Friday, April 2, 2010

Having items work double duty

I cooked a turkey yesterday. Searched high and low for my roasting pan and couldn't find it anywhere. Herm. What else can I use?

I don't have any of those plastic cooking bags. Wondering what else I can use? Ah-ha! My canner! It's enamel, just like my roasting pan, and has a lid on it.

I checked the oven, if I take out the second rack and drop the one rack all the way to the bottom, I can make it fit. Sweet! I baked that turkey in that canner, and it worked just fine for it. Surprise me.

Got me to thinking, what other things do I have around that I use for double duty? Well, I bought some casserole dishes with lids at the Goodwill a year or so back. Oddly enough, I don't use the casserole dish very often, but I use the lids on a near daily basis! We use the lids to cover dishes for reheating items in the microwave (it prevents splatters so I clean it far less often--saves me time and energy!), I use them to cover my pans on the stove (they weren't purchased to match those pans, but they fit), and I also use them on my crockpot (I was given a small crockpot second-hand from a friend, and the lid was chipped which let steam escape). It's weird how many other things I use those lids for other than the "casserole lids" that they were originally bought for.

In my laundry detergent, I made it way too strong this last batch, and I have an 1/8th cup measure (which is so rarely used in recipes) that is perfect for measuring the laundry soap into my wash.

I'm using an old plastic coffee can as a feeding scoop for the ducks. I use old ice cream buckets for holding food scraps for compost. (But that is simply REUSING, not really double duty)

The nicest thing about having items that work double duty is that you purchase fewer things. You don't need to store so many items.

Anyone have any other good tips for things that work double duty?

1 comment:

  1. How about baking sheets (covered with foil) for serving dishes..... cakes,crackers and cheese.

    Crockpot to make not only dinners but desserts jams and candies.

    Suit cases holding out of season cloths.

    Don't know if this counts but I have bannana boxes (which are holding keep sakes, seasonal cloths and such) topped with a sheet of ply wood and then my mattress and box spring queen size. Yup no bed frame but it works well and is sturdy (add 500 lb of people on to that).

    So I'm sure there are many other but I can't think of them right now.

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