Confession: I always throw away the heel of my store bought bread. I know that is 100% wasteful and sad since there are many people in this world that would love to eat it.
I asked on my Facebook page: Do you eat the heel? What do you do with it?
They shared some fantastic ideas that I’m excited to try.
12 Ways to Use the Heel from a Loaf of Bread:
1. Use one heel and one regular slice with the heel turned inward to make a sandwich. Mind over matter! – Emily R.
2. Toast it, put nutella on it, and drink it with a glass of milk. – Emily R.
3. Soak up bacon grease from the pan – not to eat just for easier clean up. – Camie H. You can also use it to soak up grease after browning hamburger. Tilt the pan to drain as much grease as possible. Then press the crust side of the heal into the hamburger to soak up the rest. Use the crust side to prevent crumbs from getting into the meat. – Carrie K.
4. Make bread crumbs. Here is Audra’s technique for making bread crumbs:
- Stick heels in the refrigerator or freezer until you have 6 – 10.
- Lay heels on a cookie sheet in a 250* oven for 2 hours. Turn off the heat and let the bread sit until completely dry.
- Break bread into chunks and stick in food processor.
- Pulse until bread becomes crumbs.
5. Feed them to the birds, dog, or chickens. – Kristen B.
6. Dry it out, put it in the freezer, and make crock pot stuffing with it at thanksgiving. – Rachel D.
7. Make croutons. (Here Andrea shares her crouton recipe.)
8. Save the heels until you have enough to make a french toast casserole. It makes it less ‘mushy’ if you use heels. – Julie M. OR… Make regular french toast. It tastes the same and even holds up better than regular slices. – Ann K.
9. Save them in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch of bread pudding. – Martin R. (Here Donna shares her recipe for super fast bread pudding.)
10. Toast it and put butter and cinnamon sugar on it. – Audra G.
11. They are good for holey eggs. – David F.
12. Put it in with your brown sugar to keep it soft. – Andrea G.
Thank you to everyone who contributed their great ideas for this post! Don’t forget to like Simply Rebekah on Facebook to join in on conversations just like this one.
So how about you? What is your favorite thing to do with the heel?
This post is being linked to Thrive At Home and Frugal Fridays.
I also use mine to make breadcrumbs, but I do not dry them out in the oven. Usually, I just freeze the heel until I am ready to process it. Sometimes, I will leave it on a cooling rack for a day or so to “air dry” and then stick it in the freezer. When I am ready to make it into crumbs, I just throw it in the food processor and add it to the bag of crumbs I keep in the freezer. Sometimes I process just 1 heel (if it was air dried) and other times I wait until I have a bunch.
I like the idea of letting the bread dry out on it’s own. That is an energy saver!
Wow!!! Thank you for this! I’m the same way about tossing the heels. Another thing to do is hope that someone will just eat it (my husband usually falls on the sword for this).
My hubby eats our heels sometimes too. We married such good men. haha!
Thanks for including my croutons! 🙂
You’re welcome! I am excited to make them soon.
Thanks for linking up at Thrive @ Home! I love that list! I will totally be using a heel tonight to soak up grease as I brown ground beef for dinner!
I’m with Emily R. on this one… I eat it. Bread is bread. Usually I eat the heal first, though because it is my least favorite. If I eat it first, I’m less likely to throw to out or to the chickens later.
Great ideas! I have a friend that calls them “bread butts” which makes me laugh… hehe
I save and use them as buns for hamburgers or hot dogs!
Great idea, Melissa!
Place the heel of bread into a sealed container of cookies. Cookies will stay nice and soft.
Good tip, Amy!
Put some butter on it wrap it around an ear of
corn and butter your corn!!
I forgot about that idea, Laura! I’ve heard of people doing that, but I wonder if it is a regional thing. I never grew up using bread to butter my corn.
I have always used it for buttering corn on the cob (maybe a midwest thing), but I also use it to butter a casserole/baking pan. You can put it in the freezer afterwards and use it multiple times.
I have heard of people using bread to butter their corn, Margaret. Personally, I like to slather so much butter on my corn that I roll the whole cob directly onto the stick of butter. Ha!
Make a “Hobo Sandwich” using both heels of the loaf. It makes the heels special for one lucky person.
I’m rather curious how, in the second suggestion, Emily R. manages to drink the toast; she said to drink IT with milk. I’d like to see that; does she soak the toasted heel in the glass of milk, and then drink the whole thing? Maybe my second grandnephew would like to try that; he’s a goofy little boy who loves to try different things….
I’m one of the few that loves the heel, if I could buy loafs of heels I would. The reason bread is wasted in America is moisture which makes mold. European countries sale bread not in plastic bags. I worked for Flowers bakery when young that came out of the oven hot and crispy but when it was almost cool it was sliced and bagged you could see the moisture as it finished cooling. That’s the reason it moist when you get it home, Then they rotate it out for new after a few days then it’s Sold at their discounts then tossed, a total waste.