Since we do what we’re told by our water company, we don’t pour meat fat from cooking down the sink – we scrape/pour it into an old plastic container instead. The gross pot full in the picture is a combination of lots of fat from lots of different meals for the last couple of months, ick.

When we started our collection, we thought we’d use it to make bird feeders this winter – the fat is solid at room temperature, let alone at the minus-something temperatures we’ve got at the moment, so we were going to fill it with nuts and seeds to make fat balls for the local wildlife. But then I read that you shouldn’t use reused meat fat to make fat balls – because it’s prone to smearing and can cause them problems when cleaning their feathers. Does anyone know if this is true?

If it is, shucks, there goes our reuse idea. Is there anything else we can do with it instead? Are any particular fats (eg, bacon fat) more reusable?

(Incidentally, the bird feeding stuff fits into something I wrote about on The Really Good Life yesterday – asking about alternatives to shop-bought bird feed for wild birds — do pop over and read it if you feed birds!)

Long time Recycle This-er Lizzy has asked about “the big brussels sprout stalk thing”:

Any ideas for the big brussels sprout stalk things? Oh, and can you eat the leaves that are sometimes on top?

I think the easiest thing to do here would be to reduce in the first place – don’t buy sprouts in the first place, they’re horrible ;)

If you do insist on eating them though, apparently the leaves can be cooked like cabbage. I’ve had less success finding out anything about the stalk though… Other stalks in the Brassica family (like broccoli) can be eaten so it wouldn’t surprise me if you could eat them – just I can’t find any recipes for doing so. Anyone got any suggestions?

As for other reusing ideas, apparently chickens love playing with them – pecking off all the last bits of sprouts. Does anyone know if other small animals (rabbits etc) could nibble at the stalk too?

Any other ideas?

Eileen Bradley left a comment on our “how to make Christmas decorations by reusing and recycling stuff?” post, asking about wishbone fairies:

Does anyone know how to make Christmas Tree Fairies from Chicken or Turkey wishbones. I have seen them made but don’t know how to make them. Thank you

I’ve never seen them – and Google isn’t helping me either so I can’t be any help. Anyone else know more about them? Have you made one? And if so, got any hints/tips to get Eileen started?

Or has anyone got a picture of one so we can see what Eileen means?

(Yes, I know I’m posting about Christmas in November but I thought it might be worth posting it ahead of Thursday, when one or two of our USian readers might be eating turkey.)

Today we’re putting a spin our usual “how can I reduce this…” question after an email from Martine:

I hate having to buy sandwiches every day but I can’t get into the habit of making lunch in the morning. I do it for a couple of days then stop. I hate spending all that money and making so much waste!! Do you or your readers have any have tips on how I could get into the habit of making them?

Don’t limit yourself to thinking that lunch == sandwiches. When I worked away from home, I wasn’t very good at making sandwiches but I was pretty good at taking leftovers. I think I found my homemade sandwiches pretty uninspiring but a portion of pasta salad or curry & rice to warm up in the microwave, mmm. I think it helped that I could prepare those the night before and not worry about the bread going hard/soggy etc – I’m not at my best in the mornings.

I have a friend who, for weight maintenance and frugal reasons, eats porridge for lunch most days – once a fortnight, he’ll weigh out all the dry ingredients (including some dried fruit) into portions into individual containers so he can just grab one on the way out of the door each day. (He makes some with powdered milk in case he doesn’t have access to fresh milk some days.)

These days, since both John and I work from home, we eat lunch at home but on Wednesday evenings, I teach drama so am out of the house at dinner time. I usually eat when I get back but try to take a snack with me to save me having to buy biscuits or chocolate as a pick-me-up when I’m out – something like flavoured crackers which doesn’t need refrigeration and won’t go off if left in my bag until the following week.

What do the rest of you do? Do you make your sandwiches or lunches every day? Any suggestions on how to get someone into the habit of doing it? Or alternatives to sandwiches?

(Photo by t_trace)

We’ve had an email from Ellie:

I’ve found about half a dozen opened bottles of soda water and tonic water in the back of our drinks cupboard from last Christmas (I don’t know why there is so many!) They’re flat now but I know you can use soda water for stain removal so I wondered if you knew of any ways I can use them up.

Soda water (aka Club Soda) is a useful stain remover for liquid spills but I’ve heard that part of it is how the fizz “lifts” the stain – so I’m not sure it’ll be still as useful for that.

Some sources recommend soda water as a mineral-rich water for plants – flat stuff would still work for that – or, similarly, tonic water can help keep cut flowers fresh (used one part tonic to two parts tap water).

One other thing about tonic water – the quinine in it causes it to glow in the dark. We’ve obviously missed Halloween now but it lend itself to some fun decoration ideas…

Any other ideas for how to use up those fizz-less drinks?