Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

scraping out the jar......


Recommended Posts

Several years ago, my parents came back from a trip to Europe.  They brought me back this little item that, I believe, was from Amsterdam.  Essentially it is a jar scraper.  The half-disk at the end of the handle is flexible enough to allow for it to be inserted in a jar with a reasonably small mouth.  The edge is nicely bevelled and it scrapes pretty well.  (It actually does say that it was made in Holland.)

Sorry for the blurry pictures, but it is white and difficult to photograph.

gallery_10590_649_30359.jpggallery_10590_649_27218.jpg

If Chufi is out there reading this thread, is  this a common implement used in Amterdam kitchens?

I have one almost exactly like that. I bought it in an art supply store at least fifteen years ago, I use it for stirring gesso and for scraping it out of the jar. I never thought of using it in the kitchen. I use quite a few things made for art, crafts and hobbies in the kitchen, but it never occurred to me to use that.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What makes me crazy is watching other people [whether on the food network (no surprise there, PBS, or a friend/relative] not getting everything out of the bowl.  I mean, sometimes they leave a WHOLE SERVING behind  :shock:

Me, too! I find myself talking to my TV when I see containers not being scraped clean on the food network. :blush:

Linda

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an antique "soap saver" like this one that my grandmother used, not for laundry but to swish about in her tub.  When I was little, I used to get to do this and can remember hanging over the edge of the tub and swishing it about in the water to make lots of suds, just like a bubble-bath.  I remember she had some soap that smelled like gardenias.  Thanks for evoking this memory.

My grandmother had one of those also. It was used to collect slivers of bath soap until there was enough to press into a new bar. My father graduated from high school in 1929, and you can't imagine how frugal he was. Or, maybe some of you can :rolleyes:

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is technically a bit OT but still within the same general theme......

Unlike my parents, I buy paper towels & use them. However, I frequently tear them in halves or quarters, depending on the intended use. I can't bring myself to use a full square when a smaller piece will suffice.

My SO thinks I'm nuts, but I persist.

I am wondering if anyone else is similarly frugal.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea!

- Sydney Smith, English clergyman & essayist, 1771-1845

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is technically a bit OT but still within the same  general theme......

Unlike my parents, I buy paper towels & use them.  However, I frequently tear them in halves or quarters, depending on the intended use.  I can't bring myself to use a full square when a smaller piece will suffice.

My SO thinks I'm nuts, but I persist.

I am wondering if anyone else is similarly frugal.

I'll do that. But then again, we usually make a point of buying the "select-a-size" versions of paper towels, because that makes it very easy to use only a little bit. And if you just need a small piece, say to wipe off a little dribble on the floor, there's no reason to waste a large piece. If you need more, you just take more!

One of my husband's older relatives didn't particularly care for or appreciate the select-a-size, though: they asked for a paper towel to clean up a biggish mess, and someone brought them one select-a-size piece, which is about half the width of a traditional paper towel. They got upset at the person bringing the paper towel. I find that hilarious because that person was only following (inspecific) directions! :raz:

ETA: My husband also will use only the amount needed for the job. Great minds think alike, ghostrider!

MelissaH

Edited by MelissaH (log)

MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a few chuckles after reading this thread.

I pour soya milk on my cereal and when it comes to the end of the carton, I hate to leave the last few dribbles so I pour a little water in the carton, swish it around and pour it onto my cereal. After all, this is unsweetened soya milk and it's tasteless. I eat this for health purposes.

Keep adding those great frugal tips. I love it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love to sumbmerge a near empty bottle of Hershey's syrup into a half-filled glass of milk and then squeeze all the air out of the bottle and suck up all the milk. I'm amazed by how much milk a well-squeezed Hershey bottle will take in. Then I snap the top shut and shake it for all it's worth. Next I shoot the milk back into the cup. I keep the bottle submerged in the milk and give it five or six cycles to make a nice frothy consistency. YUM!

Edited by titmfatied (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is technically a bit OT but still within the same  general theme......

Unlike my parents, I buy paper towels & use them.  However, I frequently tear them in halves or quarters, depending on the intended use.  I can't bring myself to use a full square when a smaller piece will suffice.

My SO thinks I'm nuts, but I persist.

I am wondering if anyone else is similarly frugal.

All the time. Heck, I even cut NAPKINS in half.

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the time.  Heck, I even cut NAPKINS in half.

