Surprising ways with 5 things you have sitting in your pantry right now

Wraps/ tortillas

1. Brush or spray with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika, chilli flakes, oregano or rub with garlic, cut into 'chips' and bake until golden and crunchy.
2. Fold in half, fill with baked beans, tomatoes, corn, cheese and mexican chilli powder and cook in a sandwich press. Top quesadillas with some guacamole and leafy greens to serve!
3. Cut into quarters, press each quarter into the hole of a muffin tin and fill with spring onion, ham, tomato and an egg. Bake until tortilla is crispy and egg is cooked.

Tinned chickpeas

1. Blend along with some garlic, tahini and olive oil for quick hummus dip.
2. Throw a tin in the food processor along with some onion, garlic, cumin, lemon juice and parsley. Add some breadcrumbs if needed and shape into falafels. Pan fry or oven bake until golden.
3. Spread onto a baking tray, spray with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika, cumin and a little salt. Bake until crispy for a healthy snack.

Thai curry paste

1. Use to marinate prawns, thread onto skewers and grill
2. Add to fish cakes for a hit of flavour
3. Put a dollop in your stir-fried greens and toss through rice noodles for a quick veggie dish

Pesto

1. Spread onto bread to add instant flavour to any sandwich (try filling with chicken, roasted capsicum, rocket and fetta) or simply onto a piece of toast to accompany a soup or salad.
2. Stir through zucchini 'zoodles' (if you haven't yet heard of these, google it!) and top with some halved cherry tomatoes and pine nuts for a yummy salad.
3. Spread over white fish or chicken, sprinkle with chopped cashews and bake in the oven.

Dukkah

1. Press onto lamb cutlets before grilling for extra flavour.
2. Roll soft boiled eggs in dukkah and use to top toast with roasted veg, a quick salad or some toast
3. Spread toast with avocado, sprinkle with dukkah and squeeze over some lemon juice for a satisfying snack.

The complete balanced meal planner

Here it is: the dietitian-devised complete balanced meal planner! Choose any combination of steps 1-6 and you will create a healthy, and flavoursome, balanced meal. Give it a try for yourself and have a go planning your dinners (or lunches) for the week.

Step 1: Choose your protein

This should take up ¼ of your plate. Choose lean meats and trimmed of skin and fat, dried or reduced salt tinned versions of lentils and other legumes, raw or dry roasted, unsalted nuts and natural nut and seed butters (without added sugar or salt) and reduced fat dairy, where possible.

Meat:

100g beef, lamb, kangaroo, veal, chicken, turkey, pork or fish (in the form of mince, steak, breast, diced, sliced, tinned, skewers, rissoles, meatballs, etc)

Meat alternatives:

2 large eggs

170g tofu or tempeh

1 C lentils, chickpeas, red kidney beans, cannellini beans and other legumes

30g nuts, seeds, or nut or seed paste

Dairy:

1 cup (250mL) milk

½ cup (120mL) evaporated milk

2 slices (40g) hard cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, fetta)

½ (120g) cup soft cheese (ricotta, cottage)

¾ cup (200g) plain natural or Greek-style yoghurt

Step 2: Choose your carbohydrate

This should take up another ¼ of your plate. Choose wholegrain and low GI versions where possible.

Grains:

1 cup cooked pasta (spaghetti, penne, risoni, lasagne sheets, cannelloni tubes, wonton wrappers etc), noodles (rice, egg), rice, quinoa, pearl barley, buckwheat, bulgur, polenta or semolina

2 slices bread, 1 medium roll, 1 flatbread (wrap, pita etc)

4 crispbreads

2 small English muffins or crumpets

1/3 cup flour (wheat, buckwheat, quinoa, rice, corn) or breadcrumbs- into patties, pancakes etc

Starchy vegetables:

1 medium potato, sweet potato, parsnip, taro or cassava

1 medium corn cob

1 cup lentils, chickpeas, red kidney beans, cannellini beans and other legumes

Step 3: Choose your vegetables

This should take up the remaining ½ of your plate. Each of the following is 1 serve; aim for 3 or more serves to fill half your plate. Choose fresh, frozen, or reduced salt tinned versions and as many different colours as possible.

Cooked:

½ cup cooked green, orange, white or purple vegetables (e.g. broccoli, carrot, pumpkin, cauliflower, mushrooms, beetroot, etc)

½ cup cooked beans, peas, lentils or other legumes

Raw:

1 cup leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, rocket, kale, silverbeet, etc)

1 cup raw salad vegetables (cucumber, capsicum, sprouts, etc)

1 medium tomato

Step 4: Choose your cooking method for each element

Note: Plate elements (protein, carbohydrate and vegetables) can be cooked together or cooked and kept separately.

