What can you do with a slice of bread? Did you know this sandwich staple has some hidden household powers? Whether you buy bread from a grocery store or make your own homemade gluten-free bread, just one slice is all you need for these handy life hacks!
Safely Clean Up Broken Glass:
- Next time you break a glass, use a slice of bread to pick up the tiny shards of. The porous texture of the bread will grab ahold of the pieces you can’t even see! Just be sure to throw out the piece of bread afterwards.
Absorb Odors:
- Place one slice of bread in a small dish and pour some white vinegar over it. Place the dish in a stinky spot for a few hours (or overnight), and let the vinegar absorb any stinky odors in the room. It’s a simple, all-natural odor eliminator!
Make Breadcrumbs:
- Making your own bread crumbs is so easy! You’ll wonder why you ever bought them. Just tear up a few pieces of bread and pulse the pieces in your blender. This works best with bread that’s a few days old, but you can always put bread in a 200 degree oven (or pop it in the toaster) to dry it out before blending.
Make Croutons:
- Another use for old bread is to make croutons! Cut the bread into 1-inch pieces, drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle your favorite herbs on top. Toast your croutons on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes on each side – until they’re perfectly golden-brown and crispy!
Degrease Soup:
- Homemade soup, particularly meat stew, often has enough fat content for a layer of fat to rise to the top. If you notice a clear, fatty layer on top of your soup, just place a piece of bread on top for a few seconds. Let the bread soak up the fat, and throw it out!
Keep Soft Things Soft:
- The moisture in a slice of bread will help keep other foods soft & fresh. This works great for freshly-baked cookies, brown sugar, and marshmallows!
Clean Photos and Oil Paintings:
- A slice of bread has the perfect texture for erasing smudges and cleaning dirt off of glossy pictures and oil paintings. It won’t damage the material, and it works amazingly well!
Before you toss out excess stale bread, try one of these tips or see if you can come up with additional ways to use it.
What’s your surprising use for bread?
I cannot see your Print button. I know where it’s supposed to be but I don’t see it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Never mind I found it. Sorry! Love this post!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.OMG!!!! I can’t believe I’ve never thought of this!!!! I hate draining ground beef when making sloppy joes, tacos, etc. I usually just try to gather all the meat around the outer edge of the cooking pot and let the oily liquid puddle in the middle cook out. BUT….sometimes this seems to take forever!!!! I never fussed over it too much, because I just figured it gave the meat more time to absorb more of the spices and flavor-up. BUT……I feel like I’m suddenly on to a “duh-factor-moment” here and can’t wait to utilize this HELPFUL HINT!!!!! And then tossing it out to the critters, along with the meatloaf sopper-upper mentioned by a couple of others here. THERE YA GO!!!! BEST OF BOTH WORLDS…..since we always, always toss out our old bread to help feed the critters that are often feeding little ones during the warmer months, and are often scrounging for food during the frigid winters just to survive!!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS!!!!! HUGS!!!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When making meatloaf I add stale/leftover bread slices into the pan, surrounding the formed meatloaf. While in the oven, the bread will absorb the grease. I then put the bread in the woods for the wild life and gave some to our pets. Everyone got the chance to enjoy the meatloaf.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We use the heel to butter our corn on the cob. Just butter it liberally, then roll the cob on the slice while holding both in your hand. Works really well!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Clever!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jeanine, we did the same thing! The person lucky enough to be the last one to butter his corn got to eat the bread, all melty and sweet from the corn. Ahh, childhood memories!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jillee, you are brilliant! Thanks again for another great post…again!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We have always used bread to clean taxidermy pieces, this especially works well on waterfowl.
As always great tips, thanks for sharing.
I find your story encouraging and I pray many others will be motivated by what you have choosen to do.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you Deana!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Here at home i make bread fritters from leftover and stale bread…spicy bread fritters…yummm…along with ketchup and a dip and watch em disappear!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Also mix stale bread with shredded potatoes and salt and spice and pat them into pancakes…another yummmm and fast disappearing act! :D
Sounds delicious!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Such great ideas, thanks to Jillee and everyone else who posted their ideas! I usually just throw the ends out or toss in the yard for the birds and deer. But it is getting to the time of the year that I have to watch what I attract out there. Don’t want the bears or other undesirable creatures to come in.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just recently found a old fashioned craft idea in a 1984 McCall’s magazine
that instructs on how to make Bread Clay…..
1 piece of white bread, crusts removed
rip into small pieces
add 2 tsp white glue
mix/knead well
form into whatever your craft is
let dry
I am going to do this with my grandkids this weekend.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Fun Fun!!!
I have to spend a great amount of time trying to skim off the grease when making gravy. This idea is great! If it works for soups, it will work for gravy. Thank you.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Perfect!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A white vinegar-soaked slice of bread works really well with garbage cans, both indoor & outdoor – if a garbage bag leaks or something really stinky skunks the smell of a garbage can, just put a vinegar-soaked slice of bread in the bottom of the can/barrel (no bag!) overnight & smell will be gone next AM – you can also place a vinegar-soaked slice of bread on the bottom of your barrel when replacing your garbage bags to prevent odors (of course you would remove and replace with another each time you change your garbage bags – since no one aside from our dogs eats the end pieces of bread, we usually use those pieces
Bread aside, white vinegar also works well as far as deterring cats from furniture & carpets – cats hate the smell of vinegar so if yours is leaving fur or scratches all over your furniture or rugs, just spray carpets & furniture with vinegar and it will serve as a major deterrent for your feline friends (while they can smell the vinegar, you will not be able to smell it – it actually works as an odor neutralizer so as a bonus it will neutralize any smells that may be lurking in these areas as well (this is also a good alternative to de-clawing which while legal isnt very humane – even though this post is about bread, thought Id offer this tip on vinegar since it is kitten season and maybe someone will find it helpful)
Thanks for these posts, Jillee – I’ve learned a lot of helpful, fun tips and tricks and saved a lot of $$$ along the way :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I normally just use it for the usual toast and occasional sandwiches. I’m glad to see the breadcrumbs and croutons use. Good idea for some gluten free family members.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have some brown sugar that is ROCK HARD and I will try this hint today. Thanks for posting, Jillee.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If you put a whole apple in with brown sugar it will also soften it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I rip it up and soak up bacon grease with it and throw it out for he birds in winter when everything is frozen. They love it. I do not do it any other time of year, because I don’t want to attract other undesirable animals to my yard.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Another bread tip , when you make a meatloaf, place 2 pieces of bread on the bottom of you loaf pan, it absorbs the fat/grease as your meatloaf cooks. when you remove the meatloaf the bread is easy to remove and the pan is easy to clean.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Genious!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What a clever idea!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.And of course, cats in bread. See BreadedCats.com
Thank you for the good tips: soaking up grease, wiping up broken glass, softening foods!
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