These 6 buys will transform the way you use leftover food – here's how they help cut down on food waste

I've tried many different sandwich and freezer bags. Nothing beats these IKEA ones which also feature a very handy Ziplock. Using these bags in innovative ways has transformed the way I keep leftovers and how I batch cook. One of my absolute favourite hacks when organising a freezer that also saves space is to freeze sauces or gravy flat, which I saw over on @thefullfreezer's Instagram.

I love cooking at Christmas, but there is a way to make it a more efficient process. When you're cooking your family meals over the festive period, enact the 'eat one, freeze one' mentality a la @tamingtwins and her chicken pie recipe and save yourself so much time for January. These huge Pyrex containers are perfect for pies and bakes and if you cook two, you can also stash one away in the freezer for a very speedy, healthy New Years meal. Genius.

This is a pricey pick I know, but I've been using this set for a couple of months now as I mentioned in my kitchen essentials piece and there's no overstating how much it does to keep food fresh. Take any fresh food (veg, fruit, meat) and pop it into the glass container or bags. Then use the small handheld vacuum to extract all of the air from inside and your food will keep up to 4 times longer than usual. It means I can shop less, safe in the knowledge that my veggies are still good.

One thing that really levels up your leftover game is making stock with leftover food scraps. But once you've made it, the thing that will keep that stock tiding you over for meals and soups all month long is this silicone tray, which is the perfect design for storing more than just ice. It's so easy to get the frozen stock out to heat up on the hob, or you could even store soup in it. You can even use it

This is the only gadget on this list I haven't tried myself yet, but I think it would be so useful to pull out of a cupboard if you have any leftover cream. It comes complete with a paddle so that you can churn your own butter at home and nothing is stopping you from getting creative and adding in your own flavours too.

Just used half an onion in your cooking? Or are you always misplacing lids for your containers? These stretchy silicone lids are really a thing of genius for keeping all kinds of food fresh and covered in the fridge. They're great for watermelon in the summer too.