How to deal with New Year leftovers

Chinese New Year is an excellent time of giving and sharing. However, many people end the festival with a kitchen jam packed full of snacks and mountains of other goodies, and little idea about what to do with it all.

Before you start to panic, or start to chuck stuff away, read our useful tips on how best to sort the extra stock.

Trade 'em online

Many people prefer trading their extra New Year's stock on the Internet. Messages featuring "New Year's stock exchange" appear everywhere, especially on social networking sites, with content covering anything from snacks and drinks to handicrafts.

Li Na, who works at a Beijing-based insurance company, posted a message on online information portal 58.com, claiming she wanted to sell three boxes of eggs. "I got these eggs from my company as a New Year's gift," said Li. "But I simply cannot finish them within the warranty period. I hope I can sell them at 60 yuan ($10) per box." Li explained that she had sold items online before and she considered it to be a very economical and convenient way to deal with New Year's leftovers.

Cook 'em at home

For those goods that are not packaged and therefore cannot be traded, there are still ways to make full use of them.

The coming Lantern Festival is a sweet opportunity to make use of your candy, chocolate and dried fruit. All can be ground and made into great fillings for Tangyuan (glutinous rice balls). Equally nuts, popped rice and dates can be boiled with porridge, as a healthy and nutritious addition.

As for those sweet and salty rice cakes, well they can be preserved by being separated, cut down into smaller sizes and steamed and dried. Then they just need to be wrapped in plastic film. Similarly, bacon, sausages and dried seafood, if placed in the sun frequently, will last for a longer time. However, do not expose them for too long as it can make them lose their flavor.

Get crafty

Many New Year's stocks are packaged in exquisite cardboard boxes or silk wraps and decorated with plastic flowers. It seems like a waste to simply place all of them in the garbage, so why not recycle them instead? This is better for the environment and some great handicrafts might come out of it.

For example, cut paper into strips and glue them in a loop. Then wind around the silk and plastic flowers to make a fancy floral loop. You can pin some cards or photos on your new creation and hang it on the wall.

Wrapping paper can also be folded into rectangles, stars and roses, with ribbons to decorate, which will make delicate book marks.

Another idea is to decorate a box with wrapping paper and divide its inside into small cells with paper cardboard. You will then have a container to rival any you would get in IKEA.