Reduce Waste, Save Money
Don’t just eat it – compleat it!
Discover how smashing, mashing, and hashing your spuds (and more) can lead the way to delicious, low-waste meals.
There’s something deeply satisfying about using every part of the food you bring into your kitchen. We call it compleating—not a typo, but a tasty little twist on the word “complete.” It’s all about using every edible part of your ingredient, from peel to stalk, crust to end slice.
By compleating our food, every household could save hundreds of dollars per year. What else could we save? Valuable time, by not peeling and paring. Nutrients, by not carving away the healthiest part of the food. And the environment by valuing all the natural resources and work that went into producing the food, helping us save over 100,000 tonnes of food each and every year.
🥔 Potatoes: A Skin-Deep Love Story
Crispy, fluffy, comforting – spuds are a kitchen staple. But their skin? That’s golden flavour waiting to happen and they are packed with fibre.
Smash your potatoes for a quick and easy skin-on spud dish, or fry up potato kumara beef hash from unpeeled potatoes and kumara.
Left with peelings? Toss with olive oil, salt, and smoked paprika and roast until crunchy. They’re the perfect snack or soup topper you didn’t know you needed.
🥦 Broccoli: The Stalk Star
Florets get all the glory, but the stalk is where crunch and sweetness shine – plus it’s loaded with vitamin C, calcium, and fibre.
Remove the woody end, then thinly slice or grate the inner stalk stalks and add them to salads and coleslaw or make broccoli fritters. Chop and cook it with the florets for stir-fries and pasta dishes. Or blend the stalk into a creamy broccoli soup.
Check out our other great recipes for using up broccoli stalks here.
Cauliflower: Whole Lotta Love
This versatile veggie is a compleater’s dream and the stalks and leaves are just as nourishing as the florets.
Roast the whole head – leaves, stalk and all – with your favourite spices for a dramatic centrepiece. Slice into thick cauliflower steaks, season with your favourite flavours and bake until golden. Blitz or finely chop to make cauliflower rice.
Even the leaves can be tossed with olive oil and baked into crunchy veggie chips. Or make delicious pickled vege using stalks and stems or turn into a deliciously creamy puree.
🥞 Bread: Crust is a Must
If your children won’t compleat their bread crusts, then make bread chips or croutons or make a meal in a mug to use up those bread ends which are too thin to toast.
Or blitz into breadcrumbs and stash in the freezer for future schnitzels or meatballs.
Looking for more inspiration? Find 8 ways with breadcrusts or 8 ways with bread.
🍏 Apples: Peel with Purpose
Next time you peel an apple, save those skins! Add them to smoothies for an extra fibre kick, or dry them with a sprinkle of cinnamon for a naturally sweet snack, make apple peels and cores cider vinegar or if you are a jam maker, use the peels to make pectin.
You can even steep the peels in hot water with a cinnamon stick for a cosy, apple-infused tea.
Using every part of the food you bring home isn’t just practical—it’s joyful. It’s about cooking with care, exploring new textures and flavours, and making the most of your meals.
Start simple. This week, challenge yourself to use one “scrap” part of your food that you’d usually toss. Whether it’s the stalk of your broccoli, the skin on your potato, or the end slice of bread, you might just discover your new favourite kitchen trick.
Share your own favourite #compleating ideas with us over on Instagram and Facebook!
