I haven’t purchased a box of bread crumbs since I don’t know when, because I make my own. I got tired of paying several dollars for, well, crumbs. Rather than throw away the leftover bread that’s almost stale, or the end pieces no one wants to eat, I turn them into usable crumbs.

Saving money is one of my life’s lessons from the farm – “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”.

Years ago my mother-in-law would take then end of a loaf of Italian bread that was stale, and let it sit out on the counter a couple more days. I asked her why, and she said she would grate it to make bread crumbs. And by hand, on an old box grated (which I still have) on the smallest holes, she would grate away until a huge pile of crumbs formed.

A box grater works fine, but I do the grating today using my food processor. I use whatever bread is on hand, and if stale or before it starts to mold, just whir it up. White bread, whole wheat bread, hamburger rolls, leftover homemade bread….anything works. I don’t bother separating kinds of bread. It all ends up together.

If I only have a couple small pieces I pullout my mini-food processor instead of the big one. In seconds, I have crumbs.

Once I have crumbs, I tend to just put them in a bag or other container in the freezer. In reality these are “soft crumbs’ or “fresh crumbs” since the bread never dried out. They work beautifully in meatloaf, meatballs, or anything stuffed. I use them to coat chicken legs or chicken fried steak.

And if I need dry or toasted crumbs, then a few go on a pan and into the over for a few minutes to dry out and get crispy. (In reality, I never really do this, I just use them straight from the freezer – but you could if you want).

Making these also work in place of panko crumbs. But leave them slightly larger when whirring in the food processor, to keep them larger than fine crumbs. either way, you end up with fluffy, light, fresh crumbs.

So this is a handy kitchen hack to save money, reduce waste, and use what you have. Works for me! And here’s one other hack for stale bread – cube up and make bread pudding!

Suggested equipment:

Cuisinart FP-8GMP1 Elemental 8-Cup Food Processor, Gunmetal