Make the most of your festive season feast this year

• Use up food from your fridge and freezer the week before to make room for leftovers.
• Check what you already have in the pantry or fridge before you shop.
• Work out how many meals for how many people and have recipes to avoid over-catering.
• Plan for Christmas Day and beyond - choose in-season ingredients that can be used in more than one meal.
• If you want extra food on hand for unexpected visitors, choose food that has a longer shelf or fridge life such as hummus, biscuits and jars.

• Raw meats and seafood should be stored on the fridge shelf below ready-to-eat foods.
• Homemade Christmas cakes can be stored for a couple of months in an air-tight container in the cupboard.
• Check the best-before and use-by dates before you bin it and remember most foods are safe to eat after their best-before date.
• Cut ham slices can be wrapped in foil and frozen for a month. Label and date everything clearly.
  

• Let guests serve themselves for perfect portions.
• Don't open drinks until they're needed - beverage waste is often overlooked.
• Serve salad dressing separately so leftover salad can be kept crisp for the next day.
• Put foods back in the fridge as soon as people have finished eating.

• Seafood and salad can be made into rice paper rolls.
• Roast vegies can be tossed into a salad.
• Christmas ham and leftovers from the cheese platter can be used in a quiche.
• Turkey makes a great stir-fry with vegetables.
• Freeze uneaten biscuits for a cheesecake base.

Also making the news:

• South West Rocks Back Creek footbridge is officially open to the public
• Lifeguards head back to the beach for a busy summer in the Macleay Valley