“Overripe” is a bit of a euphemism – I mean fruit that’s past its raw eating prime. Fruit that’s going off a bit, frankly. I don’t mean mouldy or otherwise rank fruit, just fruit that’s just not as fresh as it once was.

Bake fruity breads, cakes and muffins

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that overripe bananas make THE BEST banana bread, right? When they’re brown and soft, they are easier to mush, sweeter and more banana-y. There are thousands of banana bread recipes out there from the simple to the … well, not complex but slightly less simple.

Other verging-on-too-soft fruit can used for baking too – orange muffins, summer berries including strawberries can be used for an oat-topped “crisp” pudding, and of course apples can be crumbled, pie-d or stewed.

Freeze citrus fruit juice

Citrus fruits don’t follow the same sliding scale of ripeness as other fruit – they’re either good or they’re bad, no real inbetween.

If you’ve had some oranges, lemons or limes in your fruit bowl for a while and don’t think they’ll last much longer – act now! Squeeze the juice out of them and freeze it in ice cube trays for use in future cooking.

Or if that’s too much, cut them into wedges or slices and freeze them separated out on a cookie sheet (once they’re frozen, you can put them in a bag or box – but freezing them separately prevents them from sticking together so much). They can them be used in drinks – working as both fruit and ice cubes.
Continue Reading →

It’s been a while since I did a round-up of some of my favourite reducing, reusing and recycling links so without further ado…

• I’m often amazed what fab things people can make from old toilet roll tubes and these are no exception – fake wrought iron artwork. A great idea – I’m going to make some for our porch, reflecting the curled wrought iron railings we’ve got at the front of the house. They’d make fun picture frames too if you left out the centre sections.
• Speaking of which, I love this idea for making custom photo frames from old board game boards.
• It’s a lot warmer now than it was this time last month, but we’re still all about blankets & quilts here – and this is a great how-to from Daisy Janie on how to make a quick quilt from an old fitted sheet and some contrasting thread.
• Started spring cleaning early? Turn a plastic bottle into a drain declogger to clean the bits you can’t normally reach!
• Move away from home stuff onto clothes, I love this idea from Hester Jane – patching holey knees in jeans using back pockets from another pair. So cute! (I also love Hester’s idea from the weekend for decorating plastic plant pots with strips of tree bark – I heart the centrepiece one.)
• Want to learn how to make jewellery from recycled materials and are in the north-west of the UK? I’d heartily recommend Alison Bailey Smith’s workshop on the Wirral next month.
• I love this guide to adding better shaping to a too-big/unisex t-shirt – I’ve got about half a dozen shirts that I’d wear more if they fitted better. Definitely something for my project file.
• And finally, in case you haven’t seen it, I’m restricting the amount of clothes I buy this year – no more than 12 items over the year. You want to join in the fun too?

Have you spotted any great reducing, reusing or recycling how-tos recently?

We’ve had an email from Andi:

The last people who lived in our house installed MDF (i think) radiator covers everywhere which we don’t want any more. Do you have any idea what we can do with them? They’ve been painted and have cute cut out panels but block all the heat!

There still seem to be plenty of dedicated companies selling them so some people must still want them – perhaps offer yours on your local Freecycle/Freegle, to see if anyone wants them?

Both the MDF and paint mean that the wood can’t be burned or composted and is very hard to recycle, so aside from passing them on, we’re looking for reuses.

After realising how many types of vegetables I want to grow this year, my first thought would be to reuse the wood to make trough planters – the cut out bits could be used to make pretty fronts. Or similarly, they could be used to make blanket/storage boxes – the cuts outs would let the contents breath.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Ali, asking about goose fat:

We jumped onto the goose fat bandwagon at Christmas because everyone was saying it was the best way to make roast potatoes but they were awful!! Not sure if it was my fault or the fat but either way they’re off the menu here now!! We’ve got a nearly full jar full what can we do with it? Compost?

I wouldn’t compost it – our compost bins aren’t sealed and I’d worry about it attracting vermin/animals to the area — too many downsides for not that much compost “profit”.

If I was you, I’d probably see if a friend wanted it. There are lots of other things to cook with goose fat aside from roast potatoes apparently – but I guess they’re not much good if the potatoes were “awful” because of the fat’s flavour. Someone else might be able to use it up though.

Aside from that, the consensus seems to be that it’s ok to use to make fat balls for birds. It’s not supposed to be as good as more solid lard but will make a calorific – and expensive – dinner for the local wildlife.

Any other suggestions – recipes or other uses?

Following in the vein of “how can I get into the habit of taking packed lunches?”, I thought it would be useful to gather together your thoughts and tips on getting into the habit of using reusable shopping bags. Because cutting down on plastic carriers is going save the world you know. ;)

So what do you do to make sure you always have cloth bags, reusable plastic ones or just old carriers on hand when you need them? We’re very good at taking reusable bags with us when we’re consciously heading to the supermarket on a shopping trip but don’t always have them on hand if we’re out doing something else and pop into a shop randomly. (I still say no to bags though if I can, even if it means the bus driver looks at me funny when I get on balancing a pie and bread roll on top of 18 better-than-half-price recycled toilet rolls – as happened on Tuesday night.)

I know some cloth/nylon bags are designed to fold up tightly – either with poppers or a bag to keep them neat – so they can easily be carried around in a handbag without much bother. (And basic plastic bags can be folded into triangles for neat storage and transportation).

Other people always keep a stash of carriers in their car for when they need them.

But what about ideas for those of us who neither carry handbags or drive cars? What do you do?