Many Americans often throw food away that doesn’t always have to be tossed out. Therefore, here are some recycling food tips that can help with unexpected ways to give some of those items new life when you usually would discard them.
How many of us are pickle lovers? If so, we always just pour that pickle juice down the sink after finishing the jar. However, you should save some of that pickle juice to make homemade salad dressing. Add some olive oil and herbs for the makings of your own vinaigrette style dressing. A good ratio is about 1/4 cup of the pickle juice when using about 3/4 cup of your oil. If you want it thicker or sweeter, throw some onion and garlic cloves in your blender or a food processor can bulk it up more along with a tad of honey or sugar.
What else I like to do with pickle juice is marinade some sliced cucumbers or meats at times before using them in a recipe. This changes up flavor in a tasty way.
I bake homemade bread and rolls all the time. Sometimes, they do get stale before we have a chance to finish what doesn’t fit in the freezer. Being the case, I make my own seasoned croutons, stuffing, plain crumbs to mix with coffee cake toppings, French toast, bread pudding, add to burgers, meatloaf, and meatballs for recycling food. Grind the stale bread or rolls up until a fine crumb for using to thicken cream sauces for casseroles is another trick I use. You can even save them for to put in your sandwich maker to invent some amazing combinations of delicious sandwiches.
Another suggestion for recycling food like rolls is to wrap them loosely with aluminum foil and warm in the oven at 375-degrees for about six to seven minutes to freshen them up.
The water that you cook vegetables in is loaded with nutrients that usually get also dumped down the sink. What you might want to do is start saving some for adding to the water for the base when making homemade soups.
Save water that you were boiling potatoes and reserve it for making homemade bread. The starch really improves the texture and adds a wonderful softness to the bread.
Brown sugar can get as hard as a rock. Instead of thinking there is no way to save it, you just need to place it in a shallow pan and sprinkle with some water. Don’t cover it with foil. All you do is to stick it in a slow oven about 200-degrees. Leave it in until the sugar becomes soft. Then use a fork or your food processor to get it loose and back to normal consistency.
Have you ever made your own celery salt? Just dry some of the celery leaves you may typically toss, then crush to a powder before adding some salt. You’ll save from buying that ready-made spice.
For more ideas of how not to waste food and save money, you also may want to read an earlier post.
