What to do with leftover food

FRESH HERBS
Buy a couple of herb plants and grow them on a sunny windowsill so you have ready access to small amounts. Use handfuls of leftover herbs in salads. Hardier herbs such as rosemary and thyme can be dried.

VEGETABLES
At the end of the week, roast leftover vegetables in the oven. You can do this with almost anything, except leafy greens.

Chop them into roughly 2cm-sized pieces, drizzle with olive oil, then roast in the oven for 30–40 minutes. Pair these with meat or fish, scatter with leftover herbs and fetta, use as a home-made pizza topping, or stir through cooked pasta.

SPINACH & GREENS
Ignore the recipe and add half or whole bunches of spinach and other greens to your dinner.

They may look unwieldy in the pan, but they wilt when cooked and their flavour won’t dominate your meal. Fresh greens can also be frozen.

COOKED RICE
It’s easy to cook too much rice and end up with some left over.

Leftover rice needs to be handled carefully, as it can potentially cause food poisoning. Put any left over in the fridge straight after cooking, so it cools rapidly, and use it within three days.

I try to avoid the problem of cooking too much rice in the first place by measuring out the amount I need.

Leftover rice also makes a great breakfast when it’s combined with fruit, yoghurt and a sprinkling of nuts.

CHEESE
It’s quite hard to buy a small amount of cheese. So if you’re not a big dairy eater, freeze leftover bits of hard, yellow cheese such as parmesan and cheddar. Cut it into useable portions first, then freeze, either in a block or grated.

MILK
Leftover milk can be frozen for up to three months. Pour into a zip-lock bag or small plastic container and place in the freezer before it has passed its use-by date.