Casseroles. Casseroles. Casseroles.

I have a history of being really wasteful with food. I am not a big fan of leftovers. Also, I am paranoid about food safety. Leftovers generally have a three day limit in my fridge. After that, they get tossed. (Although Hubby will eat them well into the 7th day.) I usually throw away a ton of food. A TON.

Anyway, as the possibility of shit+fan becomes more of a reality, I've been trying to approach my food as if I were already living in difficult times. This means I scrape every last grain of rice of the pan. And I've been putting the bread heels into a plastic baggie in the freezer. Stuff like that.

However, as a result of trying to use up my bits of this and pieces of that, I have been making a shitload of casseroles. And now that I've discovered Magic Mix for making cream-of-whatever soup, I've been even more likely to make a casserole from leftovers.

Now, I like casseroles for a couple of reasons:

First, I can make them ahead of time. This means I can get the kitchen all nice and clean and organized, and I don't have to face a mess of dishes at night. All I have to clean after the meal is the casserole dish and a couple of plates.

Second, they are one of the easiest ways to use leftovers. Had roast chicken and rice for dinner last night? Toss it with some frozen veggies, cheese, and cream soup, and it's magically a chicken and rice casserole.

Third, it can cook while I relax with Hubby after the kids are in bed. We sit together and have a glass of wine while the casserole bakes, and then the meal is ready after we've had some downtime together.

My two most recent casseroles:

• Salsa Chicken Rice: Leftover roast chicken, leftover white rice, salsa, some sour cream (which I needed to use up), shredded cheese, a little frozen corn I had in the freezer, and a can of black beans

• Hamburger Hashbrown: Leftover ground beef, cream of mushroom soup made with Magic Mix, leftover green beans, shredded cheese, and shredded hashbrowns
  

Unfortunately, I also kind of hate casseroles. They all taste the same to me, and they aren't exactly the most diet-friendly meal. It's summertime, so it's not really soup weather anymore (which is my go-to solution for leftovers in the winter). Anyone have another suggestion for a healthy (low calorie) and easy way to use leftovers that I can make ahead of time?