Saving with Seth: Leftovers = $$$

ROSSVILLE, Ind. (WLFI) - Your mother may have told you to clean your plate after every meal, but the truth is that throwing away food can be a waste of money. 

"Planning is so important," said Angie Abbott, Purdue Extension Family Nutrition Director. "That means planning your grocery list, planning your meals for the week ahead of time. Not only planning your meals but thinking about if you're going to have leftovers. What are your going to do with your leftovers?"

Abbott said using leftovers can save you cash in the future.

"Anytime we throw away food it's just like throwing away money," she said. "Another suggestion that we tell families is to cook once and eat twice."

For instance, Abbott said rather than throwing out old milk, find ways to use it up before it spoils such as making pudding and adding granola for a healthy snack. If you have yogurt, try making a vegetable dip. She demonstrated a dip she had made by adding dry ranch dressing to plan non-fat yogurt.

Saving your leftovers doesn't have to be difficult. In fact, Abbott said saving money can be as simple as opening up your freezer.

"Lots of things can be frozen," she said. "You can freeze shredded cheese. Lets say low fat shredded cheese is on sale. Go ahead and buy up as much as you want and then you can freeze it."

Abbott said to find out what should or should not be kept in the freezer contact the Purdue Extension office in your county.