DON'T THROW THAT AWAY!!!

[ChesterV]

I have learned a lot of "old wives tricks" from my granny while growing up, as well as discovered some for myself over the years.

We throw SO much food away, when it can be used for different things!



Crackers tend to absorb moisture, whether they are sealed up or not. If your crackers aren't too far gone for stale-ness, you can place them on a cookie sheet into a hot oven for 5 minutes (heat the oven to 350 and then turn it off, then put in the crackers), and this should make the crackers all nice and crunchy again.

If you do have a package of old, stale crackers, you can poke a few holes in the plastic sleeve and place it in the back of the freezer or fridge......it will absorb odors and smells just like baking soda. Of course take a black maker and write on the cracker sleeve "DO NOT EAT"! So no one will. After a month or two, you can remove them from the fridge or freezer, grind them up, and compost them or mix them in with soil. Not a fertilizer or anything, but it's getting used as nutrients for the soil. Just don't let birds get to it.

You can also use old flour for the same purpose in the fridge and freezer.....just put the flour into a tightly woven, fabric bag, and tie it off. Set it in a plastic bowl, and set it in the back of the fridge or freezer. Discard after a month or two. Again, you can use this for a compost heap if you have one.

Old cookies can be used the same way as old crackers. Old cornstarch and old baking soda of course, can be used the same way as the flour.

Old bread that has not gotten moldy yet, can be dried out in the oven for dry toast. Turn the oven on low (about 100 from my experience)....place bread slices on a rack and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. Turn off the oven and check to see if the bread has been dried out to a stiff toast. If not, place back in turned off oven and leave until oven gets cooled off. These can be stored in plastic baggies (once completely cooled off) and used for toast, sandwiches, crumbs, dressings, casseroles, etc.....

Old bread that has gotten moldy, you can toast it all, and go feed the ducks at the local pond, pigeons at the local park, or anywhere birds might be. Or use it in your compost heap. Fish usually also like bread crumbs. Toast them hard, but not burnt. You can crush them up and throw them out on the water where you will be fishing. Some fish love toast as well.
(you want to toast them hard to kill the mold).



Do you have any food repurposing suggestions?

 

[cupcakechef]

I often use bread that isn't too fresh anymore for bread pudding - it works perfectly for that!

Love all your tips - I hate seeing food go to waste, and if I can avoid throwing something out and can repurpose it instead it's better for our household budget too!

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

These are all great tips! Actually I really hate to see when there are foods being thrown away which I think can be use for different purposes. It is hard to earn a living and we should not waste our foods and there are many people who are hungry and had no food that is why we should learn by all means so that we can save as well as we can help also.

 

[mommy42]

Wow! Great tips! I had no idea you could do that with crackers!! I use older heels of the bread loaf to soften up my brown sugar when it gets hard. You just put it in the bag with the brown sugar and just like that the sugar is soft again!

 

[Bakers12]

I like that my work recycles all the food from our employee dining. We have over a few thousand employees and so much goes to waste. It's good to see that it can be put to good use.

 

[ChesterV]

If you have cookies that didn't turn out so well, or if you trim or sculpt your cakes, you can make another dessert from those!

If you have discarded cake pieces or trimmings, then just chop them up with a knife into small cube sized pieces. If they fall apart, thats ok to. Spread them out on a cookie sheet pan and place in a 200 degree oven to dry the pieces out. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes. Take them out and let them cool down.

If you have discarded cookies, just crush them up by hand into a bowl.

Now, make your favorite pudding....it can be homemade pudding or instant pudding.
Put your cake pieces or cookie pieces into the pudding mixture before you pour it into a container for the fridge.
Let set in fridge overnight.



Have old or stale (but not bad) sweet breads, such as pumpkin, cranberry, or cinnamon raisin? You can also chop these up into small cubes and use in pudding.

You can also use the cubes as salad croutons, soup croutons, or dessert croutons.

Old pumpkin bread is my favorite for making thick "lady finger" slices, then drying them out in the oven until they are like brittle. And I have my very own pumpkin biscotti!


And old, stale cinnamon raisin bread is excellent for making french toast!!!!
Toast it first, then dip it in your egg batter and fry.
Or you can use a tiny shaped cookie cutter to cut the center out of the toast piece and plop your egg right in the center and fry it that way!

