'From brekky to dessert, here's how I repurpose my leftovers that has the kids scraping their plates for more.'

If there’s something we do really well in my house it’s wasting food.          

It is something we’re really conscious of, and we have the best of intentions. When I grocery shop, I shop intentionally... but any parent knows how it goes. 

A lot of the time you’re shopping with a recipe or number of people in mind, and you can’t just buy half a capsicum or a third of that thickened cream for it.

I’ll pop the unused groceries in the fridge and promise myself I’ll use it in the coming days. But I just don’t. Come bin night, things in our fridge become a bit wrinkly, soft and sad – and the cycle continues. 

It’s madness to me that Australia is said to waste 7.3 million tonnes of food each year, which is enough to fill 13,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

With 5 of us in our house, we almost always have leftovers. So we all made a pact: let’s stop banishing perfectly good leftovers to the fridge for them to be forgotten and wasted. 

Pampas have set out to inspire people to live more sustainably by transforming their leftovers and everyday ingredients into delicious pies and sweet or savoury baked goods. Basically recycling your food has a new term: re-pie-cling.

We’ve always got Pampas pastry sheets in our freezer, and I definitely know that everything tastes better wrapped in pastry, so it was the solution we were looking for! I’m getting pretty good at turning leftovers in our fridge or pantry into another meal with pastry, and quite frankly I think that it works a treat from breakfast, lunch to dinner and dessert.

Here are my super easy recipes to keep the whole family’s stomachs happy, and re-use what you’ve already got.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leanora (@muskaelvis)

Breakfast: Savoury Scrolls

My go-to favourite for the kids as a quick breakfast bite or morning tea are ham and cheese scrolls, or salami and cheese scrolls. We always have leftover bits and pieces from making lunches through the week, particularly cold meats, and parents know how it goes: there's enough left that you don't want to toss just yet, but it's just not enough to make enough sandwiches or wraps for each kid.

So into pastry scrolls they go. 

They're super quick, perfect to pop into school lunchboxes, plus a handy snack to have on hand when the kids have friends over. They can so easily use lots of ingredient combos you might have in the fridge and need to get rid of.

Often we're also making scrolls the day after homemade pizza night or after I throw together a mezze plate for dinner filled with a random bunch of ingredients. (Some nights feeding 5 mouths is a no from me, so chopped items from the fridge that don't require cooking is 10/10).

For scrolls, think leftover combos like ham scraps and pineapple bits from a tin, any olives and capsicum. Even chicken, mushroom and feta scrolls work well with leftover BBQ chook. The options are endless really. 

I also had lots of shredded cheese leftover from nachos the night before (it’d sat out on the bench and had the kids’ hands in it, so thought it’d be best to use it up).

With the first batch we made, we only needed: 

● 2 sheets Pampas Puff Pastry, thawed

● A handful of ham or salami (our leftovers were in big slices so I just diced them into smaller pieces) 

● 1½ cups grated tasty cheese (or any will work that you have left in the fridge) 

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced) and line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Evenly place half the ham, salami or any cold meats you're using over 1 sheet of pastry, and sprinkle half the cheese on top.

Then just roll up from one edge to form a log. You don’t have to roll too tightly, as the pastry will need room to expand. Repeat this with remaining pastry.

Cut each roll in half, then slice each half into 6 equal pieces. Pinch the end of each scroll onto the pastry underneath it, so the scrolls will not unfurl when baking. Put your scrolls onto baking trays, allowing room for spreading, and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. 

Ours didn’t look perfect, but my kids love them. Definitely a crowd pleaser!

Lunch: Sausage Rolls

We had sausages left over after a BBQ, so instead of our usual sanga sandwiches the next day, we thought we’d keep the pastry party going by transforming them into sausage rolls.

You’ll need:

● 2 sheets Pampas Puff Pastry, thawed 

● 8 or so leftover cooked sausages

● 1 egg, beaten lightly 

● 2 tbsp small sage leaves 

A tip for this one: You could even use any leftovers from a barbecued chicken in this recipe instead of sausages, and crumble any leftover seasoned stuffing into the mixture too before baking in the oven. YUM.

For this one, preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced) and line a large oven tray with baking paper. 

