As well as a range of modern and traditional recipe, you will also find a number of Victorian recipes in this collection, this is hardly surprising as the Victorian household was very frugal and just about any left-over food would have been re-used, especially for the stock-pot which was constantly being simmered and replenished.

You will find everything here from traditional bubble and squeak through cakes made from leftover cake crumbs, muffins made from leftover porridge, uses for leftover mash, leftover ham mousse, ragouts, fricassées, ice creams, stocks, ragus, tetrazzini, chopsuey, soups, etouffee, curries, pies and many more.

The Victorians were the masters of using-up leftovers and they would use peelings as the basis for soups, even the leftovers from shelling peas to make soup. Then the leftovers from Sunday dinner, whether that be meat or fish would be used to prepare dishes the following week. The chef, Alexis Soyer epitomised this Victorian frugality and re-use in his book, A Shilling Cookery for the People (1854).

Today, in the West, most leftovers are produced after the big food festivals of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter where large family meals are typically prepared and there are plenty of leftovers after the meal. Sometimes, excess food is even cooked in the expectation of preparing dishes from the leftovers.

With an increased interest in economy and minimising waste there is an increased interest/desire to minimise food waste. As a result there is an increased interest in recipes that make the most of leftover food, turning them into new dishes.