Frugal Friday- Save the ends

I'm sorry that I haven't posted a Frugal Friday tip for the past two weeks. I wasn't feeling well one week and we were at Disney on Ice the next week. I really got to start doing these posts ahead of time and have them scheduled to post automatically on Friday. But that requires a little planning and I haven't been very good about that lately.

Anyway...back to the tip for today. Today's tip is to save the ends. I like to save the usually uneaten ends of a loaf of bread to make bread crumbs. When we finish a loaf of bread, I just put the ends in a bag in the freezer. When I have enough saved up, I grind them down to fluffy little bits of bread crumbs in the food processor and store them in an old bread crumb container (from when I bought bread crumbs) and put them back into the freezer. I actually like these bread crumbs better than the store bought kind because the texture is better. Doing this saves in two waves: you're not throwing away any bread and you don't have to buy any bread crumbs. I'm sure it would also be possible to use bread ends to make other recipes like breakfast casseroles too, but I rarely make them so it's breadcrumbs for me.

I also save the ends of onions, carrots, and celery and the carrot shavings and put them into a bag in the freezer. When I buy a whole chicken or split breasts, I will poach the chicken. Then, I use the bones and the ends of the onions, carrots, and celery to make stock. Again, I'm saving what I would usually throw away to make something else that I would usually buy. Plus, I think my homemade stock is better than store bought because I can season it the way I like it. Yum! Yum!

While we are talking about saving the ends, you can also save vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells, and coffee grounds to use for compost. That way you can make less landfill trash and help out your garden.

It's amazing how what would usually be waste can be put to good use with a little bit of frugal thinking.