But compared to many commercially prepared, processed meals, well chosen and carefully handled leftovers can be nutritious, can save you money, can allow for some creative cooking, and can still be a pleasure to eat. Not to mention avoiding waste: According to Money magazine editor Jean Chatzky, “Today households on average toss 14 percent of the food they buy, about double what we threw out 20 years ago.”

The key to making good use of healthful, tasty leftovers is high quality ingredients and a little foresight. When I asked registered dietitian and integrative nutrition consultant Mary Beth McCue about her food choices for winter, she shared a number of suggestions:

1. Go heavy on the vegetable groups — people tend not to eat enough of them. The winter root vegetables “are starchy and dense in calories and carbohydrates,” but this is good because “our bodies need to be warm and work harder.”

2. Whenever possible, choose organic and/or sustainably grown produce for a higher mineral, vitamin and nutrient content.

3. Give preference to locally grown food that has been picked closer to its ripened state, as that has the highest nutrient density.

4. Choose the colorful produce — dark green kales, colorful squashes, red and purple onions — as they tend to be more nutritious. Add Mediterranean herbs — basil, parsley and cilantro — as they add flavor and fight inflammation in the body.

5. Try legumes plain and in stews and soups — “versatile and inexpensive, they are a great source of protein, minerals and nutrients.”

So, let’s say you load up on ingredients that fit these criteria. You’ve brought home your choices and made your first round of fresh meals. Then you may have two kinds of leftovers — those from the meal itself and those made up of any extra, unused ingredients.

Many vegetable soups and stirfries can be frozen as is, or puréed and frozen with some additional seasonings for use as sauces.

Leftover single ingredients can be combined and frozen, as well. Some of the objections to leftovers can be avoided simply by spacing their use, combining them with fresh ingredients and by disguising them, for more variety in your menu. Mary Beth suggests, for instance, broiling tomatoes, onions and zucchinis with parsley, and then you can “squash and freeze for later use on rice or pasta.”

Other vegetables, she notes, “can be steamed until crisp and puréed with herbs and garlic, to be added to pasta sauce, casseroles, stews and soups, or omelets. Sea salt and oil will increase their shelf life for unfrozen purées.” Some of these purées can also be hidden away in baked goods such as muffins and breads, for an additional nutrient boost.

Feel you just don’t have the time to plan multiple uses for leftovers? You can capitalize on them by having even a few simple recipes based on a handful of staples. For example, I take the pinto beans, tomatoes, onions and garlic leftover from making burritos and make them into a “cowboy bean” soup, or add green chiles, sour cream, cheese and rice to make a casserole. Or maybe there’s a particular item that always seems destined to become a leftover in your household. In our home it’s the heels of our pricey organic bread. Those slices no one wants in their original state are welcomed when they are reincarnated as bread pudding — baked with raisins, apples, milk and a little maple syrup.

So, instead of regarding them as boring “reruns,” let’s think of leftovers as simply an “abundance” that, with a little care, can become part of a varied menu. I’m sure many HWFC shoppers already have some creative uses of leftovers. Send them to me at ruthsmalley [at] earthlink.net, and I’ll share them in an upcoming column.