These oat cookies are a great way to use up random nuts, seeds and dried fruit in the pantry. Plus they're delicious.

A light and healthy savoury tart is the perfect recipe to use up leftovers and still please the family.

Begin this recipe 1 day ahead. You will need four 400ml glass jars or cups.

This one-bowl batter can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge, then baked while you’re sitting down to eat dinner.

“This version of minestrone is basically a hearty lamb stew. It should use the best of what is around and can be made at any time of the year. It’s a great way to maximise roast leftovers, plus use up those quarter bags of pasta from the pantry. When it’s warmer, keep it fresher and serve with less broth. In the cooler months, add some bacon, serve it with bread and use it to warm your cockles,” says chef Monty Koludrovic.

There’s no need for fancy ice creams when you can pimp your own with favourite ingredients (and alcohol, if you feel like it).

Billie McKay takes no-waste up a notch with her clever pasta that uses the whole vegetable.

Perfect for dinner. Even better as leftovers for lunch the next day!

This blondie is comforting in many ways. One, it’s delicious, and two, you feel amazing when you see how many half-empty packets of chocolate you can use up.

Use up any leftover bread with this ingenious twist on a classic panzanella.

Chook gets a second look in rice paper wrappers for the prefect leftovers to lunch box meal.

Use up leftover bread and tomatoes in this easy side dish.

“Pack the leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch,” says cook and tv personality Hayden Quinn.

“Choosing a whole fish is far more economical than buying fillets. While the bones are traditionally discarded, smoking them, as I do here, produces a wonderfully tasty condiment to accompany the fish and chips,” says chef Josh Niland.

These earthy, meat-free rissoles are great as leftovers the next day as well.