Food thread! Favourite leftover dishes, avoiding waste, menu ideas.

[Ninkanink]

Thought I’d start a thread for everyone to post their tips and ideas on how best to use foodstuffs. Hoping it could be an easy guide as well for those who maybe aren’t so used to home cooking or using leftover foods, or understanding how best to utilise everything you have, expiry dates etc.

We have always been very conscious of food waste so we plan very carefully to use every scrap of food, it’s not hard, it’s just a skill one develops.

I’ll post some of my favourite leftover/using up bits meals and menus here and if anyone else wants to as well, please do!

I find Sharpie tends to rub off Tupperware with a bit of elbow grease. Failing that, hairspray removes it. I always forget to label stuff though and we often have "WTF is That" for dinner, also known as Freezer Roulette.

There is a website. 'Love food hate waste' which gives tips and recipes. Aplogies if anyone has already mentioned it

We write on tins for the freezer with a whiteboard pen. Washes off most surfaces easily :)

Soupdragon.
I do this regularly, forget to label. Most of the suff is usually brown for some reason. We call it ' Brown bag suprise' But Freezer roulette sounds less dodgy

Tubs, that should say. I don't freeze tins...

I might try the sellotape trick but I'm quite good at using small writing. I may not score through each label if it's a dish I'm likely to do again, might try to use same lids for same dishes when I cook them and if I have to reuse for different dishes do ticks and then score them out? I hope what I've said makes some sort of sense

I'm going to make some yoghurt flatbreads - I've only ever done plain ones before, could anyone suggest any nice flavours? I have a well stocked spice drawer but not very good at pairing flavours.

I’d borrow from various cuisines, using any of the following:

Garam masala, curry powder, ground coriander, turmeric, garlic and ginger

Oregano, lemon zest, garlic granules, olives, feta or halloumi if you have any

Ras el hanout, harissa, preserved lemons, olives or raisins/dried apricots/dates

Rosemary and thyme, garlic, sundried tomatoes, Parmesan or Grana Padano

Oh forgot cumin/cumin seeds to go with curry aromatics

Going back to Slug's fritters - they are great. I make a big bowl of fluffy pancake mix on a Sunday morning, then keep half of it back for conversion into Monday night fritters.
I started with onion bhajis (= adding chickpea flour, more baking powder, salt, curry powder and spices to the mix) and branched out into cooked potato, sweetcorn and onion fritters.
As Slug said, the weights / volumes of ingredients don't seem to matter that much. Guesstimates are enough. Very easy.

My post seems to have gone. Odd!

I really like onion seeds or caraway seeds in flatbreads.

Garlic, parsley and butter brushed on after cooking is usually the most popular here though.

Omg I misread that and thought it said slug fritters...

That’s a step further than I’d even be willing to go.

Spam88 cumin , caraway,coriander seeds are good. Or any spice you like. Poppy seeds are good and add crunch. Ditto sesame. My so likes chilli flakes in them.

I've got two frozen thin pork loin chops. Any ideas for jazzng them up? They were from a fairly flavourless tray and I'm not that keen on pork anyway. Something spicey would be nice.

We do a tex mex style coating of cumin, oregano, paprika, smoked paprika, chipotle chilli flakes, and a very small amount of ground cinnamon (about a quarter of a teaspoon). We use that as a rub, or as a marinade, or slice the meat and fry it with onions and peppers in olive oil and the spices. If we do the fried version we either have it in sandwiches or in wraps/tacos or wrapped in lettuce leaves.

Or you could do a stroganoff. Especially if you have wild rice or brown rice.

Or perhaps an easy Chinese/Japanese/Thai/Korean marinade to eat with noodles or in a broth?

Brining pork chops always makes them much tastier. I brine is a salt/maple syrup and herb concoction o/n, rinse and then dry in the fridge until dinner. I usually make a spiced pear chutney to go with it (it is a Williams Sonoma recipe which can also be found on the Leites website)

Today, made nachos for lunch with leftover chilli. Pasta Bolognese for dinner because I need to make space in the freezer - I have a large order coming on Friday which needs to last almost 2 weeks due to lack of delivery dates so I need to create space in the freezer.

