You can’t beat rice. Fast-cooking, versatile, and almost universally-liked. We make rice in big batches because the leftovers are just as good. Here’s a few uses for this wonderful food.

1. A base for stir-fry
2. In soups in place of noodles
3. As a “mash” for breakfast with milk and cinnamon
4. Rice pudding with a custard base, warmed for breakfast
5. Rice cookies or bars
6. add to mashed potatoes to “stretch” a batch.

Rice can make any meal just a little bit bigger (unexpected guests? Hungry teenagers?) My kids recently had a run of rice pudding with cinnamon and dried cranberries. I made eight quarts and froze it in Ziploc bags in the freezer. The frozen bags went camping with us because they served as ice—and reheated well for breakfast or snacks.

This post is part of a series I’ve entitled “Frugal August” and is inspired by (though not copied from) the book The Complete Tightwad Gazetteby Amy Dacyczyn. My tips are meant to build on hers, but generally are not duplications.

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