On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me… 12 foods a-keeping
With Christmas only a day away it’s time to think about how to store those dinner leftovers to get the most from them on boxing day, and the day after and the week after that!
All you need is 6 things to help you store your leftovers ready for you to make other delicious meals next week.
Airtight containers
No need for cling film and foil – it’s time to start using and re-using your plastic containers. You can buy them, or rescue them from other uses. Use empty ice cream tubs, margarine tubs, plastic takeaway boxes; they all work well and won’t cost you anything extra – after all, you already bought them.
Bag clips
A cheap and easy way to keep food inside its wrapping in both the cupboard and freezer. Use them to stop pasta escaping in the cupboard when the bag is knocked over or to re-close the frozen carrots bag in the freezer. Saves you time cleaning the cupboard shelves and finding random peas in the bottom of the freezer drawers! A free alternative is to use pegs or paperclips.
Ice cube trays
There are so many more uses for these than just making ice!
- Pour in leftover wine (if you have any) and freeze. Use the wine cubes to flavour sauces or gravy.
- Chop up fresh herbs, put them in the tray, cover in water and freeze. Use in soups, sauces or risotto.
- Blend fruit and put in the tray. Frozen fruit cubes can be added to smoothies or milkshakes to add flavour and help make them cold, just blend the cubes into the rest of the ingredients or add them like ice cubes.
Once these have frozen, you can remove them from the ice cube tray and store in bags or airtight containers so you can freeze more.
‘Half of one’ container
Leaving half an onion in the fridge always makes everything smell. This lovely, funny shaped container is ideal for half an onion or half a grapefruit. Keeps it fresh for longer and keeps the rest of your fridge free from smells.
Blender
Use your blender to get some of your leftovers ready for storing. Blend your herbs or bananas before putting them in the ice cube trays. Blend your leftover vegetables in to soup then store in an airtight container.
Freezer
You can’t refreeze something you’ve defrosted unless you cook it first. Lots of things can be frozen though. On the 10th day of Christmas our true love gave us freezing tips, so check these out