Boil

Microwave

Steam

BBQ/grill

Stir-fry

Pan-fry

Poach

Bake/roast

Stew/casserole

Toast

Step 5: Choose your flavour base

Usually in tablespoon quantities per plate.

Marinade

Tomato

Stock

White or red wine

Soy/tamari/hoisin/oyster/fish sauce

Herb or spice rub

Reduced fat cream or evaporated milk

Pesto

Curry paste

Step 6: Choose your flavour additions

Usually in teaspoon or tablespoon quantities per plate.

Herbs- fresh, dried or paste

Spices

Onion

Garlic

Chilli

Ginger

Lemon, lime or other citrus

Cheese- parmesan, fetta, ricotta, mozzarella, etc

Condiments- mustard, chilli jam, etc

Olive or nut oils

What to do with that floppy carrot (plus other nifty ideas to reduce your food waste)

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how big a problem food waste is in the developed world. But at the household level, what can we do to reduce the amount of food we throw away each week? I'm sure we've all had to throw food away at some stage because it's past its use-by-date or gone limp in the crisper, started sprouting or just gone stale! And we tend to throw perfectly edible food away too, just because we don't know what to do with it. Well, I’ve done a bit of research and come up with some tips, tricks and everyday ideas to make your food go further!

I bet your grandmother didn't waste it!

Tips & tricks:

1. Plan your meals for the week and make a shopping list (that you’ll actually stick to).
2. Go ‘shopping’ in your own fridge and pantry first! You’ll be surprised at what’s been hiding away… and keep an eye on use-by-dates so you can use things before they go off.
3. Love your leftovers- it could mean there’s one less night you have to cook (perfect for when you’re busy) or that lunches are sorted for the following day- who wouldn’t love that?
4. If you need to buy one ingredient for a particular recipe and you know you won’t need all of it, plan to cook something else that week that could also use it.
5. Only buy fresh as you need it, but when it comes to fruit and veg, frozen and tinned is often just as good and will last a lot longer!
6. Buying in bulk is cheaper… but only if you’ll actually get through it all. Be realistic about the quantities you’ll use, or shop with a friend or two and divide your bulk purchases.
7. Store your food correctly so you don’t shorten it’s lifespan, follow pack directions if it says to refrigerate after opening, store opened dry ingredients in an air-tight container, vegetables in the crisper and potatoes, onions and other root veg in a dark cool place (like a cupboard)
8. Don’t feel you need to stick exactly to a recipe, adapt it to what you have at home- cooking should be about experimentation!
9. Don’t cook for six if you’re only serving three- unless you’re an avid leftovers fan you will invariably end up throwing some away. Bring out those maths skills and divide the ingredient quantities accordingly, OR freeze your leftovers (but make you label and date the containers).
10. Don’t pile your plate up just because that’s how much you usually serve yourself, listen to body and only serve up the amount you think you’ll actually need to feel satisfied.
11. And of course, compost any scraps that can’t be saved. 

Freezing fresh herbs to make them last longer.

Everyday ideas:

1. Don’t throw out old limp vegetables, scraps like peels or tops and tails that you’d usually cut and discard- use them to make a vegetable stock or puree into a soup.
2. Overripe bananas and other fruits are great in smoothies, cakes and muffins.
3. The stems of broccoli and cauliflower can also be used! Slice finely and add to a stir-fry.
4. Just like potato skin, sweet potato and pumpkin skins are also edible! But if you’re mashing these veg (or don’t usually like the texture of the skin), don’t throw out the peels, spray with a little oil, sprinkle with a little spice or garlic and bake in the oven until crispy and they become healthy chips (with a great dose of fibre and antioxidants to boot)!
5. If you can’t get through a whole bunch of fresh herbs, chop finely and put in an ice cube tray with a small amount of oil or water and freeze until needed (and don't forget the stems too)! You can also freeze fresh lemon and lime juice or zest.
6. Freeze bread to prevent it going stale, or turn fresh-gone-stale bread into toast, breadcrumbs or crispy croutons.
7. Have an ‘all-in’ meal at the end of the week to use up any veg, leftover roast meats, cheese or herbs. Omelettes, frittatas, fritters, soups and homemade pizzas work well for this.
8. Keep the seeds from your pumpkin, clean them, dry them and roast in the oven- they’re great as a snack to munch on.
9. Collect seeds from pumpkins, passionfruit, pawpaw, avocados, mangoes, lychee, nuts, hot chillies or capsicum for planting in the backyard. Sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, ginger, and garlic cloves will shoot quite quickly after planting. You can also take the white root end of a leek, spring onion or fennel, place in a glass jar with a little water in a sunny spot and it will continue to sprout just like that!

Growing your own spring onion from old roots.