Last night I fixed fried fish (tilapia), hush puppies, scalloped potatoes, and sliced onions and tomatoes for supper. It was all super good. I’ve given you my hush puppy recipe before, so I won’t go into that again here. This was the first time I’ve tried tilapia fried, though. We like this baked very well and I like the way it’s packaged for the freezer. It turned out to be every bit as good as fried catfish. Maybe better since catfish sometimes has a bottom-of-the-river taste to it..lol.

Well, today we had the leftovers for lunch. I have to tell you, I love cold fried fish. If you haven’t tried it, you really should. It’s delicious. We warmed the potatoes, of course, and Brandon also fixed some tater tots. So, we still had a hearty lunch and the cost was low since it was leftovers.

The key to using leftovers is to package them well before you refrigerate them. Make sure they are in an airtight container. Cooked meats should actually be wrapped in plastic, forcing all air out of the plastic, then either containerized or put into a zip bag. This keeps the cooked meat tasting fresh because no refrigerator air can get to it.

Leftover cooked meats such as roasts or chicken can be served cold. Just slice and serve. You have more good flavor that way than if you reheat them. I think it’s because reheating breaks them down further and you seem to lose moisture and quality in the reheating process. We’ve been eating cold leftover cooked meats for years now.

Leftover fried meats and fish are also better cold. Leftover cooked vegetables can be reheated or served cold to be used in a salad. Leftover french fries, hush puppies, or other such things should be reheated in an oven and not in the microwave. This helps them get crisp again and stay tender. Microwaving tends to make them soggy and hush puppies will wind up tough. Microwaves are great for limited uses such as heating vegetables, but really stink when it comes to breads and fried foods.

I have a little toaster oven that I can use to reheat some things so they retain their crisp yet tender quality. That way, I don’t have to crank up the stove for 15 minutes worth of reheating.

Using countertop appliances such as the toaster oven and using up leftovers both help your grocery budget tremendously. Essentially, when you use your leftovers you are getting a free meal out of the deal!

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