BellaOnline Forums Money Frugal Living Don't Throw Out the Old Bread

If you really want to be frugal, do not throw out bread just because it is hard or old. If it is moldy, yes. Let the bread completely dry and then with a rolling pin turn it into wonderful bread crumbs. Add seasoning if you like. Now you do not have to buy bread crumbs.

Oh, also old bread makes good bread pudding and stuffing!

I loooove bread pudding!

I make homemade bread. When I slice the bread with my electric knife, bread crumbs scatter across the tray I have the bread on. I gather up these bread crumbs, place them in a container, and throw them in a freezer. I always have bread crumbs handy if needed. The bread never lasts long enough to get old.

I agree with you all. Breadcrumbs aren't just for leaving trails. There is so much that can be done with everyday foods when you have to get creative. And to quote MS "its a good thing" to do.

Such great ideas.

Now I want to have stale bread.

Can add it to meat loaf, sprinkle on top of casserole with a little butter and broil for a crusty top, add as a thickener to sauces, all kinds of uses.

Yum, such great ideas. I hate food waste. I wish everyone would remember these tips.

Hmmm, thinking about making bread pudding now. I have been invited to dinner at my daughter's & have just about enough time to throw one together, I think. (I love taking desserts over there--then I'm not tempted to binge on the leftovers at night!)

I use old bread to make croutons - toss with some oil and seasoning and bake on low, turning one or twice, until dry and crunchy.

Much tastier (and healthier) than the bag croutons.

There's also the old 'feeding the birds" standby for stale bread. Or mix some up with pnut butter and place in your wintery yards for the wild creatures.

I recently took some of my almost stale bread, spread butter on it, sprinkled it with garlic salt and parsley. Baked it in my oven at 300 degrees for 10 mins. I cut each piece of bread into thirds. It made yummy garlic bread :-)

In fact, I think if you did the same thing but used cinnamon sugar instead of garlic salt & parsley, it would be some yummy cinnamon toast sticks.

I use it to make crumbs for my schnitzel. Put it in a very low oven, toss it in a zip lock and use a rolling pin. Crumbs are terrible expensive these days. Now if I still lived in California and had my lemon tree. You sure miss what you don't have anymore.

Oh! And don't forget French toast! Make a stuffed version by spreading one slice with cream cheese and the other with your favorite fruit preserves before sandwiching, dipping and frying!

That brings to mind the old Monte Cristo sandwich!

Also, you can bake a delicious breakfast casserole by layering bread with thin slices of ham and cheese and then pour on a mixture of beaten eggs and milk. Bake until golden and puffy. Serve with maple syrup. Check out a good recipe at allrecipes.com!

You guys are so creative. I think I should make an ebook with all these ideas.

Old bread is hard to chew, and I love to eat something that is hard to chew... Whenever I return from my office and I am hungry, I just take a slice of bread apply cream on it sprinkle some sugar on it, microwave it for about 30 secs and then I get something really nice to eat.

That is really nice, Kaycee. Mmmm. A nice, simple treat.

My dog LOVES old toast. Any old bread, i just need to toast it, then put in a cookie jar for later. He likes those as treats. Esp if i put peanut butter on them.

I thought i would bump up this thread back up. I just received four loaves of bread to use up and figured I'd go down this list trying things out.

I am very interested in playing around with bread pudding. I wonder if there is a way to make it healthy?

Challah kugel - otherwise known as bread pudding - is a delicious use of old bread. My recipe has vanilla pudding in it and it is yummy!

ooops!... didn't even read your post about the bread pudding.
I have no idea how to make it healthy - that's one of those things - if you're going to have it - have it right.

I also have a recipe for a chocolate caramel bread pudding that I haven't tried yet.

Lori is right about the old bread making bread pudding. Thanks for reminding us. My mom used to make it and it was the best!

I take bread slices that are past their prime and make a "Poor Man's Lasagne" with it. I spread butter and garlic on the slices and layer it in a pan with spaghetti sauce and cheese then bake it.

Good stuff!

Such wonderful ideas here, all of them!

To healthy up bread puddings, I add lots of fresh or dried fruits to the mix and lots of nuts, too. And I use whole-grain breads as much as possible.

