16 quick ways to use it up at home

Making sure you cook with every scrap of food you grow or buy is good for the planet and the pocket.

Source: Adam Liaw

The back of the fridge is the quiet grave of any cook's kitchen. It's where all the veggies who didn't get to play in the pot today go to wait for their turn that never comes.

They lie shivering in that cold, dark corner, growing more tired and sadder with every passing day. You don't see them doing their best to perk up every time you open the fridge door. You are deaf to their pitiful voices croaking 'pick me, pick me'. Every time you open the fridge door, their best efforts to look crisp and fetching go unnoticed and the door clangs shut again and again.

Eventually, those courageous veggies get scraped out of the fridge to a chorus of 'yuck!" With a bit of luck, they'll get metamorphosised in the compost bin, but most likely they'll simply die a crowded death in some landfill on the edge of town. No plague to mark their passing. No one to visit their mass grave.

Okay, enough, you get the idea. Those veggies deserve so much better. Even if you didn't raise them yourself, someone did. They've earned their time in a recipe, on a plate, in a satisfied belly.

So, instead of cleaning them up, use them up instead. And that goes for your fruit peels, too. Plus your extra bread, yoghurt, wine... whatever lurks riiiiight at the back of your fridge.

Toss it

This warm, citrusy salad tosses new life into cold roast veggies. Source: Mary's Kitchen Crush

No, not that kind of toss, this kind. Leftover fruit and veg work beautifully when tossed in a salad, as this roast veggie salad showcases beautifully.

Everything loaf

This loaf is so delicious you'll be deliberately accruing leftovers in no time. Source: Murdoch Books / Cath Muscat

Throw any leftover fruits, vegetables, nuts or seeds into this tea loaf and it always works. It will take you a mere 15 minutes to rescue the lot.

Jam a-peel

This jam is so versatile, you can serve it with ice cream or pour it over your favourite pastries, for extra sweetness. Source: Farah Celjo

Even banana peels can get a second life as a caramel jam that tastes the opposite of scrappy. You'll peel so good knowing you're helping out the planet, too.

Go bananas

Use the whole banana in your cooking and you won't have peels to deal with in the first place. Source: Tammi Kwok

If the jam doesn't a-peel (we're moving on from banana puns shortly, promise), then bake those peels into a cake. No mess, no waste, just banana cake.

Skins alive

Apple skins infuse the caramel with a subtle floral aroma. Source: Adam Liaw

It's not just banana skins that make fine caramel - apple skins also make it taste amazing. Of course, they do. When has an apple ever let us down?

Pickle the lot

A rainbow of healthy pickles sure beats a rainbow of whatever-that-is-lurking-in-the-back-of-the-fridge. Source: Murdoch Books / Alan Benson

Pickling vegetables makes them next-level delicious and even more good for you. Once you start pickling you won't be able to stop.

Puff those rinds

Turn your rinds into light and airy cheese crisps in 60 seconds. You're most welcome. Source: Farah Celjo

Note to self: never throw out a parmesan rind. Or, in fact, any hard cheese rind. There is so much flavour to be found in a rind. The fastest way to find that out is to make these parmesan rind crisps.

Bag your veg

Of course, the main thing that bagna cauda uses up is garlic! Source: Adam Liaw

Bagna cauda is the garlicky Italian sauce that tastes good with literally any vegetable. So reach far back into that crisper and get dipping.

Bready good

Stale bread has so many uses, not the least is adding a fresh flavour to standard vanilla ice-cream. Source: SBS Food

Stale bread can be magically turned into cinnamon toast-flavoured ice cream, and then you can add any other leftover nuts or fruit you like.

'Nella wasted

Panzanella is a great example of Italians not wasting anything. Source: Tammi Kwok

Leftover bread isn't only good for dessert - it makes a fine salad too. Toasted stale bread goes remarkably well with tomato and basil.

Curry on saving

Make this tasty curry your own by using any limp veg you fancy. Source: Murdoch Books / Rob Palmer

Have you ever noticed that everything tastes good in a curry sauce? Next time you make a curry, toss in your carrot tops, cauli or brocc stems and celery leaves and you'll quickly see our point.

Fried everything

Fried rice *loves* leftover ham and bacon. Source: Donal's Kitchen Hero

The curry theory works with fried rice, too. If you've got it, add it in and it just seems to work.

Tops condiment

Don't discard those carrot tops, there's a chimichurri calling. Source: Farah Celjo

Speaking of carrot tops, get a load of them into this chimichurri and you'll never throw them away again. You can also turn them into pesto.

Yoghurt bread

Just add flour to give yoghurt a new life as bread. Source: Camellia Aebischer

This recipe for yoghurt flatbreads is a great way to save your yoghurt from becoming a mouldy mess. Just take one part yoghurt and two-part self-raising flour and mix. Yep, that's it.

Wine time

Party dregs have never tasted so good. Source: Adam Liaw

Admittedly, it's a rare event, but should you happen to have leftover wine and cheese, make fromage fort.

There's always soup

Moroccan lentil and vegetable soup will SOS the veggies. Source: Alan Benson

When in doubt, just make soup. You can add any bendy veggie into a soup like this one or this one and it will turn into a bowl full of love.