 

[Winterybella]

ChesterV, great tips as always. Recently I heard some of the young people talking about going fishing. I should share that tip about the bread. I have to agree there is too much wastage and we need to stop it. I am guilty myself.

 

[djordjem87]

There is a wonderful thing we call MUĆKALICA. Basically we take whatever is left from the grill, meat of course, and veggies and mix it. Mućkalica means mixed meal.

http://www.recepti.com/images/stories/kuvar/glavna-jela/02660-dunavska-muckalica_zoom.jpg

Anyway I love the leftovers and I prepare different meals, usually breakfast, from it.

 

[ChesterV]

Since it is after the holidays now.....there's other things that can be used again, or further still....

Meats and the bones the come with them--

Even after being baked, BBQ'd, or broiled....the bones in meats can still be used for soups, gravies, and stocks.
Bits of meat can be minced, chopped, or pureed for the same. Or they can be finely ground or pureed and mixed with pet food (if your pet is allowed).
Large bits of leftover meats can be made into sandwich paste or pates for crackers or toast tips.

Leftover veggies can be minced and put into casseroles, soups, or made into fillers for things like potato pancakes, meatloaf, meatless loaf, breads, meat/veggie pies, and even other casseroles.
These also can be pureed into a pate' and used as a spread for crackers or toast tips.
And again, depending on if your pet is allowed (or can have such veggies....see your Vet), these can be minced and added to a pets regular food.

 

[Trellum]

Awesome post! I am guilty of throwing away things that I no longer believe to be edible Now that I will be on my own soon I need to be very careful with everything money-wise. I personally like to save any kind of bones for soups All the flavors are in them. I use them for soups or homemade broth or stock.

 

[ChesterV]

Left over soups....

If you have left over soup that is still good, you can repurpose it.

Lets say you have some chicken soup left over. Maybe two cups worth or so.
If it has bits or noodles in it, you can strain them out or put the whole thing in the food processor and puree it.

Place it in a small pot on the stove and heat it up.
Put a bit of black pepper and a bit of butter in it...even a bit of cream/milk if you want.
Then once that is nice and hot, take it off the burner and add some dried/instant potatoes.
And you have some nice yummie flavored instant potatoes.

 

[ChesterV]

Left over pie fillings....

(I posted this in another forum, don't remember which one)

Use left over pie fillings for tarts, muffins, pancakes, waffles, empanadas, mini pies, etc....

This goes for savory pie fillings as well. If you know what "Hot Pockets" are, then you can make your own out of left over filling and biscuit dough or filo dough.

 

[ChesterV]

Left over leftovers.

If you cook for a family, then more than likely you have leftovers from leftovers.

Especially if you have kids....this is pretty good, and they can make their own!

Whatever your leftover is, meat, veggies, etc......

Get a can of biscuits. Open them up, flatten them out as much as you can and flatten them out as big as you dare.
Place on a cookie sheet. Chop up your leftovers and then make a small "pizza" with your biscuit dough. Sprinkle some cheese on top. Bake until the biscuit is done.

 

[ChesterV]

Another use for "old" cookies, stale cookies, or cookies that did not turn out right/taste funny but are still good:

These can be used for pie crusts, mini biscottis, crushed "sprinkles" over puddings or pies.
Or if you need a thickener for some bake and set dessert, put some ground cookie in it to help thicken it up a bit.

If worse comes to worse, then like old, stale crackers.....take the to the duck pond and feed the ducks!



Mini - Biscottis
(this is for cookies without fillings)

Place in low temp oven on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.
Bake at a bout 100-200 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Turn off the oven and leave cookies in oven until it cools down.

Melt some chocolate, vanilla, or other flavored dip that will hardened when cooled.
Dip half of your cookie into the dip and place back on wax paper to harden and dry.

You can also use some flavored simple syrup on your cookies before baking, to give them extra flavor. Just use a small, clean, paint brush to brush a little one top of all the cookies before baking.

 

[ChesterV]

Cakes that have not turned out correctly or are unusable for your intended purpose can also be used for biscotti like treats, crumbled up and dried out to feed the ducks/squirrels, be made into something like bread pudding, dried and ground up for cookie/cake decor or dusting, and even used to create a different kind of cake dessert.

 

[Valeria]

There are so many great tips in this thread!

