A bit of a blast from the past – GaryLamontL has asked @recycle_this on Twitter about reuses for wellies:
Just wondering if you have any ideas on what to do with 3 old pairs of wellies I have. They leak and I have enough planters!
We’ve covered this before but a lot of the ideas were planter-ish. So a fresh shout out – has anyone got any more reusing or recycling ideas for old wellies?
Philip Mitchell Graham has left us another suggestion/excellent upcycle idea:
Ironing boards. One of the great monuments to inbuilt obsolescence is the common ironing board. They are designed to break after a few years, because the folding mechanism is made of cheap mild steel and the legs often buckle if someone places a heavy load of washing on them.
No matter, use a bit of fencing wire to lock them in an open position, then use them as light work benches in the studio or garden. Sure they are light, but many tasks do not need a heavy table. If you have a few of them, you have in effect a modular bench system that you can reconfigure with no effort. They are light enough to move with one arm which is very useful if like me, you find yourself in need of a bench when you have one arm full.
I suspect our ironing board will outlive us since we use it that rarely (in fact we were utterly shocked to find we had one – we thought it had gone to the furniture charity shop before we moved house). It feels really flimsy though so I suspect if we used any more than once a year, it would fall apart in a shot.
I like Philip’s mobile workbench idea. With a tablecloth over it, it could also be an emergency table for a party or bbq.
Any other suggestions? What about if it can’t be fixed with garden wire – any uses for the metal pipe legs or the board itself?
Recycle This regular Anna left a question on the Suggestion page back in APRIL but I somehow missed it until now – sorry Anna!
Her question was:
How could I use completely dry fudge? I have two big boxes of completely dry Irish fudge that I’d like to find a use for. The fudge isn’t crumbly but dry and hard – hard enough that I don’t want to risk my coffee grinder with it.
Is there a way to make it soft again? Or just break it to small pieces somehow or soak in coffee or something.
Mmm, fudge. Between my misunderstanding about crackers on Tuesday and yesterday’s leftover turkey recipe round-up, Recycle This has conspired to make me feel hungry all week!
Could it be grated with a cheese grater and used as sprinkling on top of cakes/foam-y drinks?
This “failed fudge fool” recipe might work too – make it into a creamy dessert.
Any other ideas?
It’s easy to stop yourself from, say, cooking too much pasta or rice, but it’s harder to cook just the right amount of turkey since they’re a fixed (or at least minimum) size. Leftovers are no bad thing though – they just get a bit dull if it’s turkey sandwiches every day…
I love this idea since a lot of people have leftover stilton around at Christmas too. The already cooked turkey won’t need as long in the frying pan though – add it with the mushrooms rather than before the sweet potato.
Making individual pies are also a great idea for this time of year when people are extra busy – these guys can be frozen then defrosted and cooked as needed rather than a big pie which has to be eaten all at once.
Come on, you just drooled reading that title didn’t you? I certainly did! *wipes keyboard*
Another fab recipe because you’ll have most, if not all, of the ingredients on hand from Christmas dinner preparations – such as root veg and streaky bacon – and the croutons also use up day-old/going-stale bread. If you’re really organised you can make the stock from the turkey carcass first too (see side panel below).
Make a stock from the turkey carcass for use in soups and stews. If you’re not going to use it straight away, reduce it down to get rid of a lot of the excess liquid and freeze it. If you’re feeling lazy, slow cookers are great for making stock – just pile everything in.
After stodgy roasts and puddings (mmm stodgy food), this recipe is refreshingly light. Not at all seasonal with the courgette and peppers but still, mmm! If you haven’t quite got enough turkey, pad it out with pinto or kidney beans.
(I also like the idea of stacking them like a pie rather than in rolls.)
And keep with New World flavours, this is awesome and I’m drooling again at the thought of it. Leftover turkey, rings of some sort of smoked/spicy sausage, colourful veg and spices – a surprisingly quick but delicious option.
Finally, I couldn’t do a leftover turkey round-up without including a curry – firstly, because turkey curry is a delicious cliche and secondly because I’m all about spiceness!
This recipe from the wonderful people at LoveFoodHateWaste is effectively two curries in one – yummy enough on its own but transformed into something a bit more Thai flavoured with the addition of coconut milk.
What will you do with your leftover turkey? What are your favourite recipes?
Philip Mitchell Graham has left quite a few comments on the Suggest an item page recently so I guess I should start making my way through his ideas!
First up:
Old split plastic rubbish bins. I used one as a liner in an old metal rubbish bin. Metal bins often loose their bottoms, whereas the plastic ones often split on the sides. Between the two, I made a perfectly serviceable bin. I expect to get a few extra years of service out of two bins that had no future at all.
Great reuse Philip.
Without a metal outer, they’re useful for storing stuff that needs to be pretty dry but doesn’t need to be bone dry. We’ve got a split plastic bin in our woodstore for kindling – it keeps it neat and in one place, and not enough water makes it through the cracks to be a problem. If we had another, I’d probably use it for my garden stuff – spare pots and other bits and bobs – that don’t need to be in the greenhouse but need to be contained so they don’t get blown around.
Do you use old bins around your garden too? Do you have any other reuses for them?
