Rummaging in the fridge

In the winter, any tired looking vegetables go into a soup. A warm filling lunch, and avoiding waste. Win-win.

Vegetables - as Nonna suggests.
Or I make a veg. casserole. Pre-cook the root veg a little, then slice up all, add some veg. stock, and bake in an oiled ovenproof dish until browned on top.

I also make fishcakes from cooked fish remains and mashed potato. Plus a small onion and an egg.
I've heard that you shouldn't reheat or re-use leftover rice. Is that correct?

Fennei I do and I am still alive but that is correct. Waste not want not.

Am I the only one who if a recipe takes more than 3 or 4 ingredients I don't make it . When you watch cooking programmes the chefs have what seems like dozens of ingredients - all in separate little dishes, all I can think of is who is going to do the washing up!

The important thing with leftover rice is that it should be cooled thoroughly immediately after cooking if you know you've cooked too much. I usually put it in a colander and run it under the cold tap. I think it is safe to reheat then provided, like all food, it is reheated thoroughly.

Cold day old rice is the best thing to make a stir fry with. A tip I recently found when doing egg fried rice, is to add sesame oil to the egg, and scramble it before adding it to the rice. Yummy.
I'm quite good at using up odd vegetables, they go into soups and stir fries.

My fridge is best left unrummaged! Enter at your peril!

I haven't rummaged mine in ages.... perhaps I should be doing that rather than being on here!!

Lucky girl, Dannirae due to me being incapacitated for the last 6 weeks, husband and AC have been cooking and food shopping. I looked in salad drawer yesterday, and wanted to weep, everything had its own 'fur coat'. Now I am able to stand for short periods the fridge is my first job.

I rummaged mine yesterday - you really do not want to know what I found. It looked primordial! That said, I don’t waste much. Veg goes into soup, I juice fruit that is going over; blackened bananas still make good brownies, and everything on a chicken gets used except the three B’s - bones, beak and back end!

After big event there was big box of defrosted burgers going begging, I took it and made a meatloaf for my son and us. I mixed it and mashed it and added onions and spices etc but obv the quality/density of the meat just didn't work. It made two meatloaf shaped bricks that were totally inedible, just unpleasant and solid but I tried so hard!

The only person to rummage in the fridge is DH, but mostly he opens it and stares hopefully into it for a while.

And they do that several times through the evening just in case a pork pie has materialised

That’s exactly it Meno

I think it was someone on Gransnet long ago who coined the term UFO for Unidentified Fridge (or Freezer) Object, of which there are some that I daren't attempt to identify in both fridge and freezer. On one occasion, I found some small round objects in the freezer and took them out to see if I could use them. Just in time, I realised that they were fat balls for the birds.

annodomini -
A non fridge story - but a rummaging incident:
We had a plague of fruit flies last year (successfully dealt with after online search and a purchase of cider vinegar). A few weeks later I was rummaging in the deep draw that I keep lots of stuff, including potatoes in a black, canvas bag and there, at the back, was a plastic bag with disgusting, rotting potatoes in it!! Reason for the fruit flies but no idea why it wasn't in the potato bag - yuk

I make "veggie pie" with whatever veg. is lingering in the fridge--carrots, parsnip, red pepper, mushrooms, broccoli and, of course, onions. I chop them up, cook until tender in very little water, add some stock powder and thicken with a little cornflour. Put it in a baking dish, cover with mashed potato, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake until browned, Delicious!

Regarding the re-heated rice debate; the H&S reccommend that it isn't. but - the Third world all have reheated rice for breakfast and as far as I know, although they die of all sorts, the population isn't dying from re-heated rice. As long as it is kept cold and smells OK, go for it. I do!

I have always resorted to variations of the Spanish omelette. I believe it originated from the poor peasants who just put potatoes and onions in theirs .... mine gets whatever is leftover just chucked in and the kids have always just wolfed it down !

I’m sure there is somebody who could dispense the appropriate H&S advice, were we to ask.
But best not to

Bathsheba Agree on the quick cooling of cooked rice. Do this frequently. All of the "instant" rice available is cooked, we only microwave to heat it up.

I'm with Coconut, - Spanish omelette aka frittata or crustless quiche. We have it once a week containing anything from sad spinach to soft aubergine, & cheeses past their best. This week's one had Camembert, radishes, red pepper, courgette, broccoli, spring onions, & an over-ripe tomato. The colours looked lovely & it tasted delicious.

Fully approve of using leftovers, in the creative ways mentioned above, however, I am worried about people using sprouting potatoes. Here's an extract from Wikipedia "Potatoes naturally produce solanine and chaconine, a related glycoalkaloid, as a defense mechanism against insects, disease, and herbivores. Potato leaves, stems, and shoots are naturally high in glycoalkaloids.

When potato tubers are exposed to light, they turn green and increase glycoalkaloid production. This is a natural defense to help prevent the uncovered tuber from being eaten. The green colour is from chlorophyll, and is itself harmless. However, it is an indication that increased level of solanine and chaconine may be present. In potato tubers, 30–80% of the solanine develops in and close to the skin, and some potato varieties have high levels of solanine".