Tips for a thrifty holiday without leftovers

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We would not even imagine how many delicacies are hidden in the cupboard or the freezer, which we can use for festive dishes. It is worth looking around our home to see if there is a batch of homemade cookies lurking in the pantry to make coconut balls, or shredded meat in the freezer for the holiday lunch. Raw materials with a shelf life, such as dry pasta, flour or sugar, can be safely consumed even after the expiry date. If we find one in the pantry, look at it, smell it, taste it, and if it’s okay, use it. In contrast, it is not worth experimenting with foods with a shelf life (dairy products, meat), because they can cause illness after the expiration date.

Let’s plan the menu

The ingredients found in the pantry and freezer can be a good starting point for us when planning the menu. It is worth putting together a simpler menu that requires fewer ingredients, thereby saving yourself and your wallet. Let’s use local, seasonal ingredients, by purchasing which, in addition to supporting Hungarian producers, we can get access to the treasures of the season at a cheaper price.

Let’s get ready with long-lasting delicacies

It is often difficult to predict how many sprinklers will arrive on Easter Monday. That’s why it’s worth preparing long-lasting, easy-to-store appetizers that can be safely eaten even after watering. Such long-lasting small cakes are scones, cheese taller or linzer.

Conscious shopping

It is worth keeping some aspects in mind during the purchase! Don’t go shopping hungry, because then we tend to put things in the basket that we don’t need. Come with a shopping list and stick to it, so you can avoid unnecessary spending. We should put a discount product in our basket if we know exactly when and what we will use it for, because these products typically have a shorter expiration date.

Bundle Easter

Due to the holidays spent separately from each other in recent years, family togetherness gained even more importance. Let’s organize a family Bundle Easter, for which everyone prepares some kind of food or cake. It is worth discussing in advance and distributing among yourselves who will bring what, so that there will be a variety of all kinds of delicacies. The rest can be packed in the same way for the guests as a travel bag, so that everyone gets a little bit of the shared experience to take home.

Consciously in the kitchen too

Let’s use the raw materials from furry to leathery. It is worth putting the cooking juice of the ham in the refrigerator or freezer, because it can be used to make bean soup or lentil stew later. When filleting meat, do not throw away the bone, but use it to flavor bone broth, stock or ragouts! Cake recipes often only use egg yolks or whites. If any of the two remains, we can enrich soups, fruit bread dough and pancake batter with it, and we can also eat it as part of breakfast. Cooked ham left over during festive meals can even be used later to prepare new dishes. Fortunately, it lasts for several days in the refrigerator, so it is possible to save the leftovers even after the holidays. The remaining ham can be used to make sandwich cream, ham pasta, or enrich cream soups and casseroles with it.

You can also make countless dishes from the remaining Easter eggs

For breakfast, you can make egg cream, mashed potatoes as a main dish, Stefania slices, egg salad or egg soup for the family. It is important to know that boiled eggs can be consumed for 5-7 days when stored at 0-5 °C, but if stored at room temperature for several hours, unfavorable microbiological processes can no longer be prevented. The sweet Easter cake can be used to make puff pastry, and the remaining chocolate bunny can be used to make cocoa, brownies or chocolate biscuits.

Nébih