It All Started With A Bag of Stale Marshmallows

Colorful marshmallowsAs I was cleaning out the kitchen shelves – part of my quest to declutter the entire house – I almost threw away a bag of stale marshmallows.  As I carried them across the kitchen, the image of the dried little marshmallows in the boxes of hot chocolate mix came to mind.  So I saved the bag and did an experiment by making myself a nice mug of hot chocolate and then putting a small handful of the stale marshmallows on top.  It was delicious!  I was so glad to have saved the bag.  I wondered what other uses I might have for these marshmallows. Thus began my quest for uses for stale marshmallows.

You can read more on the article I posted on The Fat Dollar – Uses for Marshmallows.  Did you know that stale marshmallows can be softened?  Yes – just put a piece of soft, moist bread with them in a plastic sealable bag for a day or two.  Or put the marshmallows in a dish and heat them in the microwave with a cup of water on the side for about 10 seconds.

I also found recipes for making your own marshmallows, and lots of other uses.  My favorite tip was to use them to keep the plastic wrap or foil from touching the icing when you are wrapping a cake.  (Put the marshmallows in strategic places on the cake and just remove them when done.  And yes, your stale marshmallows work just fine for this one. )

Marshmallows are inexpensive, so the savings are not huge – $.99 to $2.50 for using a bag of stale marshmallows instead of throwing them away – but it’s fun and the research was interesting and there was money savings, too – so that makes it The Fat Dollar way.