I hate throwing things away.
It’s not hard for me to give things away, or to throw away useless things, but I have trouble throwing away boxes, ribbons, and food (specifically). I have seen mold in many different colours because I keep things in the fridge until I’m forced to by the fungus growing on them. (This grosses my husband out, but what can you do?)
This is sometimes helpful in being frugal, and has allowed me to save money by being creative with my leftovers. I would love to share some of my ideas with you to help you as you make the most of your groceries. (I’ll post about saving other things later, but today I’ll be focusing on food.)
Here are some little things that I never throw away and use to make something new:
1. Meat carcasses: Yep, I’m one of those crazy people that makes their own broth with turkey/chicken/beef bones. Click here for a guide/recipe if you’ve never done this before. It makes great broth and ensures all those bones don’t go to waste!
2. Cinnamon-sugar coating: This may sound random, but I think it’s helpful. When I make snickerdoodles, there is always leftover cinnamon-sugar mix and instead of throwing it away I save it for future baking or put it on my toast (which is really yummy).
3. Icing: I learned this trick from my mom – when you have leftover icing that isn’t enough to ice another batch of cupcakes, you can spread it on graham crackers for a tasty snack!
You can also add some extra milk and use it to glaze scones, cinnamon buns etc. I made some yummy cranberry scones this weekend with leftover lemon icing – see picture to right of how they turned out!
4. Rice: Sometimes we have leftover rice, and if it doesn’t get used for a few days, it gets hard and unappetizing. I like to use leftover rice for two things: fried rice and breakfast rice.
Fried rice is easy – scramble an egg with a little oil in a pan/wok, add some onion, leftover rice and veggies. Throw in some soy sauce and some leftover meat (I like to use turkey) and you have yourself a little meal. (See picture to left – I made fried rice with leftover pineapple, veggies and turkey. Really good!)
Breakfast rice is something mom made when she had leftover rice. You can add milk, cinnamon sugar and some fruit, and microwave for 30-60 seconds and you have a delicious little breakfast dish.
5. Bread: Unless bread goes moldy, I never throw it away. I save crusts or heels of bread to make homemade bread crumbs (throw them in a blender and use in place of store bought bread crumbs).
I also use bread heels for sandwiches – one of my mom friends once told me that if you turn the heel part inside, your kids will never know the difference! This is way better than throwing them away simply because they’re the part of the bread that kids (or adults!) normally don’t like.
6. Egg yolks/whites: If I have a recipe that calls for egg whites or yolks only, I save them in a little dish and make an omelette later in the week. I usually add another egg or two to balance out the yolks/whites.
These are a few ways that I stretch my limited grocery budget by using everything, sometimes in a “creative” way. Although this doesn’t save me thousands of dollars, it keeps me content with what I have and helps me to move away from a consumerism mentality. I try to never buy anything that I won’t eat or use – this keeps me content, creative, and frugal!
What are some things you never throw away in your kitchen and reuse in another way? Leave a comment below to share some ideas with me!