We went through a baking spell a few months ago and bought a block of margarine to use in our cakes.

When the short-lived obsession ended, we still had a chunk of it left but we’re butter people – and not big spread users anyway – so it’s just sat at the back of the fridge. It’s now well beyond it’s use-by date – but still looks ok.

I don’t think we’d like to risk it in any future cake venture but since it’s certainly not rank or doing anyone any harm in there, we’re reluctant to throw it away just for the sake of it.

Are there any non-culinary uses for it? It’s a fat/oil after all so could it be used for any household tasks?

(Photo by bruno-free)

John and I were digging through the cupboards for something to accompany our cheese-and-bread lunch yesterday and we can across half a soggy pack of cream crackers and a long-opened pack of nacho chips. They had lost their crack, their crisp and their snap.

They weren’t out of date, just had been left unsealed and absorbed the steam from our cooking in the kitchen. They tasted fine, just were disconcertingly chewy.

Has anyone got recipe suggestions that would cover up the lack of crunch?

(Photo by sh0dan)

Despite eating rice multiple times a week, John and I have a bit of a mental block when it comes to actually making the amount we need. We usually play it safe and over-estimate, thinking we can have it with leftovers or use it to make fried rice or the like the next day. Given we both eat lunch at home a lot these days, we’re pretty good at using it up but sometimes it accidentally gets left out of the fridge overnight – or forgotten about in the fridge for a couple of days.

I’ve heard some horror stories about cooked rice being a great home for bacteria so we’re always cautious about using it after a couple of days or if it’s been left out of the fridge but it seems such a shame to just bin it. Because of the bacteria thing, I think the non-culinary re-use might be limited but anyone got any suggestions or at least ways of disposing of it more usefully that flinging it in the bin?

And anyone got any good leftover rice recipes for using it up when it is still in edible condition, that aren’t just rice pudding or a misc fried rice dish?

(Photo by lazysheep1)

John made pancakes for breakfast yesterday (mmm pancakes) and while we were digging around in the back of the cupboard for the golden syrup, I found two half bags of brown sugar.

One of them John put to one side when he realised it was just white sugar tinted brown and the other was from the time I obsessively baked ginger cakes. Neither bag had that much inside it but still too much to throw away – and both of them were practically solid lumps.

Is there any way to reclaim it from lump form? And if it’s gone lumpward, does that mean it’s probably past its usefulness? And if it’s beyond culinary use, any other suggestions for reuse?

(photo by hilaryaq)

Sometimes our little box of eggs gets lost at the back of the fridge and we forget it’s there until we fancy omelettes for tea and then we find out that they’ve gone out of date. Sigh.

I know eggs are best used as fresh as possible – and it’s not ideal to keep them hanging around for the weeks and weeks until the “use by” date – but how strict is that “use by” date?

And if we can’t use them for culinary purposes, what else can we do with them when they’ve reached the end of their in-date period?

(Photo by alitaylor)