I usually save veggie trimmings that cannot be used in the meal and are usually discarded (including peel for example). Then I keep it in a mixed bag in the freezer and use it to make vegetable broth. In this way I always have vegetables to cook broth with and I waste as little as possible.

We also never throw bread away. With stale bread we make French toast, puddings and cakes (like Torta Paesana - italian farmer came) and if the bread is completely dry we grind it to bread crumbs.

 

[Panadeiro]

I have learned a lot of "old wives tricks" from my granny while growing up, as well as discovered some for myself over the years.

We throw SO much food away, when it can be used for different things!



Crackers tend to absorb moisture, whether they are sealed up or not. If your crackers aren't too far gone for stale-ness, you can place them on a cookie sheet into a hot oven for 5 minutes (heat the oven to 350 and then turn it off, then put in the crackers), and this should make the crackers all nice and crunchy again.

If you do have a package of old, stale crackers, you can poke a few holes in the plastic sleeve and place it in the back of the freezer or fridge......it will absorb odors and smells just like baking soda. Of course take a black maker and write on the cracker sleeve "DO NOT EAT"! So no one will. After a month or two, you can remove them from the fridge or freezer, grind them up, and compost them or mix them in with soil. Not a fertilizer or anything, but it's getting used as nutrients for the soil. Just don't let birds get to it.

You can also use old flour for the same purpose in the fridge and freezer.....just put the flour into a tightly woven, fabric bag, and tie it off. Set it in a plastic bowl, and set it in the back of the fridge or freezer. Discard after a month or two. Again, you can use this for a compost heap if you have one.

Old cookies can be used the same way as old crackers. Old cornstarch and old baking soda of course, can be used the same way as the flour.

Old bread that has not gotten moldy yet, can be dried out in the oven for dry toast. Turn the oven on low (about 100 from my experience)....place bread slices on a rack and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. Turn off the oven and check to see if the bread has been dried out to a stiff toast. If not, place back in turned off oven and leave until oven gets cooled off. These can be stored in plastic baggies (once completely cooled off) and used for toast, sandwiches, crumbs, dressings, casseroles, etc.....

Old bread that has gotten moldy, you can toast it all, and go feed the ducks at the local pond, pigeons at the local park, or anywhere birds might be. Or use it in your compost heap. Fish usually also like bread crumbs. Toast them hard, but not burnt. You can crush them up and throw them out on the water where you will be fishing. Some fish love toast as well.
(you want to toast them hard to kill the mold).



Do you have any food repurposing suggestions?

Those are some good tips. I personally would not go feed the pigeons at the local park, but the fishing idea is just on point, it sounds really interesting and I would really like to try it someday. You can also use your fish heads and cook them for your dogs and cats, just not to trash them, just a simple tip, thanks for sharing this!

 

[ChesterV]

Dinner scraps or leftovers can be made into:

Soups
Stews
Stir Fry's
Omelettes
Casseroles
Salads

Depending on what it is, will depend on what you can do with.

Lets say you made a pot of brown beans. They lasted for a couple of dinners, and now you have a bowl full of leftover beans.

What you might do with them:

Make refried beans for burritos
Put them in chili
Put them in soups
Put them in salads

 

[Panadeiro]

Dinner scraps or leftovers can be made into:

Soups
Stews
Stir Fry's
Omelettes
Casseroles
Salads

Depending on what it is, will depend on what you can do with.

Lets say you made a pot of brown beans. They lasted for a couple of dinners, and now you have a bowl full of leftover beans.

What you might do with them:

Make refried beans for burritos
Put them in chili
Put them in soups
Put them in salads

I do not really like eating leftovers, it may sound odd, but I really find it disgusting, I generally give those to my dogs so they can enjoy it instead, thank for the tips though.

 

[ChesterV]

I do not really like eating leftovers, it may sound odd, but I really find it disgusting, I generally give those to my dogs so they can enjoy it instead, thank for the tips though.

Thats ok, but you have to watch what you feed pets. They cannot eat a lot of "human food".
Always check with your vet to see what your pet can and cant eat.

I had a friend back when, who had a pet dog. He fed that dog table scraps every day.
After about 5 years or so, his dog had a massive coronary and died. The vet said it was from being fed table scraps for so many years.

Table scrap treats once in a while is one thing....doing it on a constant basis is another.
Just be careful.