Thursday, November 11, 2010

Random Reuse: The Spaghetti Sauce Jar

I'll admit it: I like to cook most of my dinners from scratch, but I have one 'cop-out' thing I buy -- pre-made spaghetti sauce.  Some nights, it's all I can do to just dump some spaghetti into some boiling water and heat up a jar's worth of sauce. Cheaper than eating out, right?


The upside of this not-from-scratch item on my shopping list is that the jars are great for reusing. I always wash and reuse these jars. Call me crazy, but I feel weird throwing glass away (since our city's recycling service doesn't accept glass).  Here are a few of the ways I've reused them:
  • Leftover soup (on the far right -- it's PW's corn chowder with chilies. YUM!)
  • Honey -- I buy mine in bulk, so I store it in a jar, along with the wooden honey wand. I've also stored agave nectar in reused jars
  • Nuts -- also purchased in bulk.
  • Popcorn kernels
  • Chocolate sauce
  • Garage storage -- good for nails, screws, etc.
  • Insect zoo -- my Cub Scout den made little habitats for crickets in the jars I saved to pass off their Naturalist badge.
There are a bunch of ways to reuse these jars; I've only named a few that I've done.  You can go to this link for 10 simple reuses for spaghetti jars for even more reuses for that spaghetti sauce jar. Delicious spaghetti sauce and a practical container for storage and less trash? Everyone wins.

1 comment:

Nisha said...

I've kept mine to dump oil into but I'm really embarrassed to say I just toss mine in the recycle bin. You are a genius. Pure genius! I've been trying to think of something -tall storage container (although I would like taller) to store things in my freezer door.

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