Sunday, March 25, 2007

You gonna use that?

Here's another in my ongoing attempt to stop wasting everything.

I'm guilty of the following. You only need a tablespoon of tomato paste for a recipe so you open that little can, use a bit and then what do you do with the rest? You toss it. It's not expensive so why worry. Well, as we are learning it's not so much the expense but the energy it takes to produce something. Don't toss the energy, we're gonna need it later.

I tried buying those toothpaste-tubes of tomato paste and they aren't bad but I really didn't like the flavor all that much. I saw this on a cooking show and thought I give it a try.

Open your little can and remove what you need then spoon out the rest on waxed paper, freeze on a cookie sheet then, when frozen, pop into a zip lock bag and back into the freezer. Now when you only need a bit, fish this lump out, and toss in your pot. It melts quickly and you've saved some energy. The world will thank you.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great idea! You can also put saran wrap in an ice cube tray, pop the paste in there, then pop them back out once they're frozen for storage in zip loc bags. You're right, it's such a shame to waste half a can of paste when it could easily be saved for later.


Ari (Baking and Books)

Anonymous said...

That is such a marvellous idea! Thanks for sharing :D

Ilva said...

I'm just the echo-thanks for a great idea!

Acme Instant Food said...

I LOVE THAT!!! Thanks for posting this. I somehow believed I was the only person in the world who worried over this particular situation.

barb said...

I think we all worry about it BUT we just don't practice it enough. That is what I am trying to be more dilligent about.