Easy Dinner Recipes That Can Last a Second or Third Day
A favorite issue among retirees today is the difficulty of cooking for just two people. For the most part, I find it easy to cook for two, maybe because my husband is a big eater. He is not fat though – I just serve a ton of veggies, and he eats everything.
During the day I spend several hours marketing my book, painting any tote bag orders that may have come in, and of course, the house always needs something cleaned. I intersperse my days with lunches with friends and spending time with my husband.
I wrap up my days at 4 pm and get most of the dinner fixed at around 4:30 pm. That’s when we sit down and have a glass of wine, listen to music or maybe the news, but lately, not so much.
Cooking Ahead
We never have ‘leftovers’ in our house, but I do cook for two to three meals in advance: for the next night’s dinner and perhaps to put one portion in the freezer for future eating. I cook this way mainly in the fall and winter when we are not grilling on the barbecue as much.
It’s great to have a ready meal the second night as it feels like someone came in and left dinner for me to just warm up. I know crockpots are famous for cooking ahead, and I am seriously thinking about using mine this winter. I have never been a true fan of slow cooking, but I may change.
My Favorite Easy Dinner
I have several dishes that seem to stretch for two to three meals. We even enjoy a special salad that keeps for several days. Imagine having your entire meal ready when it is time to eat. I will share with you my very simple eggplant casserole and salad.
To boot, this casserole costs so little, and nowadays, with the constantly rising food prices, it is a blessing when we can save some money.
Best Salad Ever* (enough for at least 3 dinners)
Ingredients
2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
3 Roma tomatoes, cut up in small pieces
1/2 of small sweet onion, cut up in small pieces
1 large can of black olives, sliced in half
1 sweet red pepper, cut in small pieces
4 marinated artichoke hearts (optional), cut in half
Salad Dressing
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon each of oregano, basil, thyme, garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Mix all the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Blend the dressing ingredients in small bowl and transfer to a bottle with lid.
- Pour desired amount of dressing on the salad and chill until ready to use.
*This salad tastes better every day
Easy Eggplant Casserole
Ingredients
1 large can of tomato sauce
3 tablespoons each of oregano, basil, thyme, garlic powder
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper to your taste
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 medium eggplant
2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese (you may like more or less cheese)
4 fresh Roma tomatoes
1 large onion
1 cup of sliced fresh mushrooms
Directions
- Put the tomato sauce in a pan with all spices and cook for about 15 minutes. You can start this while you are preparing the ingredients.
- Pour a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom of the pan.
- Slice the eggplant in 1/2 inch slices and score the tops.
- Put a layer of eggplant on the bottom of the baking dish.
- Add half of the grated cheese and spread to cover all the eggplant.
- Slice the tomatoes and add them on top of the cheese.
- Add the onions on top of the tomatoes.
- Add the sliced mushrooms.
- Pour the tomato sauce over the mushrooms.
- Add a layer of mozzarella.
- Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 1.5 hours.
Please note that this eggplant casserole recipe is very forgiving, and it is almost impossible to be unsuccessful. Add different or more seasonings, more tomatoes or more onions and mushrooms.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
Do you have a favorite quick meal that lasts for a second day? What do you do with your ‘leftovers?’ Please join the conversation below.
Tags Healthy Eating Recipes
The salad sounds great but provides “ at least 3 dinners”??
really? That translates to one tomato and 1/2 cucumber per dinner? That’s not a lot!
how can this be enough for 3 dinners?
Love eggplant to appreciate the recipe. I have little interest in food and less in cooking since I’m preparing food for one. The easier the recipe and the fewer the ingredients, the better. I can remember my mother frying eggplant and serving with syrup. No, I haven’t tried that yet.
Alas, I live alone and despite good intentions, usually throw my leftovers out. Somehow they don’t taste as good to me after being frozen and reheated or sitting in the fridge a day or so…
I like the challenge of using leftovers to make another meal as I don’t like food waste, it’s avoidable and if you use up what’s left it saves money in what are financially difficult times for a lot of people. I’m based in Switzerland and things like meat, chicken and fish are very expensive here, I buy meat and chicken when they’re on offer and batch cook for my freezer. Any old vegetables are made into wonderful soups for winter, stale bread makes croutons (I drizzle cubes of bread in olive oil and season with salt, black pepper, garlic salt and rosemary, then put them in an airfryer at 150c for about 20 mins until crisp).
I also skip meat, fish etc 3 days a week and have a vegetarian meal instead, something like a vegetable risotto, stir fry or oven baked fritatta.
3 Tablespoons each of oregano, basil, thyme and garlic powder? This recipe sounds delicious but is this a typo?
Yes, I wondered this also. Am thinking must be “teaspoons” and not tablespoons. A teaspoon of each sounds plenty – 3 tablespoons would be a whole little spice jar.