We’ve had another email to Compost This which I’m pulling over here instead. This is from Joann:

Can I compost the mushy leftover veg after I’ve made stock?

Like I said regarding Weetabix, one of the general rules for a basic compost heap is to avoid putting things in there which will attract vermin. Just about all food stuff will rot down to compost, the key is to avoid the heap or non-sealed bin becoming a nuisance in the meantime.

In terms of those stock veggies, I would say a big giant no if they’ve been cooked with any meat, fish, bones or animal fat: the scent will probably cling to them and might cause a problem. If it’s just a veg stock though, it’ll be less of an issue so I’d probably compost them.

Before flinging them though, can they be put to any other ultra-thrifty/non-wasteful culinary uses?

I’ve heard some people keeping back starchy things to use as a thickener for soups or stews. I’ve also heard about people using them as a bulking agent – alongside plenty of meat/fish and grains – when making homemade pet food.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

We’ve had a query from Alison Bailey Smith:

Can we have suggestions for what to do with divided yoghurt pots, you know the kind that have muesli in a small triangular pot with larger triangular pot for yoghurt? I mean beyond using as paint and water pots…

I have used them for the basis for papier mache. We go through tonnes of them and give them to school and playgroup but wondered if anyone had converted them into anything unusual.

We’ve covered the single pot type of yogurt pots before but these ones are quite different – so any ideas?

We’ve had an email from Natalie:

We’ve been buying little cheese from our local farmers’ market which are covered in wax like Edam or Babybell, except they’re all different colours.

Can we use the wax to make candles?

I’ve never made candles so I’m not 100% sure but my research (reading Wikipedia) tells me that cheese wax is typically paraffin wax and that can be used for candle making (although some people prefer to avoid it…)

Apparently it can also be used for sealing jars, bottles and the like so that might be an option if you make your own preserves or pickles.

Anyone else know anything more about making it into candles? And what about other reuses?

• How can I reuse or recycle … old candles?

Friday’s post about Weetabix reminded me of something that happened last week.

After indulging a little too much of late, John was having a week without sugar and he had to find alternative to his usual added-sugar fruit and fibre breakfast cereal. He hadn’t planned it too well and we didn’t have much in, so he decided to have porridge from some oats we’d had in the cupboard for a while.

I came downstairs to find him like a little kid, going “urrrrgh” with the half-chewed oats on his sticking-out tongue – they’d taken on that extra special “cupboard smell”, the one which smells stale and a tiny bit like the other hundred things we keep in that cupboard, from ginger and porchini mushrooms, to liquorish and dried chillis.

Now unlike my unsureness with Weetabix, I know that rolled oats can definitely be made into a facial scrub – but what else can be done with them? I think the “cupboard smell” is going to get in the way of culinary uses but I suspect there is still options for them yet…

We’ve had an email from Jenna to our Compost This address:

I just found a box of Weetabix in my kitchen cupboard that went off last April! Can I compost it?

In a basic, non-sealed compost bin/heap, one of the general rules is avoid putting anything in there that might attract vermin. While I certainly wouldn’t put milk-soaked cereal in there, crushed dry Weetabix should be ok – it’s even recommended in some circles as a starter food for wormeries.

(Another general rule of compost heaps is keep it balanced and well mixed, so keep that in mind if you’ve got a lot of the wheat biscuits to get rid of.)

Aside from composting though, are there any old uses for out of date Weetabix? I have a half memory of a facial scrub/mask thing using Weetabix but a search doesn’t show anything up. Anyone know?