These muffins are quick and simple and quite nice as they are if you don't have leftovers to spice them up. Add your leftovers (fruit, cereal, corn, ham etc) and they become something really special. And best of all you're not wasting a single thing!

Ingredients:
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar*
1/2 cup applesauce (you can use tinned baby apple or sieved stewed apple)
1  egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract*

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Mix the applesauce, egg and milk together. Combine the flour and sugar and add the wet ingredients. Stir to just combine. Now add the leftovers and gently stir through. Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes.

*Note: for savoury muffins leave out the sugar and the vanilla extract.

Leftovers to use:
Brown bananas
Cereal crumbs (Weetbix, muesli, Sultana Bran, rolled oats, Crunchy Nut etc)
Cold porridge
Sweet biscuit crumbs (shake out the cookie jar)
Jam (add the milk to the jar, put the lid on and shake)
Sad apples, pears, plums, peaches etc diced or grated
Dried fruit
Nutella (scrape out jar, mix into wet ingredients)
Coconut
Dregs from flavouring bottles (caramel, strawberry, chocolate - mix into wet ingredients).
Peas, corn and carrots
Diced cold meats
Grated cheese and pickles
Chive and cheese

Use your imagination and see what wonderful muffins you can create and put a stop to kitchen waste.

From the April 2011 Cheapskates Journal

One of my biggest bug bears is wasting food. 

When you throw food out, or even put food in the bokashi, you are throwing your money away.

We have pineapple with our salads, and one tin does two meals for the five of us. When I open a tin, I take out the four slices we need, then tip the other slices and juice into a container and put it in the fridge until the next night.

The Aldi pineapple rings in juice are what we like. They are bought in bulk when I replenish the stockpile each year.

After I use the remaining pineapple slices, instead of drinking the juice, or worse, pouring it down the drain, I make a quick marinade with it.

I add a slurp of vegetbable oil, a dash of soy sauce and a pinch of garlic and give it all a shake.

Then I plan chicken for the next night, take it out of the freezer and pour the marinade over. Let it marinate overnight in the fridge and then it can be baked, fried or barbecued.

And nothing is wasted!