You got food cutters and are ready to make cute sandwiches or veggies for your kid’s lunch boxes like the ones that inspired you with our Teuko Lunchbox Community, but, at the same time, you are worried about the food waste generated? Do not panic! Here are simple easy ways to recycle food… for the best!

1. When you use sandwich cutters

What about all the remaining bread, cheese, and ham? How can we avoid throwing this in the garbage?

One simple, easy, and fast way is to reduce all this into little pieces. Use your hands, a knife, or an electric food chopper. Then set it aside in a small food container in the fridge.

When comes the next meal to prepare, or the next lunchbox for your kid, incorporate these shredded bread, ham, and cheese, with an egg and ground meat (it can be ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken… your choice!). Add a tiny bit of salt and some herbs (we recommend oregano and thyme for instance)… and make delicious meatball in a jiffy!

If you cut out bread, ham, and cheese, separately, then you have the opportunity to use these ingredients in other easy different ways.

For instance, with leftovers of ham (or turkey, or whatever sliced meat or vegan meat you prefer):

• you can include the tiny pieces in a mac n’ cheese.
• or you can use them in a tortilla (check out the tortilla hack we already shared with you!)
• or you sprinkle them on top of a pizza.

With leftovers of cheese:

• you can slice finely the leftovers and use them as a topping in a salad or in a soup
• or, as for the example with ham, you can put it in a tortilla or as a topping for a pizza

With leftovers of bread:

• include in any meatballs you’d like to prepare (that makes the meatballs softer)
• or cut them, like little dices, and place them a few minutes in the oven and you’ll get croutons, perfect as a topping in a salad or in a soup
• or place them in the oven first, and once crispy, chop them, and you’ll get perfect crumbs for making homemade paned chicken or paned fish.

2. When you use food cutters for fruits and veggies

What can we do with leftovers of fruits or veggies?

The simplest way is to incorporate them into a smoothie! Just put the tiny bits of fruits and veggies in a blender with other fruits, veggies, juice, or milk, and done! Place your smoothie in your kid’s water bottle.

Also, some water bottles have infusers. So it can be a good idea to place the fruits leftovers in these infusers, and that will add some flavors to your kid’s drink!

Tiny bits of strawberries because you shaped the fruit as a heart? Tiny bits of kiwis, bananas, or even fruit dragon? Place them on top of yogurt. With honey and some granola, you have a delicious parfait dessert!

Tiny bits of carrot slices? Chop them into tinier bits and include them in a bolognese sauce that pairs perfectly with pasta!
Tiny bits of cucumbers? Include them in plain yogurt with chive, garlic, and olive oil! That makes a simple and yet delicious dip Tzatziki style!

How do you like these easy ideas with leftovers of cutouts? Do you have any other recipes and tips you would like to share? Show us what you do by uploading a photo on Teuko.com!

---

Disclaimer: As an Amazon affiliate company, if you buy some products from some links inserted in the text of this blog post, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale. This helps Teuko.com remain free! Any feedback? Email us at contact@teuko.com