15 Frugal Food-Rescuing Tips From Grandma

Like most of us, you probably can’t afford to throw food away. Grandma’s depression-era frugal food-rescuing tips can help you stretch an already strained food budget.

My grandparents, and maybe yours too, lived through the horrors of the Great Depression and two world wars. Times were hard, money was scarce, and sometimes food was rationed. They simply could not afford to throw away slightly stale groceries or toss a recipe that wasn’t turning out right.

As a result, Grandma (or maybe Great-Grandma for some of you) learned how to keep things from spoiling or how to “revive” foods that were older and losing their freshness. The results were perfectly edible, and these simple tricks sure helped to stretch an already strained food budget. Why not try a few of these frugal tips from Grandma yourself?

Grandma’s Frugal Food-Rescuing Tips

1. If you are one egg short when baking a cake, substitute one teaspoon of cornstarch instead.

2. Do you want to prevent mold from growing on cheese? Wrap it tightly with a sugar cube and store it in the refrigerator. 

Related: How To Keep Cheese From Getting Moldy

3. Are you out of oil and need to grease a skillet? Rub it with half a potato. Pans “greased” with potato don’t smoke at high temperatures like oiled pans do.

4. Does your brown sugar harden like a concrete block? To keep it soft, store it in a glass jar in your refrigerator or in a plastic bag with a piece of bread or apple inside.

5. Don’t let insects ruin your dry foods! Put a bay leaf into containers of pasta, flour, rice and dry mixes to keep them away.

6. If your mayonnaise separates or curdles, mix 1 teaspoon mustard and 1 tablespoon curdled mayonnaise in a bowl. Beat it with a wire whisk until it is creamy. Add the rest of the mayonnaise slowly and blend well.

7. To keep a fresh fruit salad from turning brown, sprinkle the sliced fruit with lemon juice.

8. Is your granulated sugar lumpy? Place several saltine crackers in the container and cover it tightly.

9. If you have a block of cheese that has dried out, don’t throw it away. Store it in the freezer. When you need to grate it for a recipe, slice it thinly, without thawing. Frozen cheese crumbles easily. It is perfect for making macaroni and cheese.

10. Do you need to freshen dried-out coconut? Place it in a strainer over a steaming pot of water for a few minutes.

11. Sticky rice? Rinse it thoroughly with warm water to wash out the excess starch. This will cause the grains to separate easily.

12. If you don’t want to throw out a stale loaf of bread, sprinkle it with water or milk and wrap it in aluminum foil. Bake it at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes to soften it. Loaves of Italian or French bread need to be baked for 3-5 minutes more, with the foil open for the last few minutes.

Related: 17 Uses for Stale Bread To Prevent Food Waste

13. Sticky pasta? Add salt or oil to the noodles while the water is boiling.

14. Did you over-salt a recipe? Add a little vinegar and sugar and then taste. If it is a recipe for stew or soup, add a raw potato to absorb the excess salt.

15. Does your recipe have too much sugar? Add a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar.

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Reviewed June 2023