As the cost of living crisis continues to hit families across the UK, the last thing any of us can afford to do is waste food. Most of us have been tasked with crafting a creative meal from leftovers in the fridge - it's undeniably satisfying to use all the bits up that have been hanging around.
But one mum has been slammed for doing just that as she took to social media to share her leftover tea with food that was going out of date, including meat. Some say it risks food posioning. Dan Reynolds, 32, from Bolton, proudly shared the mezze board she had rustled up including food that had featured at her daughter's birthday party days earlier.
She said: "I enjoy doing those little platters. It was my daughter's birthday earlier this month and we had a party and I made a picnic platter. I had stuff in the fridge that I needed to use that was going to go out of date, including cheese, paté, prosciutto, salami and sausage rolls.
"The kids like picky teas and it needed using so I thought 'oh I'll just use that'."
There was a wide variety of food on show including a selection of cheeses, cured meats, paté, sausage rolls, and pretzels that she jokingly labelled the platter the 'going out of date tea!'.
Dan explained: "We had pizza wraps made from tortilla wraps, tomato puree leftover from stew [from the previous evening], salami and cheese. Then we had the board to last us while we watched a film.
"Most people, especially if you do packed lunches for your kids, will have that stuff in the fridge anyway. It's exciting for the kids, they like it, they think it's something special, but really you're just getting rid of stuff that you need to use up."
Dan, who's mum to Max Hamer, 10, and eight-year-old Willow Hamer, shared her culinary creation on Facebook to inspire others how to creatively use up leftovers.
In response, many praised the savviness of the meal but others were not convinced and shared their concerns over feeding kids food that was going out of date.
Hitting back at the trolls, Dan said: "I shared it on social media as I thought it was a good idea for people if you've got stuff leftover. Especially in this day and age where we're all struggling with gas, electric and food prices. They were quite positive reactions, they all seemed to like it.
"One lady said 'you feed your family out-of-date food'. The labels on food are advisory, obviously you need to be a bit more cautious with meat because that can be a bit dangerous, but you can smell if it's out of date.
"I joked it would build up their immune system. A lot of people have replied to that comment but she's not. I think she might feel a bit silly."
Another woman stated: "Omg you serve out of date food to your family, that's disgusting."
But Dan replied by saying: "Adds to the taste."
The woman wrote back: "No adds food poisoning."
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