Waste Less, Save More A few months back, Consumer Reports ran some tests to see how much toothpaste, shampoo, condiments, and other products we waste because the product is coating the container or otherwise inaccessible. Turns out, we throw a lot of it away. Now CR's Tightwad Tod offers his tips for getting that last little bit of translucent crusty goodness out of the mayonnaise jar. [Consumer Reports Money]
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I was hungry before I got to the "translucent crusty goodness" and now...not as much.
There are some good tips here, but he seems to go off the deep end on a few. And while I keep sugar in an airtight container to prevent that problem too, I would much rather buy a new bag for $2 than deal with the mess and wear of beating sugar blocks with a rolling pin and then putting it into a very not $2 food processor.
The best glass of chocolate milk is the one you have when you run out of chocolate syrup and just pour the milk directly into the bottle and shake it up.
And to think I once made fun of my friend because his mom gave him one of those toothpaste squeezers for Christmas. He must have saved like thousands of dollars by now!
@Kavatar: He doesn't talk to you anymore does he? Now that you're just one of the little people he can see from his penthouse apartment.
The comment about making leg warmers by cutting the sleeves off of old sweaters was just lame.
I like to demonstrate to my kids how I can get one last peanut butter sandwich out of the remnants in the jar. I just use a rubber spatula and I almost always get more than enough for one sandwich. Then my kids roll their eyes at me, I blow up and tell them they better start showing me some respect, they give me a half-hearted "yes, ma'am" and I make one of them eat the sandwich. It's so worth it!!
With spaghetti sauce to get out the last little bit I just stick some noodles in the jar and shake.
What annoys me most are those upside down squeezy bottles of Hellmans Mayo. The damned stuff just isn't runny enough to work in that style of bottle. Ketchup is runny enough to work in them but mayo just doesn't flow down to the exit properly.
I use a serrated knife to cut open my fancy expensive Lancome moisturizer to get the last pricey bit out. Last time, there was enough in the bottom of the bottle for a whole extra week of daily use.
@Vandelay Import Export: I got this teeny-tiny spatula for 89 cents at the local Do-It-Best hardware. It gets the last bit out of ANY jar, I love it!
My stepfather has this man beat.
He washes out ziplock bags and reuses them. He has a working hover vacuum from the 1960's He refuses to give up.
@diasdiem: Much agreement here. And that works quite well with the ends of maple syrup or honey, as far as I'm concerned, with a buttermilk/milk mixture. I'm not quite prepared to do it with jelly scrapings, though.
@Serenefengshui: But what do you do with it once you cut it open? If you just leave it out wouldn't it just dry out?
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Lotions and moisturizers wouldn't dry out, and if you push it away from the edge, you can probably fold the open edge up or down to seal it.
@changed my name: Heard in a psychiatrist's office, 30 years hence: "I don't know where my peanut butter fetish comes from, but I equate it with discipline for some reason."
In Europe, things like condiments are commonly sold in tubes. If you know how to squeeze them, you have a lot less waste than you would with a plastic bottle.
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: I have face cleanser that comes in a squeeze tube (like a toothpaste tube, but bigger). I cut it in half, and slide the lower half into the upper half to keep it from drying out. It works well; I get at least another week out of it.
@bohemian: Maybe it's just my freakish body (thanks MOM!) but my legs are considerably bigger than my arms....
@Kavatar: I use those. Have probably saved the cost of the squeezers by now, but they also make it easier to squeeze out toothpaste.
My dentist gave me a toothpaste squeezer and it works great. It's not something I would have bought for myself, though.
I confess that unless I'm desperate and don't have another jar of whatever ~ getting the last tiny bit out just doesn't matter to me. It's not worth the fuss.
Some good tips, but you should never put honey in boiling water. You can destroy the flavor by overheating it. Keep the temperature of the water around 120 degrees F, and the honey will decrystallize without issue. You can also warm it in the microwave in 30-second intervals until it softens, but again, don't let it get too hot. Also, once it's warm, and most of the crystals have dissolved, don't let it cool too quickly, or it'll seize up again.
@PunditGuy: "I like to be spanked, but only with a rubber spatula, and only one that's been dipped in peanut butter. My last partner ended up in the hospital from an anaphylactic reaction. Help me! This fetish has ruined every adult relationship I've ever tried to be a part of."
Squeezing the last toothpaste is the best reason for buying the tube instead of the hard plastic shell. Good luck getting the remnants from that.
@bohemian: My grandma used to sew sleeves on her short sleeve shirts in the winter and un-stitch them for the summer. True story.
@pecan 3.14159265: I cut it open. There is a foil tube inside which is way smaller than the size of the hard container, so you are getting way less that it appears. Tube is definitely the way to go.
My son doesn't get it. He'll try to toss a shampoo bottle away because it's "empty", and I'll take it and be able to wash my hair at least a month with it.
Of course, I think he uses too much, and follows the wasteful direction of "3. repeat". If you have lots of lather, you have too much soap. All you need is just a little, anything more is just because you want a shampoo horn more impressive than Ferris Bueller.
@SacraBos: Same line with toothpaste. Yes, of course, the commercials show a whipped-cream-like dollop the size of the brush head on the brush, but you really only need a teensy bit--the favored description seems to be "the size of a pea."
@SacraBos: Maybe just be thankful that he actually showers? I remember far too many kids in high school for their smell.
@futuresuperbowlMVPJayCutler: if your sugar gets rock hard i know of two ways to deal with it.
add a heel of bread. leave it alone a day or two. - should fix the problem.
or, drop it in some water, add a few drops of red food coloring, leave it alone overnight and then put it in a hummingbird feeder
@gStein: i don't use honey very fast so sometimes when it crystallizes i smash it with the back of a spoon and sprinkle it in my waffle batter before i close the waffle iron.
but it makes carb counting rather difficult!
i find smooshing the toothpaste tube down the edge of the bathroom counter very effective without adding another cat toy [toothpaste squeezer] to my bathroom that will walk off and be found under the sofa later.
i tend to pop the top off the shampoo bottle when it's "empty" and add water, put the top back on and shake, then pour it right on my head. and yes, you can get the top off the bottle with the little flip tops that seem like the don't come off. and i don't have very strong hands and can do it in the shower with my hands already wet. they just want you to think it doesn't open
Is this guy new? My parents did all this nasty stuff to save money when I was little, and more.
@futuresuperbowlMVPJayCutler: He sounds like he lives in a single room with a cinder block bedframe and a corn nut encrusted couch. Who the hell doesn't put the sugar in a canister?
You could solve the world's hunger crisis by putting food in tubes. No matter what you can always get more out. If the tube is nearly empty and you squeeze it hard enough, anything that comes out is arriving from another dimension.
Also, I think some manufacturer deliberately shape containers so you can't easily extract all the contents. You pay for all the contents but buy the next bottle/jar sooner than you would if you could easily extract everything.
I agree with other posters - there is always one more sandwich worth of peanut butter in the jar.
Lotion is the worst, in pump or squeeze tubes. I always cut these open to reveal the remnants-- sometimes 5-10% of the container volume.
Amateur. To get all the toothpaste out, you slice open the tube and just scrape it off with your tooth brush as needed.
Then kick back and enjoy an nice glass of hand-squeezed turnip juice, you cheap bastard.