No Food Waste Week was a huge success in our home, minus the fact that I haven’t updated a post with all my suggestions and your wonderful ideas, but don’t worry, I am still writing it.
I went the entire week without shopping, except to load up on some Boneless, skinless chicken breast for $1.48/lb. Since my price point for that item is $1.99, I could not pass up that sale. We used up every little bit of food, except a few loan stale crackers, which the chickens appreciated. Easter week, I treated our family to Brugger’s Wednesday Dozen bagel deal for only $5.99. I had a $2 coupon from a survey on the receipt, so enjoying those for only $3.99 was delightful.
A few days later, I realized that two of the Cinnamon Crunch bagels had solidified, and any other time, I would have given them to the chickens, but I was determined to use them whether they broke my jaw or not. Creativity took over, as sweet thoughts about my Stuffed French Toast filled my mind. Whenever I have stale bread (and we typically have five or six end pieces that get “overlooked” by the kids, I go for some variation of that recipe, and this time was no different.
I used the food processor to chop up the bagels. (Yes, they were that hard, and it would have been cheap, not frugal, if the blades broke trying to use up my $2 bagels.) I then sprinkled the bagels at the bottom of a greased 9×13. In a separate bowl, I whisked eight eggs, milk and some syrup together, and then poured it over the bagels. Typically, recipes call for letting it sit overnight, but since I was making this at 8:00am, it sat until the bagels were softened. It was a food connoisseur’s miracle. They softened right up, and I then baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Served with some syrup, it was delicious, and the bagels were saved from waste.
Using fruit past its prime is always perfect in pancakes. I’ve started a little gourmet twist, but adding some DaVinci coffee syrup to the batter for a flavorful addition.
Creating some breakfast skillets are always a hit for using up bits and pieces of things, and the kids never know that I am adding on the fly based on what needs to be used up, such as a tiny bit of hard cheese left over – grate and thrown right in. Easter ham that have been used twenty different ways by now receive no flack when diced and thrown in a skillet, alongside some green peppers that were marked down at the produce section due to being a bit wilted. All of these “has beens” together form perfection.
So how did you do in the No Food Waste department? Did you try anything new?
Simple Rules for Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods – As always, please link directly to your recipe post and not your blog URL, so that everyone can find the recipe months from now.
Also, link back here so that everyone can join in the fun, it’s just common courtesy of blog carnivals. Please do not link up a recipe meme that you have started. Thanks for your understanding.
That looks so yum! Congrats on doing so well with no wasting. I felt like we cleaned out our fridge and cupboard as well. Lots of hidden pasta found and other things for breading for chicken!!
Thanks for hosting this link up party! I posted Grilled Asparagus and Artichoke Salad. I hope you enjoy!
-Nancy @ http://www.realfoodallergyfree.com
Hope you had a GREAT Mother’s Day! I linked up a very EASY stovetop method of Chicken Parmesan Pastas. It’s great for keeping the oven off in the hot months & also FRUGAL because the recipe uses 2 chicken breasts to feed a family of 5 or 6. Hope you enjoy!!
Have a GREAT week!!
Denise
My saves of the week: I used dried out rice to make fried rice one evening for dinner. I also used some milk that was getting close to expiring to make pancakes.
Oh and I use some bananas that were turning brown to make a Hummingbird Cake.
Just linked up with my Brown Sugar Chai Ice Cream. It was my way of using up some milk before it went bad.
Thanks for hosting this each week, Jen. I look forward to it each week, it’s kind of like reading cookbooks!
I love your ideas for avoiding food waste, Jen, they are excellent. I also like the tip about adding coffee syrup to pancake batter – yum! I always try to avoid food waste. My favourite things to make (as they are called in our house) are “bottom of the fridge stir fry’ or ‘pasta thing’ 🙂 It’s a great way to use up veggies that are past their best. Thank you for hosting, and by the way, I keep meaning to say, I love your new blog layout!!
HI,
I shared my delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt with a video demonstration and two articles that I hope you enjoy!
I did try something new! We made a strawberry limeade granita with 4 oz of leftover mascarpone cheese!
Our best tip when it comes to no waste breakfast – we save our leftover waffle batter (we make waffles every Saturday) and make pancakes during the week. They may not be as puffy as normal pancakes but my girls really love them.
Thanks for hosting. I love pancakes. Whenever we make extra I put them in the freezer so we can microwave them for breakfast during the week. Getting 4 kids up and out to 3 different schools can make for a hectic morning!!
Thank you for a delicious linky party!!!! 🙂
Thank you for hosting such a wonderful linky party! I’m sharing two recipes, Greek Barley Salad and Coffee Creamer.
LOL! Great minds must think alike! 😉 I made my version of Easy French Toast Bake for dinner yesterday, because I had a loaf of bread that was getting way too dried out. I have linked up the recipe to your blog in the past, so I just thought I would share my comment today!
Love the idea of using up bagels in a french toast bake. Very creative! 🙂
I love these ideas!! When I have a few crackers or ends of the bread, I chop them up in my baby food processor and store them in the freezer for use in future meatballs, meatloaf, or as toppings on casseroles. Also as our bread dries out, I toast it. Funny how much better peanut butter or pimento cheese tastes on toasted bread!
Happy Tuesday! I am sharing my recipe for Coconut Pineapple Muffins. They are really moist and are easy to make. This recipe is gluten free, but it can be made using “regular” flour if you don’t have issues with gluten.
Thanks for hosting!
I love being creative with left-overs! The left-over spaghetti sauce went on bread with a bit of left-over cheese to make pizza burgers, the left-over sugar from dipping the gingersnaps went into the squash for supper and the left-over chicken went into the crock pot with barbecue sauce for sandwiches!
Where did you find boneless, skinless chicken breast for $1.48/lb?? I am in Durham, so maybe I can find it near me!
I know. I was practically crying from tears of joy. HAHA It’s at a really small grocery store called Bi-Rite. I don’t know if they are state wide or not.
Thanks for some great ideas. It’s easy to just throw out bits and pieces – but so rewarding and tasty when you come up with something new!
Your post inspired me today. So for lunch I whipped up some pancakes. Into the batter went leftover cooked steel cut oats, a pitcher of milk from a failed homemade yogurt attempt, and the end of a jar of honey that I warmed to de-crystalize. For toppings, we pulled out then end of two tubs of cream cheese, and the end of 2 jars of ice cream toppings (mixed together and thinned and warmed with milk). And the bonus was that the batch made enough for a couple days worth of breakfasts and toddler snacks, too. Thanks for the inspiration.
Yay! I am so glad! And what creativity you whipped up, for sure! Sounds delicious.