Leftovers --- yummy!

Reading an article in the esteemed Saturday Mail... so this MUST be true...! Apparently the average family in Britain dumps food worth 680 pounds per year (= about 2.5 million USh). Britain as a nation throws away enough food annually to fill Wembley Stadium nine times over per year, or, 7.2 millions tons of food, worth 12 billion pounds. Apparently 5 million potatoes get thrown away every day. How they counted them I have no idea... But according to this paper, most of the food thrown away is fruit and veg, bread and other perishables which have gone off.

The point of the article is to announce that a new food packaging has been invented and is being used by some supermarkets already, made of natural substances, which allows moisture to escape and so prevents the food going mouldy, so that it stays fresh and edible for longer. It is made by a firm called EVAP. It does sound great. Bring it on!

My thought was, "How can we waste so much food?!!"

I don't throw away much at all, and my fridge is usually cluttered with little pots of leftovers which Dan usually eats (!) Not sure if that is good... but if the leftovers could go towards another proper meal, it would a) save us money b) use less resources c) waste less - which is good in itself isn't it?

So I thought I would put down here a couple of things I do with leftovers, and if anyone has any good recipes/ideas for using leftovers constructively, other than just microwaving them later, please tell me.

Uneaten bread crusts and any ends of loaf which have gone stale I put in the freezer, and use them for breadcrumbs another time, usually to put into meatloaf or hamburgers. Or for "stuffing" (dressing). I have recently revived a chocolate bread and butter pudding recipe which is really great as well for using slightly stale bread. And is yummy!

Leftover mashed potatoes can be refried as a patty in a frying pan, and if there is any leftover cooked green vegetable at the same time, you can chop it up, and mix it into the mashed potatoes before frying - that makes an old British favourite called "Bubble and Squeak" and is actually really delicious!
Promise!

I use leftover rice by cooking it in a frying pan with a beaten egg and any veggies, as fried rice.

Any bits of vegetables left in the bottom section of the fridge can be cooked up together in stock and blended for soup - known as "Bottom of the River" soup by a friend's mum.

Leftover baked or boiled potatoes get cut up into chunks and used in Spanish omelette which we all love. Leftover sausages/ frankfurters get sliced and put on pizza.

I would love to hear any other good ideas for using leftovers... Saving the planet one leftover potato at a time!