Easy recipes and tips to avoid food waste this Christmas, including turkey hotpot and quesadillas

It’s getting even closer to the main event, but if you find yourself with lots of leftovers from Christmas Day, don’t despair as there are many easy ways to re-use festive food, says Rosalind Erskine.

If you’re starting to stock the fridge up with food for Christmas, or are still planning the Christmas Day meal, it’s important to think about what to do with any leftovers. It’s an indulgent time of the year, but you can also save money and do your bit for the planet by cutting down on any food waste accrued over December.

It is thought 270,000 tonnes of Christmas food is thrown away every year and that Brits will fill around seven million bins worth of food waste over the festive season. With this in mind, why not get creative with any food left in the fridge?

The most common dishes to whip up from Christmas dinner leftovers include sandwiches, turkey curries, bubble and squeak, soups and turkey omelettes. For those wanting more inspiration, some of Scotland’s top chefs have shared recipes that will help cut down on waste, but are also easy and delicious.

MasterChef: The Professionals winner and father-of-five Gary Mclean’s inspiration for his three mouth-watering creations is to spotlight locally sourced produce from Aldi Scotland’s variety of Scottish suppliers

Scotland’s national chef Gary Maclean has teamed up with Aldi Scotland to create tasty winter warmer recipes that are easy to make and won’t break the bank. The inspiration for three creations from Mr Maclean, MasterChef: The Professionals winner and father-of-five, is to spotlight locally sourced produce while highlighting ways in which customers can be savvier with their shopping and make use of their seasonal leftovers.

He says: “Each recipe has been created entirely from Aldi produce, using lots of fresh ingredients that are typically top of the shopping list at this time of year. This means you don’t have to go out of your way to source any unusual or expensive items, and you can make the most out of your Christmas supermarket shop.

The Smoked Salmon and Prawn Fishcakes with broccoli salad is a new take on some old Christmas favourites – prawn cocktail or smoked salmon bellinis, using these classic ingredients to create a quick, easy and light dish in the air fryer. For those cold winter nights, the Scotch Beef Stew with Vegetables and Lentils is a one pot family favourite in my house that uses budget-friendly and locally sourced ingredients. Finally, the Chocolate, Nut and Clementine Cake is the perfect dish to use up all of your leftover chocolate, nuts and fruit and it’s one the kids can get involved in.”

Last year Aldi Scotland re-established National Leftover Day on December 27 to encourage Scottish households to make most of their festive scraps. This echoes Mr Maclean’s work with Zero Waste Scotland. The partnership between the two aims to shine a light on needless food waste and encourage families to be savvier with their shopping and love their leftovers.

Chef Gary Maclean has teamed up with Aldi Scotland to showcase local producers and create easy, low cost recipes to ensure there's no leftovers this Christmas.

Tips for leftovers

Business Waste has reported around four million Christmas dinners end up in the bin in the UK every year. This waste ends up in landfill where it rots and releases methane, which contributes to global warming. Yet there is a lot people can do to avoid this. The waste management company has shared easy tips to reduce waste food this festive season, including making soup, using food scraps as compost, donating what people can to a food bank, including in-date biscuits and cakes, and making stock with vegetable scraps.

Christmas leftover recipes

Chef Lucia Gregusova, the executive chef at Duck & Waffle Edinburgh, has shared his recipe for hotpot. He said: “One thing you can almost always guarantee during the festive season is that there will be leftovers. Growing up in Slovakia and having lived in the USA and UK, I’ve seen Christmas celebrated in many and enjoyed in many ways and we always have dishes left over. Back in the US, I was always a huge fan of pot pie. It’s such a comforting dish. You get to use up all your leftovers and it most certainly is a crowd pleaser. It was a great way to repurpose any leftover vegetables, or meat and gravy into a pie with golden puff pastry on it.”

Business Waste reported that around 4 million Christmas dinners end up in the bin in the UK every year.

Turkey pot pie recipe with cranberry sauce recipe

Ingredients

• 75 g butter
• 200g sliced leeks
• 200 g diced carrot
• 200g diced celery
• 2 cups of leftover gravy
• 1 cup of cooked diced new potato
• 2 cups of turkey ( breast or leg meat)
• 20g fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup of brussels sprouts
• Puff pastry
• 1 egg

Method

You can reduce food waste this Christmas by being creative in the kitchen.

Melt the butter, sauté leeks, carrots, and celery until translucent. Add new potato with cooked sprouts and gravy. Bring up to a boil and add your turkey and herbs. We are looking for a nice thick stew. If your gravy is on the lighter side, consider adding a couple of tablespoons of flour when you melt the butter to create a roux. Pour your pie base into the casserole dish of your choice and cover with puff pastry. Seal on the edges and wash with an egg. Cut a small incision in a pastry for steam to escape and bake for 30-35min until the crust is golden brown. I always keep an extra cranberry sauce on the side as well.

Clare Coghill, chef-owner of Café Cùil on the Isle of Skye, shared this recipe for roasted turkey, Brie and cranberry Quesadilla. She said: “This is a great leftovers recipe. Anything put into a tortilla with melted cheese is going to be a winner, and it's no exception for Christmas dinner leftovers. Shredded turkey with melted brie and cranberry is the ultimate post-Christmas snack to fight food waste.”

Turkey, Brie and cranberry quesadilla

Ingredients

• 1 x tortilla 10" or similar
• Handful of brie or any other leftover cheese that will melt when heated.
• Cranberry sauce or leftover chutney
• Cooked turkey, shredded into small pieces

Method

Heat up a non-stick frying pan and add your tortilla wrap. On one half of the wrap only, generously place your turkey meat, cheese and cranberry sauce on top of each other. Fold the tortilla over so the wrap forms an envelope and the cheese is able to melt. Once golden and crispy on the outside, remove from the pan and place onto a chopping board. Cut the wrap into slices and share with the family.

Gary Maclean’s Scotch Beef Stew with Veg and Lentils

Ingredients:

• 800g Diced Scotch Beef
• 2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of Celery, peeled and chopped
• ½ head of Celeriac, peeled and chopped
• ½ bulb of Garlic, chopped
• 25g Tomato Puree
• 25g Plain Flour
• 175ml Red Wine
• 500ml Beef Stock, a stock cube works well
• 2 sprigs of Thyme
• ½ Savoy Cabbage, shredded
• 200g Green Lentils, pre-soaked and cooked
• 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes

Method

In a large pot, brown the beef then remove from the pan and set aside. You might need to do this in a couple of stages. You don’t want to over fill the bottom of the pan. Add the carrots, celery, leek and celeriac to the pan. Once softened, add garlic and cook for a further two minutes. Add into the pan the tomato puree and flour to create a sticky mix.

Add the red wine and reduce down, so the wine incorporates into the vegetables. Add the beef stock, tin of tomatoes and the thyme. Pop the browned beef back into the pot, cover and put in the oven for about 1.5 hours at 150C, or in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes.

Once the beef is tender, remove from the oven and then add the shredded savoy cabbage and the cooked lentils. Place back onto the stove, bring to the boil and check the seasoning.