Increase the life of stale food

Sometimes when you've been stretching dollars for years, as many of us have, it seems like we face the same old stale problems over and over again. We face the choice of either to spend money on better clothing or tune up the car. Or the choice of buying the higher quality item for a higher price hoping it does the job better and lasts longer or buying the less expensive option to save the money currently available.

Unfortunately, I don't have answers for these stale old, recurring situations....I wish I did....they seem to be repeaters or at least similar to so many that we face.

I DO however have a solution to some actual 'stale' problems....of course in the food division.

By now, if you know me, you may realize that if it sin't growing anything on it, I'm going to find a way to still use food. But what should you do when foods go stale? Some things just don't do so well when they're bricks rather than biscuits. There are some solutions. Actually there are a number of solutions for the same old stale problems of stale foods....

Let's look into a few specific foods that get stale or hard and the solutions to salvage them rather than tossing them:

Stale crackers or cereals: When these items go stale they are actually moist, chewy, bland and not enjoyable as a food at all! Just lay crackers out or pour cereal from the box on a cookie sheet and place in a 200 degree oven for 15 -20 minutes or in a dehydrator for an hour. Then as soon as the cereal or crackers have become cool or room temperature again (not warm at all) put in air tight bags and use as usual.

Rice Krispie Treats, Hard cookies or biscuits: Did you leave the biscuits out and they got rock hard and are good now only for playing hockey? Should you take a chance on cracking a tooth? No! Any baked good that has become too dry can be softened up (without a microwave) by putting it in either a plastic bag that can seal tight or under a cake dome with a half of an apple. That's right, slice an apple in half (preferable use the other half) and place among those stone cookies or brick crispies under glass or in plastic and in a few hours - Tah-Dah! Back to normal!

Stale Loaf or French Bread: There are so very many alte
atives for still using bread that can be sliced even once it's gone stale. Make bread pudding; make french toast; make croutons; make bread crumbs - get creative with bread that may have gone stale and use it up.

Don't ever give up on food too quickly. No matter what you do to find a solution to stale problems with some foods, be sure they are free from mold.