Wake The Lakes “Lifehack of the Week”: The Best Ways to Use Up Old Spices in the Kitchen
- The simplest way to use your old spices is to use your old spices. Since spices never actually spoil, you can still use them in your cooking. If they’re a bit bland, use more than you normally would. Also, you can toast your spices right before you use them in a recipe. Tossing some exhausted spices on a pan or grill for a few minutes and exposing them to heat can unlock their last bits of flavor.
- Bugs and rodents are often repelled by the odors of spices, so using your aged spice rack to protect your garden and your home can actually work. For instance, mixing old cayenne with some dish soap and water can help keep aphids and other hungry insects off of your plants. Sachets of old bay leaves placed in the dark nooks and crannies of your house can help drive off roaches, and sachets of mint will drive away mice.
- Some spices have serious cleaning properties. Thyme, for example, contains the essential oil Thymol, which acts as a pretty effective antimicrobial. Thymol is used in commercial cleaning products, and you can whip up your own using the old thyme in your spice rack—just pour boiling water over your thyme, let it steep overnight, strain it into a spray bottle and add some rubbing alcohol. It will be a pretty effective surface cleaner around the house.
- Use the old spices as an air freshener. Your house has a smell. You don’t realize it because you live there and have become nose-blind to it. All you do is bring a pot of water to a boil, add some spices to it, and let that steam do its work. The longer you let it simmer the further the scent will spread, it will last a surprisingly long time.
Wake The Lakes Morning Show