Cut your Pampas Pastry sheets into quarters on your tray. Place sausages diagonally on pastry. Fold up two opposite pastry corners, overlapping in the middle; pressing to secure. Brush your pastry with a little egg, and top with sage. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed, golden and heated through. These were a hit and now a leftover staple in our house.

Dinner: Deep Dish Pizza Pie

YES, you read correctly. My family and I are obsessed with this one.

You’ll need:

● 220g Pampas Shortcrust Pastry Case 

● ½ cup tomato pasta sauce or pizza sauce (we used leftover bolognese sauce) 

● 1 cup mixed antipasto items or pizza toppings you have leftover 

● 50g thinly sliced pepperoni, ham or other salami 

● 1¼ cups (150g) any cheese you have in the fridge

● 100g veggies you need to get rid of, like capsicums (trimmed and chopped)

● ¼ cup baby basil leaves 

For the antipasto items, we used some leftover cold meats, chargrilled eggplant and a handful of pitted kalamata olives we had uneaten from a platter after friends visited our house. We added ham to this mix too, as the kids hadn't eaten the last of it in the fridge from school lunches.

Also, any of your favourite pizza toppings you might have left uneaten in the fridge can sub into this one too (like capsicum, cherry tomatoes, broccolini and sundried tomato).

Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and pre-bake the pastry case according to the box directions. Set aside to cool slightly. 

Sprinkle your cheese on the base of the pastry case, spread your leftover bolognese sauce (or sauce alternative you have leftover) over this, then sprinkle with another handful of cheese. Top with your veggies and/or uneaten antipasto items, and add any meats you’re not wanting to go to waste; sprinkle with remaining cheese. 

Bake 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling. Top with basil leaves to serve, and fall in love with every bite (like we did).

Dessert: Fruit Bowl Crumble Tart

Image: Supplied. 

Saving my personal favourite for last. This was used from the uneaten sliced apple and pear from the kids’ school Munch, Crunch & Sip, and also the fruit that didn’t quite fit into the container in our overflowing fridge. (I would have usually passed them to the dog or chucked in the green bin).

Introducing the Fruit Bowl Crumble Tart. Husband said he would pay actual money for this, and my eldest (who doesn't usually like cooked berries) is obsessed with it, so I must have done something right here. My youngest loves making this, as she loves to break all the biscuits, and eat them as she goes. 

You’ll need:

● 2 sheets Pampas Puff Pastry, thawed

● Around 2 apples or pears, sliced thinly 

● 375g fresh or frozen berries

● 175g any plain biscuits

● 60g butter, chopped 

● ½ tsp ground cinnamon 

● ½ cup (110g) caster sugar 

● 100g any nuts, chopped coarsely

Optional: We served ours with icing sugar and thickened cream, but even custard would work a treat here

(From the ingredients above, we used a few stray shortbread fingers from the cupboard, our opened pack of walnuts and a mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries). 

Preheat oven to 220˚C (200˚C fan-forced) and line a large oven tray with baking paper. Place your pastry sheets on there, overlapping by around 2cm to form a long rectangle. 

Crumble biscuits into a bowl (chop if firm), and add butter, cinnamon and sugar. Rub the butter and sugar together with biscuits until combined, then stir in your mix of nuts. Scatter around three-quarters of the crumble mixture evenly over the pastry leaving a 5cm border. Top with all your fruit and remaining crumble. Fold in the long sides, then short sides, pressing down on pastry slightly to secure. 

Image: Supplied. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is puffed, golden and cooked through. To serve, jazz it up with anything like a dusting of icing sugar, cream or custard. This is sure to impress whoever may be coming over and dining with you.

I think it’s time to toot my own horn: I’m getting really good at re-pie-cling with our leftovers. There is now more of a reason to always keep Pampas pastry sheets in your freezer like we do in our house. 

It’s important to do all we can to reduce our food waste (great for sustainability and let’s be honest, our savings) and still create some really tasty goodness that everyone under your roof will be scraping their plates for more.

What leftovers will you be repurposing with pastry? We want more re-pie-cling inspiration! Tell us in the comments below.

Feature Image: Supplied.