Leftover Makeover—Save $520
Make new meals out of your leftovers and save up to $520 per year or more if repurposing leftovers can save you $10 per week on food costs. You'll also reduce food waste. Being decomposable doesn't mean it will decompose in a landfill.

Before you pitch old food, see if you can bring it back to life.

Stale cereal, crackers, chips or nuts
Bake them in a 300-degree oven for three to five minutes. Place in an airtight container and use within a couple of days.

Overripe bananas
Mix them into banana bread or cookie batter, cookies, cooked oatmeal, pudding or smoothies. In the future, when you have a banana surplus, peel and freeze them before they go brown. You can even impale them on Popsicle sticks and pass them off to your kids as dessert—a chocolate-dipped banana is a real treat.

Wilted lettuce or leafy greens
Soak them in cold water for 30 minutes to revive freshness.

Bruised fruit
Cut off the bruised area and chop the rest into fruit or green salad.

Slightly sour—not moldy—milk
Use it to make scones, cornbread or another baked recipe that calls for milk. You can also use it to moisten pancake batter.

Dried-out fruit
Place it in a Pyrex bowl or jar and cover in boiling water.

Limp celery
Add it to a stir fry, soup or meat dish.

Crystallized brown or white sugar
Microwave it for 30 seconds to soften.

Half-used jars of pasta sauce
Freeze in ice cube trays and use in future culinary masterpieces.