Using What You've Got

With our grocery bill being so much higher than what I want it to be, I am trying to focus my efforts on using everything we buy. That means making sure nothing in the fridge, cupboard, or fruitbowl goes mouldy, smelly or otherwise unedible before we get to it.

We noticed recently that some of our fruit was getting too soft for fresh eating. So I made fruit crumble for dessert. It ended up with 2 Golden Delicious apples, 2 Packham pears and 1 banana. And it was delicious!Last night we had another crumble, this time with just apples, to use up some windfall/codling mothed ones from my parent's trees. It took me hardly any time to prepare, as last time I made a big batch of crumble topping in the food processor and froze it in portions ready for use. All I had to do now was chop fruit, pour the topping on, and cook. How easy is that? Yum, yum, yummy! And I get the satisfaction of using something that might otherwise be wasted. I added a few chopped dates and a pinch of ground cloves for extra flavour. I think we will be having another one next week, as there are more apples to use and this is by far the easiest way I've found of using them! Not that either of us are complaining. Apple crumble is good, no matter what the reason for making it.

Fruit crumble waiting for its crumble!

What creative ways have you come up with lately to use up food you might otherwise have to throw away?

Amy