Although we are faced with high food costs, many households still waste a lot of food every week. Some Jamaicans just hate to eat 'overnight food' but with proper refrigeration, many cooked meals can last for a few days. Just think about persons in far corners of the world who would eat discarded food from garbage heaps and treat it like a gourmet meal and you will probably understand that what you are throwing out is perfectly edible food.

Rice and peas is good for up to three days if cooled and frozen right away.

Food has prepared a list of food items commonly thrown out because they have become a little stale. Try these tips and share your own with us.

Stale Bread:

Stale bread can be put in the oven to get hard enough to grate for bread crumbs that has many uses from gravy to filling/stuffing

Best of all, use stale bread to make bread pudding.

Stale/over-ripe fruit:

Simply cut up stale fruit that can still be used, place in Ziploc bags and freeze. Days later, add your choice of lime juice, sugar, honey (other sweetener), ginger, put in blender and make a delicious fruit punch and make fruit punches. You can also use the liquid from the pineapple skin that you let stand in boiled water overnight, to blend with the other fruits.

Plain rice:

Use left-over plain rice to make fried rice on Friday evening. Combine this with the left-over chicken, beef or pork.

Maximising the use of chicken:

Remove the skin and use that to make a stock for broth or base for gravies. The skin is also good to add to a pot of green bananas that you are boiling. It works the same way the lime juice or bit of salt fish does - prevents the bananas turning black.

Use skeletal bones or the carcass from a roasted chicken to add to soup for added flavour.

Use the breast of roasted chicken to make sandwiches or in stir fry.

Send us your left-over food use ideas at:lifestyle@gleanerjm.com.