most likely to dry and lose its je ne sais quoi in the fridge, so simply cut it into thin slices and add it to these delicious soups. The recipes are also quite versatile, so you can add whatever flavors you like best to the broth.

Then, there's the case where you don't want to transform your leftover meal into something new. No problem — just add a bit of water, milk, or cream to it before reheating it, as Insider suggests. This works particularly well with grains (such as rice or pasta) and vegetables. They absorb moisture when they're stored in the fridge, so they're in dire need of a little moisture before they go back in the oven. When it comes to meat, add a little grease (butter or olive oil) to make it juicy and flavorful again.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with all the food you like brought together in a dish, topped with cheese, and thrown into the oven. When it comes to leftovers, casseroles are practical, too: You're using several ingredients and bringing them back to life, instead of letting them waste away on their own. And, you're making a casserole out of already cooked food, so it doesn't have to sit in the oven for upwards of an hour.

As we're previously shown, casseroles are extremely versatile dishes that work for any occasion or time of day. You can make a simple vegetable or broccoli casserole (using cream of mushroom soup and plenty of cheese) or you can get creative with sloppy joe biscuit and king ranch chicken casseroles. In fact, there are several breakfast casserole recipes too, including eggs benedict and French toast casserole. If we've said "casserole" too many times, just know there is one version for any type of leftover in your fridge, and it's guaranteed to transform it into nice, warm comfort food.

As Insider explains, leaving sliced or halved fruit in the fridge is the beginning of the end for their texture, taste, and moisture. Leaving fruit at room temperature doesn't help, either – as soon as air gets in, they lose their quality. One quick solution is to chop up your fruits and turn them into a smoothie. Whether fresh or frozen, fruit can be easily combined to create the perfect smoothie (and you can add milk, vegan milk, or yogurt, for a more adventurous approach).

Smoothies don't have to be boring, either. You can make a perfectly delicious smoothie by following a simple recipe comprising fruit, liquid, thickener (like chia seeds, peanut butter, or avocado), and any add-ins (or superfoods) you prefer. Smoothies are also quite versatile and work in various combinations, which means you can get rid of multiple fruits and vegetables lying around in your fridge. Sweet potatoes and carrots can be merged with bananas, dates, and almond milk to create the perfect pie-like smoothie. And if you've got berries and Greek yogurt on hand, you can mix them up with beets, orange juice, almond milk, and ginger for a healthy and flavorful smoothie. 

There are a million leftover recipes out there waiting to be explored and even reinvented. But understandably, you may not want to turn your leftover meal into something entirely different. However, if you coat it with a fresh mixture of spices and/or sauces, it'll feel new enough. This works best if you plan it from the get-go. This means that you shouldn't over-season your original meal, or season it with a flavor so strong that it will overpower anything you bring to it the next day.

So if you've got a bit of protein, grain, or vegetable that's a bit dry and a bit bland, sprinkle it with some extra seasoning and heat it up. You can completely transform fried chicken breast, for example, if you coat it with curry powder, re-fry it, and serve it with freshly steamed rice. There's yet another option: When you cook your initial meal, you can leave a portion of it completely unseasoned — just store it in an airtight container and it's a perfect base for whatever you want to revamp it into the following day.

Here's a quick tip: Even leafy greens can be brought back to life if you dip them in super-cold water for a few minutes (via Bon Appétit). Five minutes should do, and you have crispier, fresher-looking leaves that can make the perfect leftover salad. Of course, this is if you haven't already drenched your leafy greens in oil, balsamic vinegar, and other dressings. But rest assured, there are solutions for that, too. If the salad already has dressing on it, revamp it by adding lemon and salt — it won't change the flavor, it will just bring the original flavor (and salad) back to life.

Be careful, though: As Tasting Table reports, salad greens offer a growing environment for bacteria such as listeria and E. coli. The rules are simple enough: If it smells bad, looks brown, wilted, or slimy, throw it away. In the end, food waste is not as bad as food poisoning. Speaking of leafy greens, spinach can also become toxic when reheated. So better spray it with some fresh dressing and eat it cold.