The holidays are the perfect time to rethink your dishes and use leftovers to create new and exciting meals. It is just one more way to stretch your grocery dollar to its fullest extent.

1. Mashed potatoes - who knew they could be such a delight on the second day. Add some sour cream, garlic and onion powder, chives and shredded cheese to your mashed potatoes. Put them in a casserole dish and heat at 325 degrees F for about 30 minutes. Now you have loaded baked mashed potatoes.

2. Baked Mashed potatoes - take the leftovers the next day, add a couple of cups of milk and heat in a pot. Wisk until some what smooth. Now you have potato soup.

3. Turkey – everything you have ever made with chicken (chicken salad, chicken and dumplings and chicken noodle soup) can be recreated with the left over turkey. Freeze it quart bags for easy use in meals in the future.

4. Ham - roll out a sheet up puff pastry dough, spread some finely chopped ham to about and inch or two from the edges. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Roll up the puff pastry dough and bake in the over at about 350 degrees until the puff pastry turns a golden brown. Now you have a nice ham and cheese straddle that is great for any meal of the day.

Using leftovers from your holiday meals does not have to be boring or exhausting. Getting a little creative with the items you have left (and freezing what you can freeze) will help you stretch your grocery budget over the next few weeks – depending on the amount of leftovers available to use.