The amount of food that goes to waste in this country is crazy—almost 70 billion pounds per year. (That’s over half a pound per person per day, in case you were wondering.) It’s especially annoying when you know you’re throwing away something you worked hard to cook, or food you had plans to eat. Not to mention the expense! To help you stop tossing your hard-earned money in the trash (which is basically what we end up doing), here are some creative tips to help you use up all those food scraps and make leftover food more fun.
Try a Universal Recipe
There are plenty of recipes that are basically “universal,” meaning you can toss in whatever veggies and proteins you have on hand to make it work. Try your hand at this universal casserole recipe, for example. Otherwise, you can easily toss mushy vegetables and aged proteins into a quiche, roast them in a frittata, or add them to leftover rice to fry them in a stir-fry.
Create a Perpetual Soup Container
The best broths happen when you simmer a huge amount of veggies—but we don’t always want to go out and buy them. Instead, keep a “perpetual soup container” in your freezer to collect leftover scraps, like veggies, meat, and even gravy. When it’s full, you can dump it into a pot with stock and cook it into a delicious savory soup!
Make Fruit and Veggie Smoothies
Smoothies are hard to mess up, and they’re a great way to use up any fruit scraps on hand. Add whatever fruit you have, and even leafy greens, and you’ll put those leftovers to good use.
Repurpose Your Proteins
If you’ve already cooked your leftover meat, it’s easy to make a meal in no time at all. Add cooked protein as filling for your tacos, add it to stock, fry it in an omelette, or make a chicken or turkey salad spread.
Have a Weekly Leftovers Night
It’s easy to forget about the food lurking in the back of your fridge when you’ve recently filled up on fresh new groceries. But once a week, you should hunt down those forgotten leftovers for a creative and fun meal night.
Salvage Old Bread
Even the most delicious loaf fresh from the bakery (or your oven) loses its freshness after a day or two. But there are lots of ways to use this common staple! Make Spanish “pan con tomate” by drizzling slices with olive oil and spreading grated tomato on top. Or go the French route to top a delicious bowl of French onion soup. Don’t forget to try making your own bread crumbs and croutons!
Thinking of leftover food as “ingredients” instead of “leftovers” can go a long way in making sure you use them all up. You don’t always need a ton of leftovers to make something tasty, either. All you need is a little creativity, plus the willingness to try something new! If you have any extra tricks for using up old foods, let me know about them!
