Masterful ways to save from Masterchef judge Melissa Leong

Creativity, flexibiity and thinking seasonal: they’re as important in your kitchen as the MasterChef Australia HQ, says Melissa Leong ahead of a season of secrets and surprises.

MasterChef Australia judge Melissa Leong, left, celebrates a Logie win for the show last year, right. Pictures: Supplied

Top foodie Melissa Leong says being creative and flexible in what they cook will save Aussies at the cash register.

“The best of the season at the best possible price is always going to be seasonal food,” Leong told The Daily Telegraph on set of MasterChef Australia.

“So then if you cook, looking for produce that is the most available at the cheapest price and learning how to be creative with what you have is a way of being able to address the cost of living situation. As families, it really does you more of a service to look at what is available and start with the produce that is in your price range and learn how to be creative with that.”

Leong sat down with the Telegraph on set of season 15 of MasterChef Australia, which is currently in production in Melbourne.

The season tagline is Secrets & Surprises with a further batch of amateur cooks taking to the kitchen on the popular reality show that will screen on Ten later this year.

MasterChef Judges Melissa Leong, centre, Andy Allen, left, and Jock Zonfrillo. Picture: Supplied

Leong acknowledged that many in Australia, and indeed around the world, were feeling cost of living pressures and rising interest rates.

It may, she explained, change the way people look at home cooking.

“If you have it in your head that you want to cook a certain something but you are using imported ingredients, and expensive ingredients, that is fine, and a choice that you make and if you love food, then maybe you consider those choices to be worthwhile,” she said.

“The way people in the food industry have always looked at food is that seasonal food and food in abundance is the food we should be focusing on. And what is in season often tastes better, is often at the best possible price because it is more abundant.”

Leong is a judge on MasterChef Australia alongside chefs Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen. This is her third year with the reality show as she joined the format in 2020 as a respected food critic and writer. Last year, the show was voted Most Popular Reality Program at the 2002 Logies.

“I love a show like MasterChef because it incites home cooks to be creative with what they have. We have the great fortune of having this incredibly stocked pantry and that these contestants get to cook with whatever it is that they want to cook with,” she said.

“That is not real life, that is entertainment but what it is encouraging home cooks to do is to be creative with what they have and hopefully that ends up producing better meals at home.”