Use fat-free milk instead of the creamier versions. Even sweetened evaporated milk comes in a fat-free form so this saves some calories. It's yummy and it might provide all the sweetness you want, without added sugar.

Minimize the sugar, if possible; I often substitute brown sugar instead of the plain white granulated stuff because I think it has a bigger flavor so less seems to do more for me. Before putting it in the oven, I top the pudding off with a generous sprinkle of turbinado sugar; its big crystals don't melt in the oven so there's a sweet crunch to the finish that makes up for less sugar inside.

Use egg whites instead of the whole egg as the binder.

Bump up other flavors so sugar and cream aren't missed so. Be generous with cinnamon and vanilla. Add a capful (or more) of almond extract to the pudding. Or a drop or two (but no more) of orange or lemon oil; too much of these oils becomes overpowering and bitter. Or a shot glass of brandy, whiskey, or a luscious liqueur like the coffee-flavored stuff, amaretto, etc.

I keep a big baggie in the freezer and I add the odd piece of bread to it until I've accumulated a baggie full - then it's time for bread pudding!

I got a little bit crazy with this bread-making project a while back:

Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread

Five minutes and 50 cents a day was a kitchen experiment I couldn't pass up.

I used this recipe to make all the breads you'd expect, even the Indian naan listed in the article. I used it to make pizza dough, focaccia, garlic bread, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, you name it!

One time I substituted whole wheat flour for the AP flour the recipe calls for. I'd always added a cup or two of WW flour but I tried it 100% WW and got a very dense, chewy bread that I liked but it wasn't very pretty. Didn't rise much but I loved it, especially as toast for breakfast.

One day I sliced one of these dense, flat WW loaves into thick slices and put them in the food dehydrator. Left them there for a day or two till they got very hard and brittle, like big crackers. They were wonderful! So, maybe putting sliced bread in the food dehydrator is a good way to use old bread?

Here's a trick I learned in culinary school for using up old sweet breads - make rum balls!

Collect odd bits of sweet breads in a baggie in the freezer till it's full. Mixed breads are perfect. I've collected cookies, cake (even with the frosting on it), muffins, cinnamon rolls, danishes, cupcakes, fruit cake, brownies, anything and everything that's a sweet bread. Sometimes some of it has chocolate chips in it or nuts or fruit, frosting, filling, whatever. It all works and it all works together.

When you've got a baggie of sweet stuff collected, break it into very small bits and crumbs in a large mixing bowl; use a large bowl so you'll have plenty of room to work. Toss it all around together to mix up all the flavors. Over that, sprinkle a little rum - just a little, light sprinkle - then work the rum into the bread crumbs. Add a very little bit more rum at a time till the bread crumbs are all moist but not wet. You want to get the bread just damp enough to hold its shape when you squeeze it together in your hand.

When it's ready to squeeze, squeeze and roll each piece into a ball about the size of a walnut and place it on a cooke sheet. Refrigerate the batch till its time to serve them. Before serving, roll each rum ball in cocoa powder, confectioners sugar, ground nuts, or anything else that seems like a tasty idea.

If the powdery coating soaks into the rum balls before serving time (do expect this to happen if you start early), just roll them again right before serving or sprinkle more coating on top.

You won't need to add any flavors or other ingredients to this recipe because each of the breads you've collected is already flavored to perfection.

Don't like or have rum? Brandy and whiskey are great companion flavors for sweets. So is coffee for a non-alcoholic version.

When I was a pastry chef for a catering company, I made rum balls by the hundreds! I'd collect all the ugly bits that didn't go to customers - broken cookies or brownies, misshapen cinnamon rolls and other pastries, the trimmed edges of cakes, whatever. I hate to see food - and money! - go into a garbage can.

This is an excellent way to make use of all the sweets that will come your way during the winter holidays. Instead of eating that last cookie, muffin, or whatever (like I'm tempted to do), just stash it in the freezer. Collecting enough sweet breads during the holidays is quick, too, since sweets seem to be around every corner. Turn that dietary obstacle course into a frugal gourmet delight!

