Sticking to strict food budgets can be tough. With growing kids and growing food bills, along with making sure that we are supporting all our family’s nutritional needs, it can awfully feel tricky, and even stressful at times. Turning leftovers into creative school lunches is a way we can stick to budgets, keep the kids full and happy and even alleviate food waste. To help you get Back to School ready, we’ve put together some of our favourite lunch box friendly recipes made from leftovers below.

Creamy Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta Salad

Leftovers: Roast Chicken

Using leftover chicken from a Sunday roast can make a simple pasta salad sing. We’ve also added some ingredients found in most store cupboards.

• 300g any pasta shapes
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 300g chicken, shredded.
• 4 spring onions
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• 4 tomatoes, chopped into quarters.

Cook it!

1. Boil the pasta, then cool under cold running water to prevent sticking.

2. Combine the mayonnaise mustard and honey together in a large bowl. We need to get the dressing into the consistency of cooking cream, so adding a little bit of water to break it down at this stage is recommended.

3. Add the cooked pasta, chicken, spring onions, basil leaves and tomatoes and give it a good stir!

Yummy Sweet Potato Hummus

Leftovers: Sweet Potato or Pumpkin

This is a simple lunchbox addition where you can also use up and leftover veggies like capsicums for dipping.

• 400g sweet potatoes cut into 2cm cubes.
• 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1⁄2 tsp chilli flakes, plus extra to serve (optional)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika.
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 lemon, juiced.
• vegetable crudités, pita bread or crackers

Cook it!

1. Pre heat the oven to 200C/180C fan. Pop the cubed baked potatoes onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle over some of the olive oil, add salt, pepper, chili flakes and paprika and toss to combine. Peel the garlic cloves and add them whole amongst the sweet potato cubes. Once the oven is at the right temperature, roast for 30 mins until the potatoes have softened.

2. Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool completely. Tip the roasted sweet potatoes and garlic into a blender or a smoothie blender cup. Add the tahini and lemon juice, then pulse until the potatoes have broken down.

3. Add some olive oil and continue to pulse and blitz the mixture until it forms a smooth paste. Add up to 4 Tablespoons of cold water, then pulse again.

4. Season to taste

5. Spoon into a small Tupperware for lunch and serve with some toasted pita, breadsticks and leftover salad veggies.

Greek inspired traybake sandwiches

Leftovers: Veggies

Bake your leftover vegetables with a substantial chunk of crumbled feta for yummy sandwiches the next day – especially when it’s stuffed into tasty pitas.

• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano or Greek herbs
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges.
• 400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed.
• 2 zucchinis, sliced.
• 100g cherry tomatoes
• 20g pitted Kalamata olives, halved.
• 100g feta, crumbled into chunks.
• 1 lemon, sliced into wedges.
• Lettuce leaves

Cook it! 

1. Preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan. Add onion wedges, butter beans. Drizzle with oil and seasoning. Roast for 10 mins.

2. Remove from the oven and add the tomato and olives to the tray and scatter the crumbled feta cheese across the top. Put it back into the oven for another 10 mins – the feta should start to turn a nice shade of brown. Squeeze the lemon juice over.

3. Warm up your pita breads in the toaster or microwave according to their cooking instructions. Half and create a pocket.

4. Scoop the veggie mix into the pita breads.

Leftover Frittata Magic

Leftovers: Veggies and Potatoes

What better way to use your leftover Sunday roast ingredients like potato, broccolis and capsicums?  Although we have added our suggestions below, any ingredients will work! Served chopped up into slices for the ideal filling lunch time treat for little ones.

• 100g cooked potatoes – sliced or cubed.
• 200g -300g cooked broccoli and green beans
• Green beans trimmed and halved.
• 3 tsp oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed.
• Chili or cumin to season
• 4 large eggs - beaten.
• 50g ricotta cheese or feta cheese

Cook it!

1. Pre-heat your grill to a high heat. In a medium or deep saucepan, add two-thirds of the oil and fry the crushed garlic. Add your choice of seasoning and stir until fragrant. Fry off the potatoes, and veggies in the seasoning mix.

2. Add the beaten eggs to the pan and cook for around 2 mins until the base of the eggs is cooked. Sprinkle your cheese on top and then move the pan to the grill to cook for a further 4 mins or so until the frittata is cooked through.

3. Remove from the grill, let it cool and slice into wedges.