Got leftover ingredients? Try these snack hacks

When you’re first getting your head around meal planning and prepping, you may feel overwhelmed by what looks like a lot of leftover ingredients. And the last thing anyone wants right now is to be wasting food. “What am I meant to do with this half a head of broccoli?” we hear you crying into the refrigerator.

In a perfect world we’d be able to buy just the right half-a-cup of chickpeas, but until that day, most recipes will leave you with leftover ingredients, which can in turn leave you scratching your head. When you’ve made your meals for the day and you don’t have plans to cook something else using a particular ingredient, it’s easy to feel like you're being wasteful.

But leftover ingredients don’t have to mean food waste – in fact, they can be a great way to cut back on your snack budget and make some tasty treats that you might not otherwise have tried. Here are four suggestions to help you use up the whole can/box/bunch and come out smiling.

Fruit and veggie fiesta

This is one of the easiest tricks in the book: cut up whatever portions of fruit or vegetables you have leftover, and keep them in the fridge for a good-to-go snack! Extra greens, like spinach or broccoli, can be chopped up and frozen for instant smoothie-boosting powers. And don’t forget that broccoli and cauliflower stems make great “rice”! Just steam them lightly and toss in the food processor.

Dips, Dips, Dips

Dips: they’re not just a great arm exercise. You’d be amazed by the variety of delicious dips that you can make with little more than some leftover beans or chickpeas and a bit of imagination: just add some lemon juice or garlic, a bit of olive oil, and give it all a whiz in the food processor. You’ll end up with the perfect amount of dip for an afternoon snack (and save yourself from the late-night temptation of a big bucket of tasty but processed store-bought dip).