You can make the rum balls ahead of time and freeze them in one layer (like on a cookie sheet). When frozen, toss them into a baggie or air-tight container. When guests are expected, just thaw them and roll 'em. You'll have a wonderful dessert or dish to take to the office party, church dinner, etc.

Funny story: I had a friend who thought he wanted to be a caterer so we rented a food trailer for two weeks during a major antiques fair. I've had tons of catering experience so I did most of the food and he specialized in cupcakes. He thought he might want to get a cupcake biz started. His cupcakes sold but not as fast as he made them and he was afraid he'd have hundreds of cupcakes to throw away, along with his money going into the garbage can. I told him to never fear, that I had a trick up my sleeve. He was skeptical at first but he quickly became horrified as I unceremoniously stuffed his unsold cupcakes into a baggie that went into the freezer. Such blasphemy!

One night I started rolling up some good ol' rum balls. He watched in horror as I destroyed his precious cupcakes and told me he was not happy at all with my trick.

Those rum balls were so popular I rolled 'em all day long. Typical order when something like this: Could I have a cupcake (or two) and about a dozen of those rum balls, please?

They were a tremendous success - and a money maker. He did not go into catering or the cupcake biz. I retired from catering. Again.

After reading all this i just used some stale bread this morning to make a modified bread pudding, using greek vanilla yogurt, raisins, some chocolate chips, cinnamon and milk. Pretty good.

Sandy, those rum balls sound amazing.

I am thinking I want to put together a free ebook based on all these ideas. Do you guys mind if i use your words? Since the ebook will be free, it won't be like i will make money from this - but i do think this would be excellent information to have wrapped up cleanly in one place.

What do you guys think?

I've often wondered how yogurt would work in a bread pudding. Glad you tried it. I just made a gallon of the stuff in my crock pot so I had yogurt on the brain when I wrote my pudding post this morning.

Those rum balls are amazing.

And yes, you can certainly add my words to a free ebook. Use them as is or edit as you wish.

Phyllis, I am very interested in trying the "Poor Man's Lasagne". Mmmm.

Thank you, Sandy!

I am going to try to make a bread pudding tonite with the old bread and some actual pudding. I have these pudding cups kicking around. i will add raisins, cinnamon, vanilla, milk, butter and maybe some chocolate chips.

Will let you know how it turns out.

Okay, this one turned out much better than the yogurt one. I used tapioca pudding, no butter, no chocolate, more bread, and less microwave time. Awesome and took a total of five minutes to create and cook.

I will work on it again for breakfast tomorrow, take some photos, and post the recipe.

The last of the old farmhouse white loaf from the food pantry. It was starting to get moldy but i simply cut off the moldy spots and made this five minute bread pudding for breakfast.

I composted the moldy bread parts! Waste nothing!

That is one yummy-looking photo, Jilly! I don't think I would've ever thought of adding pudding to bread pudding (d'oh!) but what a great idea.

Waste not, want not, right? You've been quite an inspiration to me lately. I've glad I've found you!

Thank you, Sandy, what a nice thing to say.

here is my write up of how to make this:
Layer old bread (rip the pieces), raisins, cinnamon, vanilla, and any pudding you have. Use a lot of cinnamon! Press down the layers when you reach the top and then pour milk over the entire mixture. Nuke for 2 minutes and serve hot. You can substitute yogurt for the pudding, but if you do, you will need to add some sugar in there somewhere.

Did you nuke it in that pretty glass?

Yeah, I toss everything in the microwave. I got two of those glasses for free when a local thrift store went out of business.

I wonder if old bread can be mixed with corn and corn meal to make a sort of cornbread pudding? What do you guys think? A savory sort of bread pudding with lots of spices?

Resurrecting this awesome thread to add KVASS! A fermented drink made from stale bread. I might even put out my own little book of recipes on it, after all these experiments I am doing.

Here is the thread on my Kvass brewing experiments!

For Hard Bread: When I get the nice artisan breads from the food pantries, they are usually a day or two away from getting moldy, so i have learned to remove the from the plastic bags and let them get hard instead ( i don't have a freezer). If i want soft bread i heat them up in the mike for a minute and then eat, or use with the ideas in this thread.