There was a time in America when families ate their dinner together. During that time, Moms cooked almost every meal (fast food was not a weekly event, it was a treat) and left overs were utilized to help stretch the budget and live a life of stewardship. Left overs were basically staples used to create yummy soups like one of our favorites- Vegetable Beef Soup.

Our family has never eaten out a lot. We enjoy restaurants and a break. But, a good home-cooked meal is always a preferance. While we have worked hard to budget our money, recent increases in groceries, health insurance, gas and taxes (without an increase in pay, but a decrease due to the health insurance/tax increases),we have been re-evaulating our food and how to make our groceries last longer.

So, last week, I made a roast for dinner one night. We had potatoes (which my Dad brings us a 50lb bag when he visits) and green beans. The roast was a little more than a pound, but it fed our family, and we had enough to provide a slice for my husband’s lunch the next day and a pot of Vegetable Beef Stew.

This is how we did it.

I cooked the roast in the crock pot on low. The beans and potatoes were cooked on the stove. Once dinner was finished and my husband’s lunch was made, we threw all of the following ingredients in the crock pot and had a yummy soup for lunch and dinner the next day:

Vegetable Beef Soup

• Tore the meat apart
• Put it back in the crock pot/broth the meat had cooked in
• Strained the beans
• Strained the potatoes
• Added 1 can of organic roasted tomatoes
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Oregano
• Pepper

What do you make with your leftovers?

Sharing over at Try a New Recipe and Titus 2 Tuesday