How do I use up leftover vegetables?

Leftover vegetables are the largest single category of household food waste, and the reason is usually not knowing what to do with an odd combination. Formats solve that: each one tolerates almost any contents, so you never need a recipe that matches exactly what you have.

What you'll need

• Whatever you have
• Baking tray or large pan
• Stock cube (optional)
• Eggs (optional)

Step by step

1. Sort what you have by condition: firm, soft, or tired.Firm vegetables suit dry-heat methods; soft ones suit wet ones; tired ones go in stock.
2. For firm leftovers, make a traybake.Chop evenly, oil, salt, hot oven, dense things first and quick things added partway.
3. For a mixed bag with eggs available, make a frittata.Sauté the vegetables, pour over beaten eggs, cook low, finish under the grill. Six eggs to about 400g of filling.
4. For soft or wilting vegetables, make soup.The most forgiving format there is. Soften onion, add everything, cover with stock, simmer, blend.
5. For anything with cooked rice available, make fried rice.Hot pan, aromatics, chopped vegetables, cold rice, egg, soy. Cold rice is essential.
6. For a curry base, fry spices in oil then add the vegetables and liquid.Almost any combination works. Firm ones go in first, soft ones later.
7. For genuinely tired vegetables and trimmings, make stock.Or freeze the trimmings in a bag until you have enough. Avoid brassicas, which go sulphurous.
8. Season properly and finish with acid.Improvised dishes particularly need salt and a squeeze of lemon to taste deliberate rather than accidental.

Tips

• Freeze odd leftover vegetables in a bag as you go, and make soup when the bag is full. It removes the pressure to use them immediately.
• Wilting vegetables are almost always fine cooked, even past salad quality. Appearance and usability are different things.
• Roasting concentrates flavour, which makes it the best format for vegetables that are past their best but still firm.

Common mistakes

• Trying to find a recipe that matches exactly what you have — It rarely exists. Formats tolerate variation; recipes do not.
• Putting brassicas in stock — Cabbage, broccoli and sprouts turn stock sulphurous and bitter.
• Combining too many strong flavours — Improvised dishes go wrong by including everything. Pick a direction.

Questions people ask