Easter Bunny Veggie Tray

If you are making a large vegetable tray, it is usually cheaper to make your own veggie tray. If you are making a very small veggie tray, it may be cheaper to buy one in the store. The reason that a large veggie tray is cheaper to make is that you can buy larger quantities of vegetables that would be used in the tray. You cannot usually buy 1 rib or celery or ¼ of a cucumber. If you are making a very small vegetable tray, you will likely still need to buy full quantities of the vegetables, which makes it more expensive than buying a small store-made tray.

Use the vegetables that you will eat. Using your favorite veggies will reduce the amount of waste. Just because radishes look really nice and are the perfect color of red/pink, does not mean you should buy them to use in your vegetable tray. Instead, pick another vegetable that you will eat that is similar in color or shape (depending on what kind of tray you are making). Use cherry tomatoes or red peppers instead of radishes or use cucumbers or celery instead of broccoli.

To store a leftover vegetable tray, separate the ingredients out by type and store them in ziplock bags in the fridge. Store the crackers separately. Store the cheese separately. Store cucumbers or any other wet vegetable in a separate bag. You can store broccoli, cucumbers, and peppers all together in the same bag. When refrigerated, leftovers will last several days.

You can make veggie trays in advance. The easiest way to make veggie trays in advance is to wash and cut up all of the vegetables and cheese and place them in ziplock bags until a few hours before serving. Store the cut-up vegetables in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. Once the veggie tray has been assembled, cover, and refrigerate for a couple of hours until serving.

You can eat the leftover vegetables raw, add them to a salad, or cook them up and add them to a stir fry, homemade soup, or pasta dishes or steam them and serve them as a side dish.