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Waste Not Want Not – Use Up That Last Bit of Goodness

Before you wash those empty  bottles of barbeque sauce or mustard or Worcestershire sauce to get them ready for recycling, be sure they really are empty.

Pour about 1 tsp of vinegar into the bottle, swirl it around and then empty it into an almost empty bottle of Ketchup.  (I save those for just this purpose.)

This past weekend we used up the last of a bottle of barbeque sauce.  And I remembered that I had maybe one squirt of mustard left in the bottle in the fridge.  So out came the vinegar and I got to rinsing.

Rinse containers with vinegar
Rinse containers with vinegar

You may have to rinse the bottle with vinegar a couple of times to get out that last little bit of goodness.  Then once you’re done, put the lid back on the Ketchup bottle and give it a good shake, label it and put it back in the fridge.   Add more bottom-of-the-bottle goodness as you use things up.

Then when you’ve got about of cup or so, use that as a barbeque sauce. Or what I most often do is put some frozen chicken pieces into the slow cooker, pour the homemade sauce over it and let it cook all day on low.  The chicken comes out fall off the bone tender and juicy and so flavourful.

 

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6 Comments

  • Lily
    August 11, 2009 7:29 pm

    I keep a clean ketchup bottle for doling out pancake batter when I want to make shapes. Much easier than trying to do it with a ladle.

  • The Masked Mommy
    February 6, 2009 10:40 am

    Once I heard of Super Mom (no cape) I had to come and meet my ally! I don’t wear a cape either… just a mask. It’s awesome to meet a fellow superhero mom, but it’s even more amazing to meet a fellow tightwad 😉

  • BarbaraLee
    February 3, 2009 9:53 pm

    I remember mom putting a little water w/the ketchup and adding it to a noodle hotdish.

  • Candy
    February 3, 2009 9:26 pm

    Great idea I can’t wait to try!

  • mom2fur
    February 3, 2009 7:01 pm

    I never thought to ‘collect’ the little bits of goodness into one bigger bottle, but I’ve done this, too. I’ve taken some of the juice from canned pineapple and mixed it with leftover BBQ sauce for a really good marinade.
    I love your idea to use this for slow-cooker chicken!

  • momstheword
    February 3, 2009 1:17 pm

    This is a clever idea. I wondered what you were going to do with it!

Comments are closed.