November is ‘Love your Leftovers‘ month, a special event created by the folks at Love Food Hate Waste to encourage kiwi
families to eat their leftover food. Every year in New Zealand a whopping $870 million worth of uneaten food goes to waste when people throw it away. That’s enough to buy over 60 private islands in the Carribean! Meanwhile, we also have many families who struggle to buy groceries each week.
There are a few things that YOU can do to help, and one of the big ones is making sure that good, edible food is not going into the rubbish bin. It might not be very exciting to eat the same food two days in a row, but there are lots of easy ways to jazz up your leftovers to create a tasty new meal, and it might even save you some money.
Couldn’t finish those vegetables? Try reusing them in an omelette or putting them on top of a pizza. Cooked too much meat to feed the crew? Try creating a new flavour of pie. You can even chuck those potato peels in the oven for a delicious crispy snack. For more inspiration, check out these leftover recipes. And don’t forget, freezing food is a great way to store it for later!
Wellington City Libraries are supporting this wonderful event by creating book displays that encourage using leftovers. Keep an eye out for one in your local library, or head over to the catalogue to start searching (and reserving for free!).