Make the most of leftovers: 16 recipe ideas for leftover food
Save money, live on a tight budget and still eat well with these recipe ideas for leftover grub.
Make swaps
Make use of excess ingredients by using them in meals instead of something you might not have, such as these spaghetti and meatballs made with sausages!
Toasties
You can put most things between two pieces of toasted bread from fruit and nutella (always a winner) to nachos and even burgers. > 9 yummy toastie ideas
Make pizza
You can add all sorts on top of pizzas and make pizza bases out of all sorts. A win win! See all our pizza recipes.
Create wraps
Make some colourful culinary creations with salad wraps that you can add all sorts of meat and veg to.
Add almost anything to egg fried rice
Got a hankering for a Chinese? Make some egg fried rice and add pretty much anything you want to it, cooked meats, veg, etc. It’s all good!
Pizza eggs
You’ll never eat leftover pizza the same again once you’ve tried these Pizza Eggs.
Quesadillas
A sort-of Mexican toastie. Add meats, veg, salsa and plenty of cheese between tortilla wraps and fry on each side until browned and golden.
A veggie pasta bake
This veggie pasta bake recipe uses red pepper, mushrooms, sweetcorn and courgette but you can add helpings of whatever veg you have to hand.
Melt leftover chocolate
If you’ve any leftover chocolate (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) from Easter, melt it down and make some sweet desserts. > 8 things to do with leftover chocolate
Bake a cake
Fruits and veg can become cakes such as banana loaf cake, carrot cake or even courgette cake.
A crispy crumble
Just flour, butter and sugar can make a crumble mixture. Top it on some peeled and chop fruit and bake for a super simple crumble. > Super strawberry crumble recipe
Give stale bread a second chance as pudding
Turn stale bread into pudding. It also works with other stale bakery products like bagels, hot cross buns, etc.
Luxury hard boiled eggs
Eggs need using up? Boil them and turn them into something special like these Indian curry hard boiled eggs. and here’s a load of other hard boiled egg recipes.
You can even re use coffee
Cold coffee? Don’t chuck it out, you can use it elsewhere from meals to just around the house – find 16 uses for leftover coffee here.
Turn mash into muffins
Mashed potato muffins? Sure. Get the recipe here.
Freeze it
Still can’t figure out how to use up food? Don’t chuck it out just yet, you may be surprised what you can freeze… pretty much everything. Here’s a guide to how to prepare and store various foods in the freezer properly.
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