Trailer Park Tupperware (or recycling if you want to be fancy)

My grandma grew up during the depression and like many people of that generation, she knew how to pinch a penny until it screamed for the mercy of a quick death. One of the methods she employed was the reusing of plastic butter dishes and similar containers. I used to chuckle a bit at the habit. Now I'm not chuckling, I'm washing and reusing.

Trailer Park Tupperware, as I like to call it, can be purchased with food stamps.  Unlike pricier items, if you discover the leftover spaghetti you meant to have for lunch last week has evolved into its own tiny ecosystem, you don't have to feel too guilty about tossing it. 


My current favorite TPT items are those plastic half gallon buckets the cheap ice cream comes in and the glass jars with metal lids spaghetti sauce comes in. I try to cook large quantities of things at a time so that I can get most of the week's cooking over with in an afternoon and these items are perfect for this. 

When I marinate chicken for chicken nuggets, I use an ice cream bucket. When I coat the chicken (or pork if I'm making schnitzel) in bread crumbs, I use an ice cream bucket. I set the nuggets on cookie sheets in the freezer to freeze (so they don't stick to each other too much) then I put the frozen nuggets in (you guessed it!) an ice cream bucket, pop the bucket in the freezer, and take them out and nuke them as I need them.


The spaghetti sauce jars are nice because if you put something hot in them, they normally reseal and that allows you to store the item longer before it goes bad. I've been using them to store the broth left over from cooking a whole chicken for chicken and dumplings, etc. Since I'm reusing the jar, I play it safe by still keeping it in the fridge. No amount of saving money is worth a house full of kids with food poisoning.

Do you have any great recycling by reusing ideas you'd like to share? Please tell us in the comments section!

Chicken broth in spaghetti jar -- yes, that is my bathroom faucet. The light is better in my bathroom at this time of day.

Chicken pieces marinating in an ice cream bucket -- please ignore the sink full of dirty dishes in the background.

Water I'm hoarding in the basement to prepare for the zombie apocalypse