It's happened to all of us: the new cereal that the kids just had to have tastes nothing like they expected from the commercials, the loaf of bread grows stale because no one felt like making sandwiches for lunch on Saturday, the oatmeal was great on Sunday morning, but leftovers on Monday morning? Not on your life. And so it goes. In the US, the average American family wastes nearly 15% of its food purchases every year. With a little rethinking -- and by focusing on reducing waste -- we can use more of our food before it goes bad.
To get the most out of bread, cereal and other grains:
1. Make croutons out of day-old bread. These can be used in any salad. Try panzanella, a wonderful tomato and olive and dried bread salad from Italy.
2. Turn stale bread and/or bread crusts (if your kids won't eat crusts) into bread crumbs. You can use a food processor to make bread crumbs and season them to your taste.
3. If you don't have time to make your croutons or bread crumbs now, freeze the fading bread and do it later. Using stale bread is a lot more cost-efficient than using fresh bread.
4. Sprinkle bits of bread on soup -- or mix it in during cooking -- for a thicker, tastier meal.
5. Don't throw out those tiny pieces of pasta in the bottom of the box. Instead, save them until you have enough for a pasta dish. Or mix them with rice and veggies for a simple stir-fry.
6. Don't toss leftover pancakes or waffles, either. Instead, freeze them and pop them in the toaster for a fast breakfast later in the week.
7. Serve leftover cooked rice with stirfry vegetables the next night. Reheat the rice with a little boullion, broth, or stock to increase the taste. Alternatively, add plain white or brown rice leftovers to your morning oatmeal.
8. Leftover grain baby cereal (rice, oatmeal, etc.) can be added to baby food (homemade or store-bought, fruit-, vegetable-, or meat-based) for extra fiber and bulk -- and possibly more sleep for everyone! .
9. Leftover oatmeal and other grains also taste great sprinkled on the top of ice cream or yogurt.
10. If all else fails, feed the birds!
Look here for more information on ways to avoid wasting other types of food.
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