Bread Crumbs

Homemade Bread Crumbs

Making your own bread crumbs is a money saver in two ways:

1. When you make your own, you don’t have to buy bread crumbs from the store.
2. It’s a great way to use up bread instead of wasting it.

I keep a bag in the freezer of bread crumbs and am always adding to it. If I have a slice of bread that’s gotten stale, a hamburger bun that fell apart, the leftover cracker crumbs in the bottom of the bag or even on those rare occasions if I make homemade bread sometimes I’ll save the crumbs when I slice it. It’s super easy to make them. Just put the bread in a bag in the freezer, and once the bread is frozen hard take it out and finely grate it. Some people use a food processor, which is probably a lot faster, especailly if you’re making a lot. For cracker crumbs I just just crumple up the crackers in a bag with a rolling pin or mallet.

My favorite ways to use bread crumbs is for meatloaf and breading chicken fingers, but you can also use them as a pasta or casserole topper, or even in cookies! The Tightwad Gazette had a bread crumb cookie recipe, but I haven’t tried it yet.