With rising food prices - and prices for just about everything else on the rise as well - it’s no wonder that many people are wondering how to make as many cheap easy meals as they possibly can.

Of course there are many ways you can trim your grocery bill from buying more items in bulk to clipping coupons and checking store circulars before you shop.

All of these methods can cut your grocery bill by a quarter and sometimes even half, but there is another way to make cheap easy meals without all of that fuss. And that’s by using leftovers for an entirely new meal or as a basis for a new dish. Many hesitate to use leftovers because often food that’s been refrigerated or frozen just isn’t as tasty as something cooked fresh.

But usually the best way to use leftovers for cheap easy meals is by using them in the basis of a new dish rather than simply reheating them as is. This might mean that you need to add some additional ingredients or dress them up a bit, but it still means you’re saving money by using this food you’ve already purchased. Here are some quick ideas for how to use leftovers in cheap easy meals.

If you have a few spoonfuls of vegetables leftover, keep these frozen until you have enough for a soup or stew. Usually just some broth and a few herbs such as oregano and thyme is enough to make a tasty soup; a few jars of prepared gravy will make stew. These are very cheap easy meals that you can make with just about any leftover vegetables. If you have some leftover meat you can add this in as well and suddenly you have not just vegetable soup or stew but chicken or beef soup. You can always make up some biscuits or cornbread to add to cheap easy meals like this so that you have enough to eat.

You can also use that leftover meat for cheap easy meals if you slice it and cook it in a little oil. Chicken or beef cooked this way makes a great addition to any salad, or you can add a few more ingredients to make a great rolled up sandwich. Leftover hamburgers can be reheated in a little bit of oil with taco seasoning for tacos or beef burritos. These are also cheap easy meals that are easy to prepare and that make great use of meat that you might otherwise throw away.

The real key to using leftovers for cheap easy meals is thinking of how you can dress them up or put them in new recipes so that they’re tasty and palatable, as opposed to thinking that you should just pop them in the microwave. Get creative with the food you already have in the refrigerator and think of how they’ll make brand new cheap easy meals and you’ll continue to cut that grocery bill every week.