New uses for expired food

Wait! Don’t throw that away! Everything from stale bread to expired mayo can give you a helping hand around the house. Our resourceful pros offer surprising uses for past-their-prime groceries

Shine up silver with ‘milk polish’

No reason to cry over expired milk! It’s the ideal “polish” for silverware, says DIY expert Jess Kielman (Mom4real. com): “Pour 1 Tbs. of white vinegar and 1 cup of expired milk into a dish that will fit your silverware to create sour milk. Let soak for 30 minutes.” Bacteria created during the fermenting process break down tarnish. Just wash the silverware with dish soap and warm water, and give it a quick buff for a sparkling finish.

Clean your disposal with a shell scrub

When eggs are past their prime for making omelets, they’ll still come in handy for de-funking your garbage disposal, promises Kielman. “Just crack open the eggs and empty them into the trash. Then throw the shells down the drain and turn on the garbage disposal while running warm water.” The coarse eggshell “shards” will scrub off any stuck-on food residue, so it washes right down the drain easily.

Quiet squeaky hinges with a mayo ‘massage’

Think you need a toolkit to fix squeaky door hinges? Not so! Just use old mayo. “Rub a small amount over the hinge with your finger, then open and close the door a few times to allow it to work its way in,” advises frugality expert Melissa Burnell ( Budget101.com). Simply wipe away excess mayo with a cloth. Even past its use-by date, the oil in mayo works as a hardware lubricant to silence creaky hinges instantly.

Feed your garden with a soda shower

Instead of pouring expired cola down the drain, just open it to let it go flat, then sprinkle it over your garden’s compost pile. The sugar in dark cola feeds good microbes, hastening the composting process and delivering the organic fertilizer your plants need to thrive. Also smart: Cola’s combination of phosphoric acid and carbonic acid dissolves rust, even after years of buildup. Just place rusty shears and trowels in a container filled with cola and leave overnight—by morning, the rust will be gone.

Keep vegetables fresh with stale bread