Creative Ways to Use Up Leftover Vegetables

The problem with living solo and shopping at the supermarket is that you're forced to buy in quantities that don't always suit one person. I end up with an accumulation of odds and ends in the fridge crisper — half a fennel, three mushrooms, a parsnip that's seen better days. This wasn't such a problem until Frutas Mati closed in the village. Before that, Francisco was quite happy to sell me a single carrot and a bunch of fresh parsley if that's all I needed. Those days are gone.

If you're wondering how to use up leftover vegetables before they become a guilt-inducing reminder at the back of the fridge, here are four approaches that actually work.

Use Up Leftover Vegetables — Roasted Vegetable Tray Bake

A roasted vegetable tray bake is the most straightforward solution — and one of the best. Chop whatever needs using: parsnips, carrots, fennel, broccoli, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and asparagus. Toss with olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper. Roast at 200°C until caramelised at the edges. It requires almost no thought and produces something genuinely good. Serve as a side, pile onto flatbread, or eat straight from the tray.

Use Up Leftover Vegetables in a Stir-Fry

A hot pan and a good glug of oil will rescue most leftover vegetables. Green beans, okra, broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus — sauté with onions and garlic, add a splash of soy sauce, and serve over rice or noodles. Ready in under fifteen minutes and considerably better than it has any right to be given the effort involved. My Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry uses exactly this approach.

Cabbage, Mushroom & Fennel Slaw

White cabbage, fennel, carrots, and mushrooms make a surprisingly good slaw. Shred the cabbage and fennel, grate the carrots, slice the mushrooms thinly. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, sea salt, and black pepper. Sharp, crunchy, and a decent side dish for almost anything coming off the plancha.

Hearty Vegetable Stew

When the weather turns and the crisper drawer is looking particularly sorry for itself, a vegetable stew is the answer. Parsnips, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic, mushrooms — cover with vegetable stock, season with whatever herbs are to hand, and simmer until tender. One pot, minimal effort, and a kitchen that smells considerably better than the fridge did. For more soup and stew ideas, browse the Soup Hub.

One of my favourite ways to use up spare veg is folded into a Sweet Potato & Chard Bubble and Squeak.

For further inspiration on reducing food waste, Love Food Hate Waste is worth bookmarking.

For a more substantial way to use up a fridge full of odds and ends, my Layered Vegetable Cake ooops, Pie turns them into something that looks considerably more impressive than the leftovers suggest.

This roundup of ways to use up leftover vegetables is part of my Veg, Fruit & Pulses collection. Wonky photos, proper produce, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef