6 simple and delicious recipes to reduce food waste this Christmas

Simple recipes to use up leftovers are all over the internet, but they’re often pretentious, overly-complicated, and require three months in a culinary school to pull off. Not this list. Let’s face it, if you were going to go to the effort of crafting a wellington or attempting a soufflé, you’d set out with a clear plan and a pin-point shopping list, not worrying about the courgette that’s been in the bottom of the fridge for two weeks.

My little list here is designed for the average home cook with the most rudimentary set of culinary skills and equipment. Simple recipes to use up those pesky anomalies lurking in the back of your fridge so you can rustle up something quick, easy and delicious.

Food Waste

Food waste is a growing problem facing the entire world. We need to take personal responsibility for the food we waste, rather than fretting over which governmental legislation would be best suited to eliminating the appalling amount of produce wasted every year.

Each person can do their part by reducing the amount of food we throw in the bin every week. We all do it – we’re all guilty. We put these peppers, sweet potatoes and asparagus in our shopping trolley each week with the best of intentions. “That’ll be nice in a curry,” we tell ourselves. But these once vibrant aubergines and chilis often shrivel into obscurity as we turn up our collective noses and reach for the sausages.

Waste levels are severely exasperated around the festive period, with 70% of all people admitting they spend more money than they should on food during Christmas. In Ireland alone, we over-stock so excessively that over €40 million worth of food ends up in the bin every holiday season. This article offers 6 delicious recipes to rescue Christmas leftovers from the bin.

Soup

Everybody has potatoes, rice, pasta, or flour loitering somewhere in their kitchen. But  for those of you who don’t have one of these starchy, base ingredients, here’s a recipe to put a smile on any face.

Ingredients

Literally whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. It’s best to have an onion, but not necessary. Anything you have lying around, taking up space, will do – carrots, celery, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, whatever. Some vegetables, like onions and leeks, better lend themselves to soup than, say, avocados or cucumbers, but it’s really hard to go wrong.

Method

Final tip: If you have some stale bread, dice it and toss in a pan with some olive oil, salt and garlic. Hey presto, croutons!

Stew

Stew is so simple and versatile yet so delicious. This recipe is carnivorous in nature, but if you’re vegan, vegetarian or simply don’t have any meat in your fridge, don’t worry, veggie stew is just as delicious.

Ingredients

• Whatever meat you have will do; beef or lamb work best, but chicken, pork, or even sausages will all work.
• Any vegetables you need to use will work perfectly well in this stew.
• Tomato Purée, stock cube, bay leaf  (if you have any)
• Alcohol (preferably wine but beer also works {darker the better})

Method

Pasta

This is the quickest and easiest way to consume any Christmas leftovers tinkering on the brink of the compost bin.

Ingredients

• Pasta
• Meat (don’t waste the steak, use sausages, bacon, mice, chicken or fish)
• Any and all vegetables
• Cheese
• Milk or cream
• Wine or beer
• Tomato purée

Method

Jambalaya

Don’t be unnerved by the name, this is just a basic, generic recipe which I could just as easily have called “fried rice” or “biryani.” It’s just rice, veg and meat. Rustic, hearty, healthy, delicious.

Ingredients

• Rice
• Meat (don’t waste the steak, use sausages, bacon, mice, chicken or fish)
• Any and all vegetables
• Wine or beer
• Tomato purée

Method

Pie

Only one three-letter word causes more salivation and anticipation than pie, but that doesn’t involve food… usually. Sweet or savoury, the flakey goodness of a freshly baked pie is without equal. So, as a treat, I’m giving you four mouth-watering recipes that aren’t just good for the environment, but good for your pocket as well.

Meat Pie

Ingredients

• For the pastry:
• 500g flour
• 250g butter
• ½ tsp salt
• 100ml water
• Any turkey, ham, goose or other meat still lingering from the Christmas feast.
• Any vegetables taking up space.
• Cheese
• Milk or cream
• Alcohol (white wine or beer {lighter the better})

Method

Fruit Pie

Fruit makes up a large proportion of the fresh food we waste each week. A pie is one of the best ways to keep those fruits out of the bin. Don’t worry about a bruise or a blemish, this pie recipe will rescue the saddest looking fruit.

Ingredients

• For the pastry:
• 50g butter
• 125g sugar
• 1 egg
• 200g flour
• Pinch of salt
• Any fruit you have lying around.
• Sugar
• Vanilla or cinnamon
• Wine, whiskey or brandy

Method