Smart ways to use leftovers to avoid food wastage

While cooking can be fun and exciting, having plenty of leftovers after your meals can be a frustrating experience – especially when you live alone. If the leftovers stay in the fridge for too long, they may go bad, leading to food wastage.

If you have leftovers often, here are smart ways to reuse them:

Make fried rice

The fun thing about making fried rice is that you can add anything to it. It’s like a blank canvas. If you have leftover chicken, beef or vegetables, then this is the go-to meal to save them from going to waste.

All you need to do is add oil to a frying pan and add in the leftovers which you’ve cut into bite-sized portions. Fry them for a few minutes, then add in your cooked rice – preferably cold to avoid crumbling when mixing. Add your favourite spices and there you go! You can serve with lemon or soy sauce for garnishing or extra flavour.

Add them to your omelette

If you are a lover of eggs, then making an omelette with your leftovers the next day is the best thing to do.

A plain omelette, just like fried rice, can be made gourmet with a variety of added ingredients. Any type of meat and vegetables can be added to make a great omelette, add on flavor with some seasoning and a generous amount of cheese and your leftovers are saved!

Make a delicious soup

Soup is another great way to repurpose leftovers. If you are making your soup primarily from one type of vegetable such as pumpkin, adding some leftover potatoes, beans or even shredded chicken can give the soup flavour. You now have a nutritious soup and fewer leftovers left in the fridge.

Use them for your lunch the next day

If you are going to work or school the next day, then you can add your leftovers to your lunch. Depending on what you have as leftovers, you can either make a sandwich with them or take them as they are. Shredded chicken from the previous night can be repurposed for chicken mayo sarmies, while leftover vegetables can be paired up with some protein such as boiled eggs or bacon and packed as they are.

Freeze them

Consider this as a last resort – if your leftovers are piling up, then the best thing to do is to place the leftovers in sealable containers and freeze them. This way, your leftovers will only require quick microwave reheating. This can also help you on days when you don’t have time to cook or make lunch from scratch.

The ideas listed above are just some useful ways in which leftovers can be reused and repurposed to avoid food wastage.