It’s Sunday. Your shocker of a hangover is waning, a puddle of spilled vodka lies in wait on the kitchen floor, and cigarette butts litter the backyard like snowflakes. Just as you vow to never host kick-ons again, your phone screen lights up with a reminder you promised your parents they could stop by your place for dinner. Save yourself from a trip to Woolies and make use of those leftover mixers in the fridge, with these sneaky soft drink recipes sure to convince anyone you’re an adult who can properly feed themselves and others.

#1 Pan-Roasted Chicken with Ginger Ale Sauce

Kill two birds with one stone if you find yourself stuck with a couple of bottles of ginger ale:

• Blend up a cup of ginger ale, brown mustard, white wine vinegar and other seasonings into a paste, slather this onto some chicken thighs in a skillet and cook for 10-minutes a side.
• While putting this one together, toss back a glass of the ginger ale to settle your stomach from that regrettable late night kebab.

#2 Coca Cola Pulled Pork

This one may take a little more planning, but allows plenty of time for a mid-cooking nap:

• Grab yourself a slow cooker (or casserole dish in the oven on low heat) and add in 1 pork shoulder, 600mL of Coca Cola and a bottle of BBQ sauce.
• Cook on low hear for 4 hours (aka naptime), turn the meat then cook up another two hours or until tender. Trust me, its worth the wait.

#3 Pepsi Max Vanilla Bacon Burgers

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Meet the deconstructed breakfast Cuba libre – a fun way to finish the night after a 3-course collaboration dinner featuring Pepsi Max Vanilla. Mini cheeseburger with vanilla cured bacon and mac n cheese with vanilla bacon crumble by @guiltysydney; pigs head with XO by @acmesydney; and a little splice of heaven by @saga_enmore. The toothpaste was lime and mint gel and in the glass was carbonated white rum 😬 #maxvanilla #invite

A post shared by Helen (@grabyourfork) on Jun 22, 2017 at 3:28am PDT

Forget maple bacon because the game has just been beat. Pepsi Max Vanilla gives bacon a great smoky sweetness, and that bacon grease is a hangover cure in itself:

• Toss bacon in a pan and cook until near crisp. Ignore all temptations to eat it yet.
• Eat a little bit anyway
• Pour Pepsi Max Vanilla into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Brush each side of the bacon strips with Pepsi before moving onto a baking tray and into the oven.
• While the bacon is crisping up, grill some hamburger patties in a pan, again brushing with Pepsi when nearly cooked. Serve on a bun with bacon and any other preferred ingredients.

#4 Baked Salmon with Orange Juice

If you’ve got any OJ leftover from your hair-of-the-dog mimosa at breakfast, this Salmon OJ concoction won’t take you more than 20mins to throw together:

• Preheat the oven to 170, and prep your baking dish with butter before salting your salmon
• Lay salmon in the dish and make deep incisions before buttering, then pour orange juice all over the fish.
• Sprinkle with pepper and oregano, and optionally a little sugar, for a sweet, caramelized glaze.

#5 Lemonade Scones

Damn near the simplest dessert to make, and easily one to impress:

• Preheat open to 220’C then mix flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl, adding cream and lemonade until a soft dough forms.
• Knead lightly before cutting round scones shapes from the dough, add to a pre-lined baking tray then brush tops with milk
• Bake for 10-15mins and serve with jam and whipped cream.

 

If for some reason all you have leftover is Fanta, I can’t help you. Time to hit up UberEATS instead.

 

Image Source: Pexels