- When Aimee’s kids refused to finish their plates, she didn’t want to throw out the food
- Repurposing their leftovers into new meals championing no-waste, she shared her videos online
- Her creative hacks include Twisties tacos and hot chip fritters Aimee’s videos have been viewed by millions
Here Aimee Connor, 40, Kiama, NSW tells her own story in her own words.
Staring at the leftover pile of hot chips, I sighed.
It was December 2024 and my kids, Mahli, then seven, Indi, five, Billi, three and Bodhi, one, had begged for the lunchtime snack, but now almost half of our takeaway order sat uneaten.
I knew there was no way they’d eat them reheated, and the thought of throwing them in the bin pained me.
Then I had an idea…
I could repurpose them into hot chip fritters.
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Cutting up the chips, I chucked in some canned corn from the pantry and a few eggs.
Then I checked the cupboard for breadcrumbs to help bind them together. It was empty. Then I spied a box of Pizza Shapes.
Perfect! I thought, blending them up in a food processor and dumping those in too.
After adding cheese and spices, I rolled the mixture into balls, and air fried them. That was dinner done.
Taking a bite, the blend of sweet corn and salty fries was absolutely delish – and I knew the kids would eat them.
It may seem like a lot of effort, but getting creative in the kitchen, revamping leftovers and cutting down food waste has been a journey for my family.
Just months earlier, I’d spend hours each meal begging my kids to take just one bite of dinner.
Working as a nurse, the long shifts would leave me knackered and the last thing I wanted to do was spend hours on dinner.
Now, as they munched away on their hot chip fritters, it felt like a miracle.
Growing up, I always ate what my parents, Jenny and Mark, put in front of me. I thought when I had kids it’d be the same.
When my husband Shay and I welcomed our daughter Mahli in 2017, she did well to polish off her puréed foods as a bub.
‘ I’d spend hours each meal begging my kids to take just one bite of dinner’
‘I felt like such a failure and began to resent dinner time’
But when we switched to solids she just refused to eat. Worried, Shay and I took her to the doctor and eventually, in 2019, Mahli was diagnosed with autism.
Her sensory and food issues meant she’d choose to not eat if a food didn’t feel safe. Mahli’s safe foods were plain chicken and rice, chicken nuggets or sausages.
After Indi came along two years later, and was on solids, I’d try to feed her the same stuff Shay and I ate, but she’d always be looking over at Mahli’s plain chicken and rice.
‘I want,’ she’d cry.
Billi, born in 2021, and Bodhi, in 2023, were much better eaters – keen to nibble on anything at least once.
By 2024, finding meals that everyone ate became a battle. I’d plead with the kids to at least just munch down their hash browns, even if they left the rest of the healthy food.
Sometimes lunch or dinner could take two hours, just for their plates to return almost full.
What’s the point? I’d think, dishing up chicken schnitzel just for the kids to pick at it. I felt like such a failure and began to resent dinner time.
On social media I’d see other people’s kids wolfing down sushi or salads when mine weren’t.
READ MORE: Family’s thrifty tips: ‘We’ve saved $75,000!’
I felt so frustrated. What am I doing wrong? I’d fret.
After one lunchtime in April 2024, I’d had enough.
Looking at the plates of Vegemite sandwich crusts and uneaten strawberries and apples, I refused to throw them away.
Instead, I cut up the crusts, and chucked them in the oven, turning them into croutons for salads.
The untouched fruit became filling for muffins. Not only was I saving my sanity by re-purposing the leftovers, but loads of cash too.
I’d always posted about my life on TikTok, so it was only natural that I started to share my creative meals too.
Within weeks, my videos were averaging over one million views each and it felt good that they were resonating with other families.
Over time, my dishes became more adventurous as I found inspiration from other food creators online and started trying new recipes.
Leftover butter chicken went into crunchy rice paper rolls, cheese and bacon rolls were flattened and turned into crackers, and leftover beef sausages were re-used as filling in wontons.
‘Over the next 12 months, my joy for cooking returned.’
‘These are delicious,’ Shay said, as he munched on a juicy wonton.
Over the next 12 months, my joy for cooking returned. Instead of feeling deflated when scraps came back on plates, I’d think, I can make something else with this.
I always made sure I had the essentials on hand, including flour, eggs, honey, sugar, oil, butter and Greek yoghurt.
I’d make fruit roll-ups by tossing leftover fruits and lemon juice in the blender before baking them. They soon became the kids’ favourite treats.
READ MORE:How this thrifty mum halved her grocery bill
And any sad veg wilting in the fridge became tasty toppings on our weekly homemade pizza nights – which the kids adored.
This March, I watched a video of a lady using stale crackers to add crunch to tacos.
I reckon I could use Twisties, I thought, eyeing up a packet of stale ones in our pantry.
That night I whizzed up some of the cheesy snacks, spread chicken mince on a flour tortilla, then pressed on the cheesy neon orange mix before air frying.
Chucking tomato, lettuce, cucumber and cheese on top, they were a hit!
‘So yummy,’ cried Billi.
Now I have 1.3 million TikTok followers @aims.lc and my hot chip fritters video has been watched over 10 million times!
Every time a lunch-box treat comes home from Mahli, nine, Indi, seven, Billi, five, and Bodhi, three, it’s re-used, not wasted.
I’ve saved a lot of food from being binned, and my experimenting has ignited my joy for cooking again.
Sharing my gripes about my kids never finishing their food was met with so much support online.
‘The way you just created an entire meal out of scraps is beyond me! one follower commented.’
The way you just created an entire meal out of scraps is beyond me! one follower commented.
My grandsons are picky eaters… doing this for lunch tomorrow, added another.
It made me not feel so alone, and I hope my ‘We Don’t Waste Anything’ motto has helped other families too.
I know how alone I felt, and now I have millions cooking alongside me.
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