Give your leftovers a makeover
Don’t bin the food you can’t finish – transform it with nutritionist JULIETTE KELLOW’S simple tips and delicious recipes
EACH year in the UK, we waste five million tonnes of food. This doesn’t mean the bits we can’t eat, like banana skins or chicken bones, but perfectly good food that could have landed in our stomachs rather than the bin.
Throwing away these leftovers may not seem like a big deal. But when you tot up everything that is wasted like this in the UK, it adds up to enough food to fill almost 10 million large wheelie bins. In short, that’s a lot of perfectly tasty food that’s been chucked away.
Dumping food in landfill is terrible for the environment. It’s estimated that eating up leftovers rather than throwing them away would have the same environmental benefit as taking more than half a million cars off the road for a year.
Not only this but our throwaway culture is costing us a fortune, with the average UK family binning more than £700 of edible food each year.
A quarter of this waste comes from leftovers – those spoonfuls of pasta, rice or mash left in the pan, or the extra sausage that doesn’t seem worth keeping.
This is why Panasonic and the charity Love Food HateWaste is on a mission to give leftovers a makeover.
There’s no need to eat the same meal two days running or throw what you don’t finish in the bin.
With these simple tips your leftovers from today can be transformed into delicious meals for tomorrow.
COOKED PASTA
● Combine cold leftover pasta with canned tuna, sweetcorn and pesto, heat through and serve topped with grated reduced-fat cheese.
● Mix pasta with jarred or homemade tomato sauce, top with mozzarella cheese and heat until the cheese melts. Serve with salad.
● Can’t decide on macaroni cheese or cauliflower cheese? Have both by steaming some cauliflower florets in the microwave. Combine them with leftover pasta, any other leftover veg, pour over cheese sauce, top with grated reduced-fat cheese and heat until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.
LEFTOVER RICE
● Recreate a takeaway favourite and make a veggie biryani. Steam some frozen mixed veg, then mix with cooked rice, biryani curry paste, chickpeas, raisins and a little reduced-salt stock. Heat until piping hot and garnish with toasted flaked almonds to serve.
● Make rice pudding by combining equal amounts of leftover rice and milk and heat until the milk is boiling. Add sugar or sweetener to taste, and any other flavours you like such as lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla essence, ginger or cocoa powder.
Cook on a low heat and stir frequently, adding more milk if necessary until you have the perfect consistency.
If you have any leftover fruit that you’re unsure what to do with, use it to top the pudding before eating.You can easily make this in a microwave too.
MASHED POTATO
● Make your own gnocchi. Reheat mashed potato then pass through a fine sieve. Mix with half the amount of plain flour, a beaten egg and a handful of Parmesan. Roll into a log, cut into 2cm pieces and press lightly with a fork. Drop into boiling water and cook until the gnocchi rises to the surface. Drain and serve with tomato sauce, a sprinkle of Parmesan and salad. ● Turn it into a pie topping – simply put leftover casserole or stew into a dish, top with warmed up mash or sliced, boiled or new potatoes if that’s what’s left over, a little grated cheese and heat. Stuck for ideas? Why not try a fish pie or shepherd’s pie? ● A heart-warming soup is a great way to use leftover potato. Cook a chopped onion and leek in a little olive oil until soft. Pour in some reduced-salt veggie stock and the mash. Stir and heat thoroughly, then blend until smooth. Mix in a little single cream if you like and season with black pepper.
BOLOGNESE SAUCE
● Simply add chilli powder, Tabasco and a can of drained kidney beans and you have instant chilli. Heat through and serve with leftover rice and a spoonful of reduced-fat soured cream.
● Top leftover bolognese with leftover mashed potato to convert into a cottage pie. Alternatively, reheat frozen mash or boil some potatoes then mash.
Top with grated reduced-fat cheese and reheat until piping hot.
ROAST MEAT
● Spice up your life with a curry. Chop leftover meat and combine with chopped onions and peppers and a jar of your favourite curry sauce.
Heat through until the veg is soft and serve with rice or naan bread.
● Fill wraps with shredded meat and roasted red peppers from a jar. Roll up and place in a microwaveable or ovenproof dish. Spoon over leftover chilli, top with grated reduced-fat cheese and heat through.
Serve with salsa, guacamole and reduced-fat soured cream for easy enchiladas.
Turn roasted chicken, lamb, beef or pork into a casserole.
Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and combine with chopped garlic, onions, carrots, leeks, a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree, a little reduced-salt stock, red or white wine (perfect for using up a nearly empty bottle), mixed herbs and black pepper. Heat until all the veg is cooked.
Thicken the sauce with cornflour if needed and serve with bread or mash.
COOKED VEG
● Leftover roasted vegetables are perfect for adding to a pizza base, or combining with pasta, rice or couscous for a hearty salad.
● Heat leftover root vegetables in the microwave then puree Masterchef-style with a little olive oil and plenty of black pepper to create a creamy vegetable mash to serve alongside your main course.
Grease a microwaveable dish, add leftover veg, pour over beaten egg and top with grated reduced-fat cheese.
Microwave until the egg is cooked through although don’t cook for too long or it will become rubbery.
Add pieces of leftover potato, ham or cooked sausage, if you have them.