What Can You Do With Leftover Moussaka?

Food wastage is a massive problem worldwide. And almost all of that waste stems from households. Let’s say you and your family decide to throw a Moussaka feast for dinner. Chances are that you’ll end up with a ton of leftovers that might eventually go to waste unless you decide to salvage it for later. So, what can you do with leftover Moussaka?

There are plenty of ways to tackle your leftover Moussaka. Some of the ways may force you to deconstruct and reassemble the leftover moussaka while others will just range from freezing to reheating. Not to mention that there are various ways to portion and store your Moussaka for later use or consumption.

Repurposing your left-over Moussaka is not only good for the environment but also, it’s a great way to whip up a tasty meal without needing to cook. So, in this article, I will extensively discuss how you can reuse and store your leftover Moussaka to reduce wastage. And also provide some pointers on avoiding leftovers in the first place. 

Why You Should Not Throw Away Your Moussaka?  

Wasting food not only wastes valuable resources but also hurts the environment. It’s never a choice that you should consider. You’re essentially throwing away years’ worth of agricultural activities. And as water is used when producing food, you’re wasting thousands of liters of water by doing so. 

Shortage of water and lack of safe drinking water are common sights to see in many underprivileged countries throughout the world. Not only that, but food waste also accounts for deforestation and harmful bacteria being released into the atmosphere. Having all these in mind, I think it’s best that we keep our food wastage to a minimum as possible. 

What To Do With Your Leftover Moussaka?

Your leftover Moussaka can be stored or turned into various other forms of delicacies. It can also be given away for others to eat. Depending on how you wish to salvage it.

From portioning to freezing and reheating, here are some of the ways to get the most out of your leftover Moussaka: 

1. Portion And Store Them Appropriately

Before you serve the Moussaka to everyone, you should get an idea of whether everyone present in the house will be able to finish the Moussaka in one meal. If the answer to whether they will be able to finish it is no, then you’re in for some adjustments.

In this case, you should divide your Moussaka into smaller portions and keep aside the amount that you know won’t be consumed as supper that night. By doing so, you won’t lose track of your leftover Moussaka and you will be able to decide on what to do with it next. The next part would be to store them in individual containers.

Pro tip here is to use glass storage containers so that you know what’s inside each of them. The advantage here is that you won’t assume that there’s nothing inside the glass container as you’ll be able to see everything inside it. So, fewer chances of your stored Moussaka going bad.

2. Freeze Them

Freezing is the most common practice when storing leftovers. So, after you decide that you don’t wish to further consume your Moussaka, you can choose to divide it into smaller portions. Just like how we discussed the first point. Now it’s time to chuck them in the refrigerator.

The freezing temperature will keep your leftover Moussaka from growing bacteria. Due to the refrigeration process, your leftover Moussaka won’t be the victim of any bacteria or fungus.

If you want to know more about how to reheat your moussaka, then check out this article

3. Make Soup

Making soup is one of the easiest forms of cooking. Only if we’re talking about normal soup and not Gordon Ramsey’s Michelin Star Gourmet Mushroom Soup. That’s another article in itself. But when dealing with normal soup, you can use your leftover Moussaka in creative ways. 

So, when you proceed with deconstructing your Moussaka, you will be able to separate it into several portions of cooked minced meat, eggplants, and potatoes. Now it’s time for the soup. You can puree the portion of your vegetables that you’ve kept aside with 4 or 5 cups of vegetable or chicken broth. Then put it inside a pot and warm it up. 

Once you bring it to a boil, season it with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, you can finish up your soup with a garnish of chopped coriander leaves, pesto, or olive oil.

You can also try different variations of this soup with other ingredients and mix it with the portions that you’ve deconstructed.

4. Have A Leftover’s Night

If you notice that you’ve made too much Moussaka that can easily be consumed for another whole day or two, then scrap those plans of making dinner the next day. Instead of that, focus on feeding the family the same leftover Moussaka that you cooked the other night.

Don’t make another meal for the night. Side dishes are okay but your main motive is to finish the leftover Moussaka so that there are no more left to store in the coming days. 

5. Focus On Reinvention

There’s no end to getting creative with your food. With that in mind, you can easily turn your leftover Moussaka into a potato casserole or savory mini pies; depending on what you like.

Or you can completely reinvent the dish and turn it into something brand new. For example, you can use eggplants to make spicy curry with chili flakes, other spices, and chopped potatoes. 

The meat can be used to make the beef stock even though the stock might smell like leftover Moussaka. But if it tastes good, then what’s the harm?

6. Food Swapping

To make the most out of your leftover Moussaka, you can use this opportunity to get involved in crowdsourcing. It’s a fun hobby that you can partake in with others who are also into food swaps or dinner swaps. 

To get more into the event, you can purposely cook more food and portion it wisely beforehand, so that you can swap it with the other groups and end up with more variety for dinner. 

7. Don’t Throw Anything Out. Feed Others Instead

This one is surely a no-brainer. Never let your leftover edible food go to waste. If there’s a way to salvage even half a plate, do it. But never throw away your leftover Moussaka. You bought the ingredients with your hard-earned money. So why are you throwing that away? No amount of food is too small to throw away in the trash bin.

Instead, you can donate it to a food charity or just give it to a homeless person near you. Never resort to throwing away your leftover Moussaka as you’re not only harming yourself but also affecting others who remain to starve for days on end. Try to process and think about that for a change.

How To Prevent Having Leftover Moussaka In The First Place?

Stopping leftovers is as simple as grocery shopping responsibly and cooking only according to how much you and your family eat. 

If you want to avoid leftovers altogether, then it’s best to start from scratch. That leads us to discuss the importance of smart shopping. Buying too many groceries can influence you to make more of the dish you went grocery shopping for.

To prevent this, you should make frequent visits to the shop and focus on buying only those ingredients that are needed for the following few days. Match the amount of food you cook with the amount of food you eat. And eventually, you’ll have an idea of just how much you and your family consume throughout the day. 

And once you figure that out, no more leftovers for you! So, start showing your leftovers some love by cutting down on bulk buying in the first place. It’s not worth the waste.