What do you do with stale cereal, crackers, and chips?
Susan
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I always put stale bread, crackers, etc. in my yard for the birds, squirrels and rabbits.
Put them in a damp paper bag and Zap for 10 second increments in the microwave until they seem to freshen up. Don't close bag too tightly and watch carefully. Elsewise it could go KaBoom!
- Linne Dodds
I save the cereal in a big tupperware containers and crush it up and use it like bread crumbs on crisps, fried chicken and the like. I usually save the sweetened separate from the unsweetened because I use them in different types of recipes.
- Marianne
I use up stale crackers and some cereals by making them into crumbs for use in meatloafs or toppings on casseroles or other types of dishes using bread or cracker crumbs.
Where I live anything left open overnight can become stale because it is so humid. So because I have kids that are not real good about closing bags, I can collect a lot of stale stuff. I put the stale soda and snack crackers in one zip lock bag, cookies in another, and cereal in another. The cereal I add to my granola recipe or cookie recipes. It's a great addition to the oats and nuts. The cookies and graham crackers I crush up to use for desert pie crusts, and the crackers I crush up and use like bread crumbs.
- Susan
Do not, I repeat do not put food out in your yard. There are so many sources of rabies in my area SE Virginia.
Thankfully, my kids aren't too picky and will eat their cereal and crackers a little stale, but one thing I tried was I had some leftover Cheerios, goldfish crackers, pretzels and chocolate chips and I combined them all together and placed them in a ziplock bag. They love it and now I have to go buy those ingredients to mix up snack mix!
You can also add crackers to your salt shaker to prevent moisture from balling up the salt. I also have put a few whole crackers in my flour and sugar cannisters for the same reason.
Try using "raw rice" in the salt shakers; the rice absorbs moisture and keeps the salt "lump" free.
The sweet type cereals can be used in a desert I have come up with. If you put your stale cereal in a warm oven at low temperature for a short time on a baking sheet or pizza pan to take as much moisture out as you can, then pulse to the consistancy you desire. In a blender combine your favorite fruit which by the way, It also can be a little old or bruised to use up older more unpleasant looking fruit that normally people would discard because it looks bad.
Feeding animals old stuff we eat is not only harmful, it creates animals who become dependent on the easy pickings we leave them. Wild creatures diets are very carefully balanced...even though our food is a tasty treat, usually it contains too much fat and sugar to be a healthy snack. I'm a Park Ranger, doing my duty :D
I bake old cereal into snack bars using a recipe for granola bars...yummy with dried fruit, I use it like pemmican on backpacking trips.
Kind of makes you wonder about our diets, if what we eat isn't wholesome enough for a raccoon.
I like the ideas for using the stales, thanks. I have to add to the others who say not to throw leftovers to the outdoor "pets", never put anything out that is salted, as it causes birds to lose their feathers. Other than that I feed them all my leftover veggies and breads that I don't use myself.
We send stale crackers to our old director.
Smear some butter on saltine crackers and put them in the oven and toast them. Only takes a little while so watch them closely. Delicious.
I crisp up cereal all the time in the oven on a low heat. Taste like fresh! I'll bet you could do with the crackers too.
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