Waste Not, Want Not - what have you reused/recycled today?

kboss2010

Had to throw away some mouldy carrot sticks today but the dog got some of the not-quite mouldy, dry ones!

Bobarella

Today I reused a portion of breaded chicken that I made for dinner on sunday. Just reheated it for sons tea with new chips, & fresh brocoli. Why not eh.

dandy-candy

Today I glued new wicks into old tealight tin holders and melted all my wax scraps to pour into the tins. I now have 33 "new" tealights

suki1964

Yesterday I made wedges and had them with the tiny amount of bolognaise that I had left over. Added a tiny amount of chirizo and a few soggy mushrooms to stretch it to feed two. Very tasty

Had a new mattress delivered The delivery guy took one look at my old mattress and asked if he could have it for himself. Happy days, less landfill

The old mattress topper ( memory foam) I've cut down and it's being gifted to the daughter and sil as their mattress isn't the most comfortable

Best save of all has been hubby's repair on the boiler. Been leaking water, getting worse the last few nights so with the help of YouTube and the local plumbers merchants, he's saved us the cost of a call out and repair and it only cost £9 for parts

Lunch today is fish cakes made with left over mash, tin of whoopiesd salmon and an egg

jackel

Thankyou Moments of sanity for your post(page 1) about saving the water you run off before it is hot. Found it very useful and now save all mine in lemonade bottles until I hand wash any bits and pieces and use it for rinsing. Shalln't be a millionare but the so and so water board wont get so much out of us - ta ! jac.xx

moments_of_sanity

jackel wrote: »

Thankyou Moments of sanity for your post(page 1) about saving the water you run off before it is hot. Found it very useful and now save all mine in lemonade bottles until I hand wash any bits and pieces and use it for rinsing. Shalln't be a millionare but the so and so water board wont get so much out of us - ta ! jac.xx

Thanks, glad it has helped even a little. We started doing this about 6 months ago and our revised water bill was £6 a month cheaper, not sure it's entirely due to saving the water I would normally throw away but nothing else has changed. I normally use all 12 pints through the following 24 hours and am pleased with being able to use it rather than letting it run down the sink

nannygladys

Just read thread and think it's brilliant, some really good ideas!!!
Nannyg

Ben84

I had a small quantity of curry left in the pan the other day, about 4tbsp. Too little to make a serving. I re-heated it today and put lots of tomatoes on to garnish, cooked some rice, and it was actually very good. I'm going to be more careful to gather together whatever is left on the sides of the pan and see if I can make something with it in future. It's easy to look in there and think it's empty when it isn't.

Also cut up a pile of single sided computer print outs to make scrap paper, which saved buying a notepad.

A few half used bottles of shampoo left by people at work have been taken home to use for cleaning the loo. Seems to work as well as any other liquid detergent.

GreyQueen

Ben84 wrote: »

I had a small quantity of curry left in the pan the other day, about 4tbsp. Too little to make a serving. I re-heated it today and put lots of tomatoes on to garnish, cooked some rice, and it was actually very good. I'm going to be more careful to gather together whatever is left on the sides of the pan and see if I can make something with it in future. It's easy to look in there and think it's empty when it isn't.

Nice one.

If you haven't discovered the wonders of silicone spatulas as aids to thrifting, may I recommend them wholeheartedly. I have a cheapy set from Poondland, which aren't quite as nice as the two I have from the expensive kitchenware shop (pressies), but are still perfectly usable.

They're in constant use, getting the last of the foodstuff from the pan or the mixing bowl, and the smaller ones are great for delving inside jars to get the last bits out.

As you've noticed, you'd be surprised how much is left in there, plus the pans and jars are cleaner and this makes the washing up easier and adds fewer pollutants to the water supply, so it's a win-win.

Tonight I have done double-batch cooking with my two biggest pots on the stove, one with a chili con carne, one with a pasta-sauce-type thing. Both involved chopping up h.g. onions and bargain red peppers, and the pasta-y thing involved courgettes bought on YS yesterday evening.

I've had a goodly portion of the chili and am now waiting for both to cool down and then will portion both and freezer/ refridgerate them so I have the next few days' worth of meals covered.

Cooking two batches at the same time isn't as time-saving as just cooking one, but it does only involve one lot of clean-up for the prep stuff, albeit two pots to wash at the end, so that represented a bit of a saving there.

Plus, if I have to stand over a hot stove, I might as well mind two pots rather than just one.

Bobarella

My husband carved our halloween pumpkin today. I saved the flesh for soup & toasted the seeds in salt, pepper & cayenne pepper. Yummy.