Woman’s Day shares useful tricks to help you save money and improve your health after the tumultuous holidays.
Only on January 1 do you realize that you shouldn’t have planted salads in basins and cooked so much jellied meat. The guests ate and left, but the refrigerator is not rubber.
Let’s make a reservation right away, after 12, maximum 18 hours we send Olivier straight to the trash can, and the salad dressed with mayonnaise is still alive for 10 hours.
But from the half-eaten jellied meat, you can still cook a very tasty rich soup. Remember the recipe: melt the jelly in a saucepan, add water for volume. Add chopped potatoes, grated carrots, a little later – noodles, chopped boiled egg and bay leaf. Salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Your soup is ready!
Do not buy sliced meat delicacies – they are stored several times less, but they are more expensive. But if you still bought it and did not have time to use it, prepare a hodgepodge of sausage. For those who went overboard with alcohol under the chimes, this soup is a real balm for the stomach. Of course, ideally, in addition to sausage, meat, smoked ribs are added to the hodgepodge, there are even recipes with beef kidneys. But we will work with what we have.
So, fry the onions, grated carrots. After a few minutes add the sausage and grated clove of garlic, a little later – two pickled cucumbers, cut into cubes.
Transfer the finished frying to a saucepan. Add potatoes, if desired – boiled beans. Fill with water. Salt, spices to taste. We are waiting for the soup to boil, and then keep it on fire until the potatoes are boiled. A few minutes before readiness, pour in half a glass of tomato juice (adjika or tomato paste is also suitable). You can add olives, olives and a slice of lemon to the finished hodgepodge.
You can bake pizza from sausage slices, cook roast in a pot. Or make a spaghetti dressing – you just need to fry the smoked meats in oil and add cream.
If January 1 is not up to you for cooking, wrap the cut slices in foil and send them to the freezer. In this form, the sausage can lie for up to six months. But in no case should you store it in a package.
If in the morning you find a half-empty bottle of sparkling wine under the table, do not rush to throw it away. Experts advise: twist the wire from the champagne cork into a hook and insert it into the neck of the bottle. They say that in this form, the drink can be stored for up to two weeks – the bubbles will not evaporate. If you can’t find the wire, a spoon or fork with the handle down will do.
But an empty champagne bottle turns into a beautiful lamp in an instant. Just dip the LED Christmas tree garland into it.
A skillfully decorated champagne bottle will replace a vase or candlestick. Alternatively, cover it with glitter or foam balls. Or make a candy tree using a bottle as a frame.
You can also walk around with champagne corks. Glue them in tight rows to the backing and get an original rug or hot pad. Place the same blank in a beautiful frame, hang it on the wall – and here you have an original organizer for little things and favorite photos that you can attach with pins.
It is unwise to throw away the old holiday tree when there are so many uses for it.
- Bath broom. So that the coniferous bouquet is not an instrument of torture for you, steam it in boiling water for ten minutes – the needles will become softer. And, of course, steam with such a broom without fanaticism – you shouldn’t whip it hard on the skin. But a light massage with a pine aroma is good for the skin and respiratory system.
- Pine bath. Those who have not reached the bathhouse can improve their health at home. Pour needles, cones, small branches with water at the rate of half a kilo per two liters and boil for about fifteen minutes. Let the finished broth stand for three hours. Strain and pour into a bath of water, the temperature of which is no more than 37 degrees. Do not sit longer than 15 minutes, and after water procedures, wrap yourself in a blanket and relax for another half hour. Pack the needles into packages – so you can pamper yourself with coniferous spa treatments even until next New Year.
- The coniferous pillow is another useful use for an outdated Christmas tree. You will sleep soundly and forget about the cold. And all thanks to the essential oils that the tree secretes – they kill germs and act as a sedative. The pillow can be sewn by yourself or you can remove the filler from the ready-made one. In order not to sleep like on pins and needles, the coniferous twigs need to be kneaded properly. And do not stuff the pillow too tightly, a small layer is enough. Well, in order for the coniferous effect to last as long as possible, do not forget to periodically change the filler.
- Animal feed. Save some spruce twigs for a trip to the zoo or a trip to the village. For ungulates, this is a real delicacy.
Another extremely useful thing that we mercilessly send to the trash can. Knowledgeable housewives know dozens of ways to use tangerine peels. They brew teas, make tinctures and decoctions for colds, prepare candied fruits and add ground as a seasoning to meat.
Happy fireplace owners will appreciate how easy it is to start a fire with dried citrus peels.
Tangerine peel makes beautiful, and most importantly, fragrant candlesticks. Using a spoon, gently separate the skin from the pulp. Trim the edges of the resulting bowl with scissors, make small windows on the walls and put a small candle inside – let the holiday in the house never end.