We have a couple of variations. Normally we make traditional shepherds pie with left over roasts meat (lamb/beef/both), mince it down, chuck in some carrot and onion, and the leftover gravy from the roast (I make it with the roast drippings). Food processor is the bomb for this. Just gotta make sure you don't over do the processing otherwise meat is smoosh. You want sk e texture to it. Top with mash made however you like it. Depending on the day, I'll add onion flakes, salt, pepper, cheese, cream, butter, milk (not all at once!)

If making the meat mix from scratch unlike to put heaps of veg in. Brown meat, add onion, make a gravy to your liking (usually we is gravox, a bit of curry powder, maybe some tomato paste)then add heaps of diced veg. Carrot, parsnip, turnip, swede, sometimes celery, peas etc. depends on what's in season and what we want. We often make this to use up excess veg lol. Top with mash as above

We regularly make the mash with a combination of normal and sweet spud. Mum sometimes uses pumpkin in the mash. My aunt is diabetic and uses just sweet spud. All variations work nicely

We don't put anything on top. Mum puts egg wash. Personal taste really

We always make big batches and freeze a couple of meals. Means we can use everything up rather than half a turnip or something. No waste. And it freezes and reheats very well