Can we have a chat about what food/s you most frequently throw out from your fridge and how they could actually be used up?

[Mintyy]

I'll start:

Creme fraiche - I buy this to go in a chicken paprika casserole thing I do, but then can't think of another way to use the other half pot within a week.

Sweetcorn - the dc like tuna sweetcorn (ick!!) in wraps and sandwiches but again I only need half a tin. So the other half festers in the back of the fridge until it grows blue mould someone realises and chucks it.

Coleslaw - never eat the whole tub

Olives - ditto

Grapes - similar

Apples - quite often the apples end up going wrinkly

Potatoes - omg, I have thrown away so many potatoes and now we have full blown potato plants growing out of our compost bin

I use green peppers in chilli con carne or steak fajitas.

I try to buy good quality, healthy food, so it really feels like money down the drain if I have to throw it out. Here is what I do to try to avoid it:

• keep all fruit and veg, other than bananas in the fridge (unless the fruit needs to ripen)
• freeze any leftovers or anything I am unlikely to use straight away
• if I have anything like hummus that will shortly go off, I take it to work to have for my lunch
• regularly check the contents of the fridge.

Of course I still end up binning some things - e.g. Lettuce and rocket, which seem to go off really quickly.

I know how to pronounce fajita, but inside my head it rhymes with vagina.

I make surprise casserole
It will have identifiable meat in it
It will also have any and everything I need to get rid of like veg, humous, stirred in cream fraiche, cream, odd packet of whatever.

Fruit I will make a fool or crumble or smoothie with
However even I struggle with a weekly supply of 10 slices best plastic fantastic white floor sweeping bread after making savoury topping AGAIN and freezing endless amounts of it. DH will not stop buying or eating this shite stuff and I don't do bread even the birds struggle with this!

Yes, I freeze pesto and left over sweet corn too!

Humous wtf! Hummus clearly! Bloody iPad and post wine eye balls!

I make sweet corn fritters using sweet corn (tinned or frozen in which case zapped for a few minutes) flour & an egg. Sauté & use as a carb. You can also make fritters using grated & then squeezed courgettes (to get rid of excess water), flour, egg & little cubes of feta or goat cheese. Also grated carrots & cauliflower florets.

I've never tried kiwi with yogurt/museli, will give it a whirl in the morning (am also tasked with finishing off the stuff no-one else wants Doc )

Going-soft apples I turn into apple/cinnamon muffins & then freeze those for packed lunches

Creme fraiche: have with wraps, bolognese sauce, grated cheese and creme fraiche. We had this for tea tonight! Layer it up in a wrap, roll up and eat. Messy but delicious.

Everything else: I make a 'lasagne' that is everything in the fridge fried up plus tomatoes and pesto. Add a tin of cannellini beans and chopped spinach. Layer with pasta sheets. Top with creme fraiche and grated cheese and bake. This is known as 'dinner of doom' by my teens. Bloody delicious though and everything gets used up.

mostly what gets chucked away in our house is the crusts off the kids fruit loaf.. i hate crusts and they dont eat them either.

no idea what to do with them though!

OP, you take the rest of the sweetcorn out of the run before it goes in the fridge, right? Because the tin warns that terrible things will happen if you don't though I haven't a clue what.

Frozen sweetcorn is vile and is no alternative for tinned!

For me it's cucumber - must say though I never used to buy whole ones until they got sooo cheap! Feel a little guilty as sometimes it feels as if they're sort of dispsosable. New one in. Old one out and in bin - they take so much getting through I'll never finish the old one and the new one too

Out of the tin.

Old little gem or other previously firm leafed lettuce can be quartered and added to peas to make French Peas. It's just teeny onions (you can use the bulb bit of spring onions that are too past it to be eaten raw) and a bit of bacon/pancetta browned off and then chuck in lettuce and peas with a bit of stock and that's it! You can even slow cook it if you're that way inclined.

I realise I only really eat left overs I just don't tell dh everything he's eaten is a bit on the geriatric side...

What is a left over olive please

Uses for left over Creme Fraiche: pudding, bung in a casserole, stir into mash, pop on baked spuds.

Mushroom recipes: chopped red onion, chopped pork fillet, tbs wholegrain mustard, salt, pepper, half cup marigold stock, half tub of creme fraiche.

Four big flat mushrooms, chopped shallot x 2, salt, pepper, small glass red wine, handful parsley, half tub of creme fraiche. Serve with chops, steak, chips, etc.

Add to quiche for a bit of a kick.

What's to waste.

Fab thread idea!

My issue is with bean sprouts. DD and I love them so I get a bag of fresh ones when I'm planning a stir fry. But the other half of the bag goes to waste as I don't tend to do another stir fry. What else could I do with them?

Alternatively, are tinned bean sprouts any good? I'd like to try them as it's a smaller amount, but I have a (not in the slightest bit based on any evidence) notion that they'd not be crunchy enough...

Another question - could I freeze wedges of lemon/lime? I like using them for pancakes, stir fries, anything really, but never get through them in time - could I cut them up and freeze in cling film, then just get a wedge out as I need it?

My random tip is that ginger is easier to use when frozen, so if you have some that might go off just peel it and freeze in chunks. Then grate from frozen, straight into the pan.

Also have made things like parsley butter, and stir fry mixes of ginger/chilli/garlic etc in a little oil, and frozen them, to avoid waste and make cooking easier in the week.

Cream cheese - never finish in time and the carrot sticks I buy as healthy snacks that are never as appealing as chocolate and biscuits

Sour Creme. Every time we go to the store we end up getting some for a dinner we're cooking, forgetting we already have some. In about a month at least 4 or 5 sour creme containers are all in the fridge ready to be tossed, all with similar expiration dates.

Let's see other stuff that gets thrown out.

Carrots
Creme cheese
Left overs we didn't want to eat.

All our veggies on the verge of spoiling are fed to the rabbit. (We can't feed her alot of carrots, too much sugar).

Finely dice a third of a cucumber and mix with a tin of tuna, a couple of chopped hard boiled eggs, a couple of tablespoons of mayo and a couple of teaspoons of curry powder. Nice with salads or in sandwiches. Or dice/grate it and add some yoghurt and some mint chutney or similar, to make raita. Or chip and mix with mayo, walnuts and apple in lieu of the celery in a Waldorf salad.

Excellent recipe to get rid of carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms. Love this soup. You can even substitute the half and half with just milk (but it'll be thinner and soupier).

Russian Mushroom Potato soup

I chop up old mushrooms and chuck them in with the mince for whatever I'm making.

Or I chop and fry with butter and garlic and put on a bit of toast.

Eat cucumber sticks as a snack, alternative to fruit?

You could even dip it into hummus however we are spelling it.

The fruit bread crusts - freeze until you have enough and make bread and butter pudding.

My guinea pigs help polish off bits of veg and fruit that otherwise I may chuck away.

Hummus
Coleslaw
Lettuce

Bread - even when blitzing stale stuff for breadcrumbs. I use soft sprouty carrots in soup but them no-one eats the bloody soup!

Crusts: freeze, when you've got 10 or so, defrost and butter them, cut into triangles, layer up in a pyrex dish with sliced tomatoes, basil and cheese. Pour over a mix of beaten egg, bit of milk, and pesto. Grate cheese on top. Bake.

Fruit loaf crusts: similar but layer up with frozen raspberries or similar, pour over orange/apple juice, sprinkle almonds on top. Bake. Serve with ice cream or the now infamous left over creme fraiche.