I'm sure we've all been there. We make a dish or prepare an item for a meal and we end up having left overs. Saving on plastic wrap and aluminum foil is always a good idea. Below are three tricks I use to stretch the expensive stuff. Tip #1 Retasking Take out containers. If you're lucky enough to have a treat and get plastic take out containers, or you know someone who tends to get take out often, saving those containers can be a way to get extra value from those meant to be used once items. In our house we get these not from take out but from those times when we purchase something like discounted chicken strips or side dishes from our local grocery store Deli. Not only do we get food items but we also get various sized containers that can be repurposed for refrigerator or freezer storage. The more heavy duty the containers seem the longer they last. Tip #2 Repurposing Dollar store Shower caps. It may sound silly but dollar store shower caps with the elastic make great reusable bowl covers. We'll often use these around our house for those times when plastic wrap doesn't stick well to the bowl in use. Our usually come in packages of 5 for a dollar. We just was them out and hang them to dry before putting them back in the drawer. Tip #3 Reusing bread bags to store Block Cheeses Those larger blocks of cheese can eat up a lot of plastic wrap and don't store well with aluminum foil which doesn't often seal air tight. In order to keep cheeses fresh for extended periods we leave it in the original plastic wrapper as much as possible and then store that inside a bread bag. This allows us to create a better barrier to keep the cheese from drying out. it also gives us an extra flexible barrier to hold on to when slicing or shredding the cheese. This extra barrier helps lower the likelihood of mold by allowing us to keep our fingers off the cheese. Even washed hands can spread things that will cause mold. As an extra tip for block cheeses, if you wish to reduce the formation of mold on your cheese simply moisten a paper towel with regular vinegar and wrap the cheese block in it. The paper towel should be moist but not dripping wet. If you can wring an excess of vinegar out of the paper towel it was too much. By doing this the acid in the vinegar acts as a deterrent for mold growth and will significantly reduce how fast mold will grow on your block cheeses while having a minimal effect on the flavor of your cheese.

Happy Monday All! I just wanted to wish you all a good start to another week. I'd also like to announce that later this afternoon, early this evening, I'll be adding some content to the Kitchen topics category. It's not going to be fancy stuff, and some of it may be common knowledge for some. Feel free to pop in there and share any tips and ideas you may have as well. The goal is to create a catalogue of tips that may inspire you and others to be creative in your repurposing. I'm curious, what's on your Monday to-do list?

It's Sunday, it's -21 degrees Celsius outside, and today I am taking a thinking drive. Well, it's not just for thinking, I have some other stuff to do, but either way it's going to be my Sunday Funday. What do you folks have planned for today? Work? Play? Nothing? I'll be spending a couple of hours with friends this morning, then I'm on the road to think, plan, and do something called Propagation Testing. I'll explain that for anyone interested, if they so desire.

Happy Friday, all! ( Well it's Friday morning here in Canada) I hope the week has been treating you all well. I missed posting yesterday. I had a wee hiccup on Thursday that kept me away from the computer. I'll be spending today and the weekend putting together a filming list to create a roadmap of topics to cover. My goal is to have a list ready by Monday or Tuesday of next week. With winter setting in here in Alberta, I am focusing on indoor-centered content for now. With that, I do need to ask, using the poll, which of the following topics would you like me to focus on? Feel free to offer suggestions in the comments. I look forward to reading them.

I just wanted to take a moment to welcome @Susan Padley to the group. Glad to have you with us! Feel free to drop a post or comment and let me know if there is anything specific you'd like to explore. If it's something we can do I'll do my best to cover it.