TIPS FOR THE FRIDGE

1 PESTO

Make carrot-top pesto! 1 cup chopped fresh carrot tops, 1 cup packed baby spinach, 1 garlic clove, ½ cup unsalted cashews, salt and pepper, ½ cup olive oil. Whizz up adding the oil slowly, and voilà!

2 BEST BEFORE DATES

You can eat foods after their “best before” dates. Use a sniff test to gauge ediblity, but don’t eat foods after “use by dates”.

3 ORGANISATION

Have a box in the fridge labelled “Use First!” It helps you to organise your fridge and prevent waste.

4 BUTTER

Save your paper butter wraps, as your grandmother did! Use them to grease your pans and you can line a cake/loaf tin with them and use them when baking. Note: best to use paper not foil wraps for baking.

5 ROOT VEGETABLES

Most root and tuber vegetable tops are edible, beet greens and sweet spud vines turn soft and sweet in a saute, while carrot tops and radish greens are good in salads (and pestos!), finely chopped.

6 CHEESE

Keep a labelled lidded container in your fridge for your cheese scraps to use on a Friday night pizza.

7 JAMS

Use up the end of jams in a smoothie. Remember to reuse your jar: jam jars are good for making and storing vinaigrettes in. Quick to mix by shaking with the lid on.

8 CONDIMENTS

Condiment chaos? Use up your half jars of chutney in a frittata, in savoury scones, or add to mince or casseroles.

9 NUTS

Freeze nuts with a high oil content like pecans, almonds and walnuts, which go rancid easily. Freezing them will make them last many times longer.

10 THE FRIDGE

The warmest part of your fridge is the door, so use it for items that are less sensitive to temperatures. Bottles, jars of condiments and juice do well here.