Ive been getting loads of messages from people with contacts in the catering supply trade wanting to sell to the general public now that their normal source of revenue has been shut. I might try them next week if I under ordered, and also might try to see if they have strong bread flour since I am running low on white (have enough wholemeal and spelt though).

I'm doing pork chops lyonnaise tonight - basically you brown the chops, and then smother in a mixture of caramelised onions, thyme, breadcrumbs and mustard. Then finish off in the oven.

You can also brown the chops and stick them in the middle of boulangere potatoes, so they cook all together with the sliced potatoes in a mixture of stock and milk.

Hot mustard on the side with either of the above, plus a green salad!

I've just opened up the Diana Henry cookbook for the pork chops lyonnaise recipe and the one on the facing page is for thai spiced pork chops with a lime dipping sauce - you marinade the chops in soy sauce with some chopped coriander stalks mixed in, then griddle them, and make a dipping sauce of fish sauce, lime juice, finely sliced shallots, a red chilli and coriander leaves. Serve with white rice and some more fresh coriander, though the recipe calls for each chop to be about 200g per person so you might have to bulk it out a bit with other things if your chops are v thin. Sounds lush!

Really enjoying this thread. I’m a prepper for many things by nature, so we have a well-stocked pantry and 2 freezers. Am kicking myself for having a bit of a clearout a few weeks ago, where I binned lots of very out-of-date flour - in my defence, whilemeal or rye which I know can go rancid. I wish I’d just tested some now, though.

I’ve discovered the dcs don’t mind UHT milk at all, and think it tastes “creamier” ...that’s my usual fresh (sometimes organic) rethought!

We have managed 1 delivery and 2 Aldi trips in the last month, so not doing too badly with 4 of us at home all day. We don’t each much meat, so are happy if have cheese, some veg and storecupboard essentials.

I am a terrible food/freezer hoarder of bits and bobs..... they are all being rediscovered currently. Yesterday spent around 2 hours stoning a huge bag of Morello cherries, frozen 2 years ago from our garden. One of the rare occasions we managed to nab them before the birds. Dcs soon lost interest in helping when they discovered using the stoner on smallish squidgy defrosted fruit is nowhere near as satisfying as fresh.

Still, made:

1. a huge batch of dark chocolate and cherry brownies (1/3 kept out, 2/3 for freezer again) 2)half a pint of cherry syrup made from reducing the cherry juices with sugar and a tiny bit of vanilla pod. Good for ice cream or pancake topping.
2. topped up a jam jar of the stones with a fair bit of flesh/juice with some brandy and a sooonful of sugar. Will steep for a few weeks.

Whoever posted the picture of that Christmas chocolate log is a cake-making genius - beautiful!

Thank you for the pork ideas . I'm going to give the diane Henry one a go!

I used up the last of the cabbage and half a massive onion that was looking sad in the fridge. Did a veggie sausage, butter bean and Savoy cabbage stew thanks to a suggestion earlier on the thread. I will be adding cabbage to my list of underrated vegetables that I’ll put on my regular shop in future!

@PurpleDaisies we love cabbage. It also freezes very well, so we try to always have a bag tucked away.

Venison pie turned out great. I added white pepper, salt and a little bit of paprika to the mash. Doesn't look as good as it tasted...

@quince2figs@Xiaoxiong thank you for the pork suggestions they sound delicious!

@quince2figs what clever ideas with the cherries! Particularly the cherry brandy using the stones and scraps!

We had some tired looking peppers, feta that I opened yesterday and some out of day tortilla boats to use up today so I made sweet potato fajita type things topped with feta and Nando’s sauce. They were yummy and very easy.

Next on my list to use up is polenta, would welcome any ideas you have to share!

@Welltidy creme fraiche lasts for ages after its use by date! Weeks after, it will still be fine.

It's fine until it goes mouldy! (And even then you can just scrape the mouldy bit off 😳)