I am so, er, "frugal" that we don't use paper napkins! Paper towels are only for the odd clean up, most of the time we use the rags from the old towel box. Really, this is because when I look at my garbage I feel ill, thinking about landfill! Since I'm concerned about germs (Staph is a daily worry for my condition), we have a lot of small towel scraps and they get thrown in the dirty bin right after each use. I do about a load of kitchen rags and a load of clean up rags each, once a month. Speaking of frugality, does anyone else put their coffee and tea leavings in the garden?

edited by me :concerend! hahaha

Edited by Rebecca263 (log)

More Than Salt

Visit Our Cape Coop Blog

Cure Cutaneous Lymphoma

Join the DarkSide---------------------------> DarkSide Member #006-03-09-06

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of these days I'll graduate to cloth napkins. But that would mean I'd have to launder them which would be a waste of a teeny bit of soap. :wink:

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll do that. But then again, we usually make a point of buying the "select-a-size" versions of paper towels, because that makes it very easy to use only a little bit. And if you just need a small piece, say to wipe off a little dribble on the floor, there's no reason to waste a large piece. If you need more, you just take more!

One of my husband's older relatives didn't particularly care for or appreciate the select-a-size, though: they asked for a paper towel to clean up a biggish mess, and someone brought them one select-a-size piece, which is about half the width of a traditional paper towel. They got upset at the person bringing the paper towel. I find that hilarious because that person was only following (inspecific) directions! :raz:

ETA: My husband also will use only the amount needed for the job. Great minds think alike, ghostrider!

MelissaH

For some reason those select-a-size towels aren't available in my part of New Jersey. The only place I've see them in stores is up in Maine, when we're on vacation. So I continue to tear them "manually." Such an effort! :raz:

We use cloth napkins. The paper towels get used mostly due to our cats & the various incidents they cause.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea!

- Sydney Smith, English clergyman & essayist, 1771-1845

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use the Viva paper towels that have a cloth-like feel. They tear cleanly into strips lengthwise. However the best feature is that if just used for swiping up water, they can be set aside and allowed to dry and be re-used. I have found that this particular towel is far more absorbent than any other I have ever tried and I think I have tried them all. I buy them in the 6-roll packs when they are on sale and buy 3 or 4 packs at a time. I have found them in the "bulk-items" aisle at Albertsons, at Wal-Mart, at Smart & Final and at Sam's Club.

One additional advantage, the soft surface is excellent for one who has severe allergies, hay fever and Kleenex needs to be quadrupled to be of use. I always have a roll in my van for emergencies.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved tube wringers, but they're very difficult to use when you have arthritis.

This tube squeezer might be easier on the hands.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some reason those select-a-size towels aren't available in my part of New Jersey.  The only place I've see them in stores is up in Maine, when we're on vacation.  So I continue to tear them "manually."  Such an effort!  :raz:

Err...ghost...I've (mistakenly) bought them at my local Shop-Rite...

"I'm not eating it...my tongue is just looking at it!" --My then-3.5 year-old niece, who was NOT eating a piece of gum

"Wow--this is a fancy restaurant! They keep bringing us more water and we didn't even ask for it!" --My 5.75 year-old niece, about Bread Bar

"He's jumped the flounder, as you might say."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some reason those select-a-size towels aren't available in my part of New Jersey.  The only place I've see them in stores is up in Maine, when we're on vacation.  So I continue to tear them "manually."  Such an effort!   :raz:

Err...ghost...I've (mistakenly) bought them at my local Shop-Rite...

Ah, but have you been to MY local Shop-Rite? :raz:

It's true, I probably could find them if I looked hard enough in other towns, but it's not worth the bother.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea!

- Sydney Smith, English clergyman & essayist, 1771-1845

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have several tube squeezers or tube wringers. Most work only so-so for me. Having arthritis in my hands, in particular at the base of my right thumb, means that I have difficulty operating anything that requires pinching or turning something shaped like a wing-nut.

I saw this one which works differently from the others

On the Smart Stuff web site some time ago and ordered two of them directly from the company that makes them. $15.95 seemed a reasonable price for something so handy. One is for kitchen use and one is for utility use, although it seems to live most of the time in one of the bathrooms.

Several years ago some company made a battery operated one that was part of a holder made to be hung in the shower, and held shampoo and body wash bottles plus the tube wringer on one end. Unfortunately it died, the maker was no longer in business and even my wizard appliance repair guy could not fix it so it was tossed in the trash. It worked on the same principal as the crank-type wringers only powered.

Somebody should invent one - maybe I will send the idea to American Inventor. The new "reality" show due to start soon.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not about being cheap, it's about being frugal. There's a difference. If you are cheap, you wouldn't even think about the expensive items. If you are frugal, you think of ways to use every bit of the cheap AND expensive stuff.

It's an important distinction. But compared to some of the OCD  :biggrin:  postings here, I'm a lightweight when it comes to scraping and such.

My partner and roommate--and probably a few of my friends--say I'm cheap.

And partner once said to someone that I hate spending money.

I don't hate spending money. I hate spending more than I have to. Which IMO makes me frugal, not cheap. (However, I do actively resist brand snobbery. I will happily use the store brand wherever it performs adequately.)

