Your leftovers from dinner may or may not be intentional: you either make too much food completely by mistake or you purposely do so to have food for the next day. Either way, leftovers provide a bit of a conundrum in that you aren't sure what to do with the extra food or you have no real desire to eat the exact same food multiple days in a row. However, not taking advantage of leftover food can lead to food waste and the missed opportunity for a great lunch.

Read on for some ideas for these common leftovers and submit your own suggestions in the comments.

Chicken
The benefit of chicken is that it tastes great both cold and re-heated. Put together a salad from all of the vegetables lingering in your crisper and add some chicken on top as a source of protein. Or use those vegetables, the chicken and some vegetable broth to make a quick, easy soup you can store in a thermos and take on the fly. You can also turn it into a delicious sandwich or rap by adding some meat, lettuce, tomatos and mustard to a couple of slices of bread, tortilla shell or pita.

Rice, Pasta or Couscous
Leftover side dishes are often plentiful, but also one of the more commonly wasted food items since they are less expensive, and don't constitute as an entire meal on their own. Now that it's nearly summer, keep them cold and combine with some of that aforementioned chicken, some fresh vegetables and your favorite vinaigrette-style salad dressing for a light, refreshing grain or pasta salad. Any of these side dishes can also be used in a soup.

Vegetables
Add asparagus, peas, corn, beets, insert-leftover-vegetable-here to some lettuce and make - you guessed it - a salad. Even if they've gone a bit soft, they'll be balanced out by the crisp lettuce and any other fresh vegetables you can add, such as a carrot or some cucumber. Or just add some oil and vinegar to the vegetables on their own for an improvised vegetable salad. If you have access to a stove during your lunch break, use them in an omelette.

Potatoes
Yes, they're technically a vegetablem, but so versatile they deserved their own space. If you have access to that stove, turn them into hashed browns to go with that omelette, or mash them up and add some salt, pepper and a bit of sour cream or milk (almond milk works well) to use as a different side dish to go with your leftover chicken.

Fruit
You cut up some lovely, healthy fruit for your family to enjoy, but unfortunately they had ice cream on the brain. No problem, simply mix it together for a fruit salad you can eat plan or with a tablespoon of maple syrup. You can also turn it into a parfait by simply adding yogurt and granola. And in case you weren't aware, some fruits such as strawberries, blueberries and mango are actually nice additions to an unconventional salad.

» Wikipedia