Simple tips for using leftovers and other kitchen tricks

Don't let food go to waste! Whether you have lots of leftovers or use the freezer to stock up, these easy simple tips will help you make use of it all. And if you end up having more zippered freezer bags than you counted on, we have 10 practical uses for them, too.

• If you've grilled too much salmon or tuna for that dinner party, no worries; use the leftovers for a tasty salad. In a large bowl, combine 350 grams (1½ cups) cooked tuna or salmon, a 425-gram (15-ounce) can of white beans, three thinly sliced green onions, 30 milligrams (two tablespoons) of Italian parsley, one minced garlic clove and 125 millilitres (⅓ cup) of your favourite Italian dressing. Toss and enjoy!
• Save all your leftover veggies for a few days. Dice them. Lightly sauté your mixture in olive oil with savoury seasonings such as oregano, basil and black pepper. Add leftover rice, pasta or other grains. Or, use as filling for a quiche or to fortify a meatloaf.
• Whirl almost any kind of leftover soup that has no bones in a blender or food processor to make a quick sauce or gravy for vegetables or meat.
• Add leftover corn kernels to your jarred salsa. Stirring in corn will not only make for a more colourful presentation, but it will also tone down a salsa you find too spicy for your taste.
• Don't toss out the un-served cooked oatmeal left in the pot when breakfast is done. Instead, use it in batter when making muffins. Add the baking powder, eggs and other ingredients as the recipe directs, and you may find you like the result.
• Don't relegate overripe fruit to the compost or trash. Freeze it and use your frozen bananas, strawberries and peaches to make a delicious smoothie with yogurt or a liquid of your choice. Your smoothies may even taste better, thanks to the concentrated sugars in overripe fruit.

If there's a power outage in your home while you're on vacation, it's essential for you to know about it before you return home and go foraging in your freezer. If your electric power was off for a long time and the food in the freezer thawed and refroze, the entire household could come down with food poisoning.

Here's a trick to figure out if the power goes out when you travel. Before you leave, place a plastic bag full of ice cubes in your freezer and check it when you return. If the cubes have become a solid block, a power outage of some duration occurred. If the ice cubes are as you left them, all is well.

Those handy freezer bags with zippered tops can be used for more than your leftovers!

1. Speed the ripening of fruit by sealing it in a bag.
2. Crush graham crackers for piecrust by putting them in a bag and running a rolling pin over it.
3. Crush nuts by placing them in a plastic bag and pounding them with a hammer.
4. Put the ingredients for meatloaf in a plastic bag, seal it and gently massage the bag. Press the mixture out in to a loaf pan, pat and bake. No messy hands!
5. Seal frozen poultry in a plastic bag and submerge it in cold water for several hours for the safest way to thaw chicken, turkey and game birds.
6. Marinate meat and poultry in a large plastic bag placed in a shallow bowl in the refrigerator.
7. Knead dough in a large plastic bag to keep your hands from getting sticky.
8. Turn a plastic bag into a pastry bag by snipping off a small corner.
9. Protect the recipe card you're using from splatters by enclosing it in a plastic bag.
10. Use a plastic bag as a glove when the phone rings and your hands are oily or covered in flour.

These handy tips and tricks will go a long way to extend the life of your weekly groceries.

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