As long as your fruits and veggies aren't mouldy, it's really easy to save the soggy and wrinkled ones that no one wants to eat.

Apples are expensive here, about £4 a kilo. When they're on sale at half price, we tend to buy a lot. Like, a LOT. And then there's the last three or four that have gone a bit soft and wrinkled and no one wants to go anywhere near them. The easiest way to transform wrinkled, gummy apples is to bake them - they suddenly become little soft tasty pillows that you can't resist. 

I had so much fruit that was not pleasant to eat raw, but was delicious in pies and pastries this week. I made pastries with soft, bruised apples and pears, and also with little wrinkled nectarines that no one would have touched otherwise. 

If you have old bananas no one wants to eat, the easiest way is to make banana bread. I'm still perfecting my recipe - we don't buy bananas often so I have a limited stash of smooshy black ones to work with - but there are many online to try out in the meantime.

I recently bought some mangoes on sale - buying fruit on sale is great, but only if you actually eat them... I don't enjoy them, but R does, I honestly just wanted the pit to try and plant 🤷 R wasn't around for the week, and those mangoes just kept getting softer and softer... Ugh. So, I chopped them up, placed in a freezer bag, and now they are perfect for adding into smoothies! 

Sounds sooooo unappetising. I've heard it called Everything Soup, and Pond Soup... It's basically using up all your old and soft vegetables that look... well, a bit gross, and throwing them all into a soup. Perfect for autumn and winter when it's cold outside!

There are two really easy versions: red and white. Saute your ugly veg, pour over the liquid below and cook until veggies are tender. 

Red garbage soup: A can of crushed tomatoes + vegetable stock

White garbage soup: a simple white sauce + vegetable stock

The soup below was: onions, carrots, courgette, broccoli, and corn, with a white soup base and some dried herbs. All the veg was a bit wilted and sad looking, and it would not have been tasty in a salad. I knocked up the soup in about 20 minutes total, and it was delicious with homemade bread. 

What are your favourite ways to use up old fruits and veggies? :)