Yes, it's a waste to throw out a container that has usable food in it. It annoys me no end when the roommate tosses a bottle of juice with a little left in the bottom, and his attitude towards leftovers--which, I assure him again and again, rich folks eat too--also gets my goat. (Oftentimes I cook so as to have leftovers that I can pack in a future lunch or have around for someone to prepare if, as is sometimes the case, I can't fix a full meal that evening. But I've spoiled folks, and often if I don't reheat it, it doesn't get eaten.) On the other hand, I find my partner's recent practice of going up to a nearby deli and ordering two or three sandwiches and maybe a sushi combo--then leaving these in the fridge for two, three or even four days, depending--bizarre: Things like these are supposed to be eaten when they're made. It's sort of like leaving a salad with croutons in a container for more than one day (which also happens; I usually throw out said salad after Day Two).

Put me in with the not-quite-obsessive-compulsive jar-scrapers. I do get every last bit of peanut butter, mayo, mustard or whatever that I can out of the jar or can, but I don't go so far as to dilute stuff with water to do so (I don't buy jarred spaghetti sauce, so the red wine trick is useless for me, except maybe with tomato puree). I leave bottles upside down to make sure everything flows to the opening. And the whoever it was at Reckitt Benckhiser that redesigned the French's Mustard squeeze bottles with wasp waists should be shot. The design makes it impossible to scrape the bottles properly.

I'll have to remember that cutting-off-the-tube trick.

Edited by MarketStEl (log)

Sandy Smith, Exile on Oxford Circle, Philadelphia

"95% of success in life is showing up." --Woody Allen

My foodblogs: 1 | 2 | 3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the whoever it was at Reckitt Benckhiser that redesigned the French's Mustard squeeze bottles with wasp waists should be shot. The design makes it impossible to scrape the bottles properly

There are several of this type bottle now being marketed, plus some that have a molded-in dispenser top that is too small to insert anything except a skewer.

I simply cut the bottom off the bottles to get access to the good stuff in the bottom part.

I save these if they are the ones with the twist-type dispenser top opening because they make nice disposable funnels that will hold a liquid until you get it positioned perfectly then a judicious twist of the top will allow either a little or a lot to flow through. They are also a lot easier to grasp than a regular funnel.

Is that frugal, or what?

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm notoriously cheap, and I obsessively get those last bits of stuff that stick to the side of jars.  With jarred spaghetti sauce, I pour in some red wine.  Chinese condiments?  Add a bit of water and pour it into my sauces.  Where did I get the latter from?  Dad.  Promised myself when I was a kid that I'd never do that, but what happens?  Calipoutine, you're not the only one that's turning into your parents.

I do the same thing ! And I got it from my dad too ! :laugh:

Today is going to be one of those days.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love to sumbmerge a near empty bottle of Hershey's syrup into a half-filled glass of milk and then squeeze all the air out of the bottle and suck up all the milk.  I'm amazed by how much milk a well-squeezed Hershey bottle will take in.  Then I snap the top shut and shake it for all it's worth.  Next I shoot the milk back into the cup.   I keep the bottle submerged in the milk and give it five or six cycles to make a nice frothy consistency.  YUM!

OMG!!!! How could I forget THAT one?!! That is, word for absolutely word, exactly what I do! And, well, in this instance it's really more of a chocolate thing rather than a frugal thing......heh...... Except I've switched to Trader Joe's Midnight Moo chocolate syrup. Tastes more chocolatey to me than Hershey's does.

Edited by JanMcBaker (log)
"Fat is money." (Per a cracklings maker shown on Dirty Jobs.)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Years ago, I think it was Yankee Magazine that ran a contest based on frugality. They solicited anecdotes that best illustrated the traditional, Yankee, "waste not... want not" mentality.

IIRC, the winner told of a woman who caught a mouse climbing her skirt in church. She wrung its neck, wrapped it in a hanky and took it home for her cat.

-- Jeff

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." -- Groucho Marx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Linens N Things or Bed Bath and Beyond has a toothpaste tube squeezer. About a 1 x 3 inch piece of plastic with a sllit down the middle and flanges on the slit. You slide it on the end of the tube and push it up as you use the toothpaste. It works great and no twisting. I used to roll the tube and clamp the rolled end with a binder clip. :blink: This is much better and looks nicer. I think I got 2 for a ridiculously low price. They should work for any tube.

And yes, I put the last sliver of soap on the new bar and I have lots of upside down bottles in the kitchen and bathroom. I can get another week out of an "empty " shampoo bottle. Oh, and I slice fresh cucumber into the leftover pickle juice (Mrs. Fannings Bread and Butter are my fav) and have fresh pickles!

I think I learned this as a single mother with 2 young kids and not much money, so I really had to squeeze that dollar. Now it allows me to splurge now and then (of course the boys are teenagers now and more expensive to keep)

Dana

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...