Save Your Crumbs!

Do you throw out the crumbs from your chip or cracker bag? Well, stop! You’re missing out on some great flavor. I know how it is when you get to the bottom of the bag, it’s hard to eat, everything’s in crumbs and the flavor is usually very strong. Instead of throwing it out, crush them up into even smaller crumbs and use that as a substitute for bread crumbs. For my dinner tonight, I just took 2 different flavors of Kettle chips plus carrot chip crumbs and crushed them up and put them in meatballs. It works really well and adds great flavor.

When my girls were growing up, I used to take Goldfish or cheese Nips crackers and crush them up and used it as breading for chicken. When using as a breading, coat in egg whites first then coat with the chips - low fat mayonnaise also works as a breading base. I’ve even coated fish with crumbs, and if you broil it for about 2-3 minutes before serving (watch that it doesn’t burn), the chip coating will get crunchy.

This works great as replacement topping on a casserole that usually calls for bread crumbs. It will still get crunchy plus it will have better flavor from the chips or crackers instead of plain bread crumbs.

Save the different flavored crumbs and combine them all to create a new flavor - I store mine in the freezer in a large zip bag and just add to it. This is so simple and nothing goes to waste. Just remember that chips and crackers are usually salty so adjust the salt in your recipe (I didn’t add any). So next time you get to the bottom of your chip or cracker bag, don’t throw it out - save it!