Aussie mum pairs hot chips with controversial ingredient
When the kids refuse to eat what’s on their plate over dinner, most parents sigh. One Aussie mum sees it as a challenge.
An Aussie mum has proven there’s no limit to what you can do with a box of Pizza Shapes and the internet can’t look away.
TikTok creator Aimee Connor, better known as Aims, has become a culinary mastermind when it comes to cutting down on household waste.
In the 40-year-old’s household, every crumb has value — and to her surprise, she wasn’t the only parent feeling that way.
“I was just sick of throwing food!,” Ms Connor told news.com.au.
“I had a feeling I wasn’t alone with the amount of food I was wasting in a home with four young children but I never knew how many people would relate.”
Over time, the NSW mum-of-four has built a following of 1.3 million on TikTok, with fans tuning in for inspiration on how to make use of their own leftovers.
But a recent post took things to an extreme even her followers didn’t see coming.
“Once a week I will buy a family chips and they will all eat it and beg for more. Then the next week they eat 1.6 chips each and they are done. I know other parents would have the same experience,” she explained.
This week was one of those 1.6-chip weeks. So, with a tray of fries still sitting untouched, the mum took to the kitchen to give them a second life.
The idea of simply reheating them for lunch was off-putting, so Ms Connor decided her best bet was to make something entirely different, to “wing it.”
“I’m just a mum in her kitchen trying not to throw out a thousand chips her kids don’t want to eat,” she said.
Starting with a bowl of the leftover chips, she began mashing them down before adding corn, edamame beans, egg, cheese and seasoning. Then came the wildcard substitute for breadcrumbs that made followers truly trust the process.
She could almost hear the comment section as she stirred in crushed Pizza Shapes crumbs.
“Not surprised at all. When a video goes viral, no matter what the genre you are opening up yourself to a whole different level of opinions,” she admits.
“I am fully aware that my videos might be weird for some, but to me it’s not that deep.”
By the end of the video, she had a full plate of potato fritters.
The comment section was keen to take a bite, but some were ready to spit it back out.
“Oh be for real.”
“My red flag is: I would do this and then not even eat it.”
“That's $50 worth of chips... I’d be saving them too.”
“But now instead of soggy cold chips you’ll have soggy cold monstrosities.”
Still, one very important viewer was all in – Shapes themselves.
“The perfect addition,” the biscuit brand wrote.
This isn’t the first time Connor has handled the heat of the kitchen, though she admits there are limits.
“I don’t usually create something I wouldn’t eat or knowingly my kids wouldn’t at least try, I feel that defeats the purpose of it all,” she said.
“I have burnt some things and failed a few times but that was more of a time management issue.”
Her methods may be unorthodox, but they’ve helped shave dollars off the grocery bill.
“If I’m using up all the old veggies in the fridge to make pasta sauce or pizza bases, the money I would normally spend buying those things does add up in the long run,” she explains.
And while the supermarket spend has dropped, her online following has skyrocketed.
“I have a whole series on my TikTok with how I repurpose and reuse all different things! My most common leftovers would be bread crusts from toast or sandwiches (all my four children love a crust free Vegemite sanga! I just couldn’t keep throwing them out,” she explained.
“I usually make cinnamon toast crunch with these to top my yoghurt bowl or just eat it as cereal – a total gamechanger.”
In the end, Ms Connor says it’s all pretty simple.
“It really wasn’t anything more than a mum in her kitchen sick of throwing things out that she knew could be used! That’s it!”
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Originally published as Aussie mum pairs hot chips with controversial ingredient
