Helen Peacocke presents the saving graces in this season of abundance Recooked leftover food doesn’t have to be boring and it certainly doesn’t have to be thrown away. Apparently each month most families throw at least £60 worth of good food away that was bought but not eaten – this shouldn’t happen, particularly when so many people in the world are starving.

This time of the year most families are thought to spend at least £200 on their festive food shop, some spend more. Sadly much of this food is purchased out of an insecurity that we may not have enough food to offer if friends turn up unexpectedly. This is after all the season when we want to appear generous.

The main Christmas meal is where a great deal of food is wasted, mainly because we are not used to cooking for a large numbers and overestimate the amount needed. Fortunately most of those leftovers can be used the next day if they haven’t been left in a warm room for too long. They can be transformed with a pinch or two of curry powder, a tin of tomatoes or the liquidiser. Christmas soup for example is simply delicious and created so simply by liquidising together left over roast potatoes, all the unwanted vegetables, bits of turkey and any gravy sauce you have in the refrigerator, along with that little bit of stuffing to give it bit of a lift. One word of warning however, the hygiene rules that apply on a hot summer’s day when cooking a barbecue also apply during the festive season, particularly as the heating is often on higher than usual and cooked food is left hanging around for too long before clearing it from the table and placing it into the refrigerator.

Remember to golden rule is to keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Do that and you shouldn’t go wrong.

One problem that often occurs is an overstuffed refrigerator, due mainly to the size of the turkey carcass that often takes up so much room. It’s impossible to get the rest of the food in safely. If you are able to break it down so that it doesn’t take up too much space that will help, otherwise it is worth placing it in a large soup saucepan of water and then straight on to the stove to make stock. Once the stock begins to taste good – this state can usually be achieved after a couple of hours, try bringing to fast boil with the lid off to reduce the volume. What you will get then is a concentrated stock that takes up even less room in the freezer. Do not freeze it, however, until it has cooled.

This stock can be poured into ice cube trays, frozen, then bagged in small batches for future to use as you would use stock cubes. There is something very satisfying about cooking with your own stock.

“Love Food Hate Waste”, brought to us by WRAP, the Banbury-based not-for-profit company established in 2000, has come up with five sure ways to save money on our food bills and avoid waste. They advise that we: Check the use-by-dates on food in your fridge, moving some to the freezer if necessary. Small quantities of Cheddar cheese at the back of the fridge can be grated, mixed with breadcrumbs and frozen saved until a savoury topping is needed, or stirred into mashed potatoes.

Try to keep your store cupboard and freezer well stocked with a variety of canned, dried and frozen goods that you know your family will eat so that you can pull together a meal at any time if necessary.

Find a way of measuring the right amount of basic staples to serve so that there is no waste.

Transform leftovers into delicious meals, sandwiches and soups. Plan your meals. Before you go shopping start by checking your fridge, freezer and store cupboard to see what needs using up.

Other tricks I use include freezing a sliced loaf in small packs so that you can pull a couple of slices out of the freezer to make a sandwich without having to waste the entire loaf.

Pasties made out of leftovers such as turkey and vegetables prove a great way of using food and creating a dish that can be frozen and enjoyed during January. If the pastry is made beforehand and stored in the freezer until needed, pasties really don’t take long to make. Actually, they make a great Boxing Day snack, a perfect meal to enjoy after a bracing walk.

Actually bubble and squeak that can be served with the pastes doesn’t just have to be mashed potatoes and cabbage, you can add all sorts of leftovers to mashed potato for a tasty vegetable. Bits of bacon, ham or gammon can be added to mashed potatoes too. For further ideas that will help you save both money and food this festive season phone WRAP on 0808 100 2040. Their headquarters are at The Old Academy, 21 Horse Fair, Banbury OX16 0AH.

RECIPE
Ham and pea soup created from leftovers - serves four
 

This soup is really delicious if you are able to use leftover turkey stock or gravy to make it, but don’t worry if that has all been used up a chicken or vegetable stock cube will do just as well. After all the rich festive food, a nourishing bowl of warm soup served with crusty bread makes a nice change. This soup is so easy to make it can be prepared and cooked within half an hour.

You will need

* One medium onion, roughly
chopped
* 1¾ pints (1litre) turkey stock
* 1lb (450g) frozen or leftover peas
* 10oz (250g) leftover ham or gammon
* Oil to fry the onion and croutons
* Salt and freshly ground black peppercorns to season (Go easy on the salt, or ignore it altogether as the gammon may have a high salt content)
* Two slices of bread for croutons

Method

The croutons are made by cutting the bread into small squares which are then gently fried until brown in a little oil, and drained on kitchen paper once cooked. They can be added to each bowl of soup or placed in a dish so that everyone can help themselves.

* Rough chop onions and cook until soft in a little oil.
* Add the stock and the peas and bring to the boil.
* Add half the gammon/ham to the soup and shred the rest.
* Allow soup to cool down so that it can be safely put through the liquidizer – zap to a smooth pulp, add the shredded gammon/ham and cook to full heat again, taste and season.
* Serve with croutons.