It’s World Water Day on Sunday so this week’s Recycle This is water themed.

Following on from Monday’s reuses for bath/shower water and Wednesday’s, hot, clean water, I thought we’d feature cooking water today – the stuff leftover after boiling vegetables or pasta etc.

Like with the freshly boiled water from Wednesday, it seems a waste of power to just power it down the drain when we’re done.

With pasta or potatoes, the water is often starchy and with veg such as broccoli, the water can be “discoloured” from the veg itself – so not really suitable for washing stuff.

So is there anything that can be done with it? I know some people use veg water as the liquid when making stock but what else?

It’s World Water Day on Sunday so this week’s Recycle This is water themed.

Following on from Monday’s post on reusing bath water or water from a shower, I thought it would be good to get some reuses for misc CLEAN hot water.

As good citizens of the world, we only try to heat as much water as we need when we use the kettle but sometimes someone changes their mind over a cup of tea or we just simple misjudge how small a container is, and there is freshly boiled clean water leftover. It would be a waste of both power and water to just let it cool again then tip it away.

I also had sinusitis for most of last year and the best way to get temporary relief was to steam open my block cavities with a bowl of boiling water and a towel over my head. The water was always still super hot when I was done so again, it was a shame to just throw it down the drain.

I mostly use our leftover hot water for pre-washing pans or other cleaning tasks around the kitchen – at the very least, it gets swooshed down the dish-draining rack on its way to the plughole.

Away from the kitchen, I have half a memory of very hot water in a spray can being good for getting rid of aphids or something. And crafters could use it for hand felting small objects like felt balls.

Any other suggestions to make the most of it?

We’ve been going through a lot of tomato puree recently and I’ve been cutting open, cleaning and keeping the metal tubes when I’m done with them. Once the top section is cut off, they open up to be a square of thin, flexible (but easily punctured) metal that’s a bright brassy gold colour on the inside.

But what can I do with them?

I got into the habit of keeping them after attending a great recycling workshop last year – Alison Bailey Smith, who ran the class, uses them as part of her wonderful wire work.

I like the idea of some tin work with them – perhaps making little tiny boxes like Atomic Shrimp – but any other suggestions? Any practical ideas for how the little sheets of metal?

We’ve had an email from Lizzy asking about teabag boxes:

They’re cardboard so I can put them in my green bin but can anyone suggest any reuses for them?

I imagine they’d be good for any general dry storage – as drawer dividers for little things, for recipe cards in the kitchen, or the bigger boxes for keeping packets – of sauces or seeds – organised and upright.

Aside from that, I bet creative kids could use the boxes in a number of ways – an already constructed building block.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo from Lizzy, thanks Lizzy!)

We’ve had an email from Jenna to our Compost This address:

I just found a box of Weetabix in my kitchen cupboard that went off last April! Can I compost it?

In a basic, non-sealed compost bin/heap, one of the general rules is avoid putting anything in there that might attract vermin. While I certainly wouldn’t put milk-soaked cereal in there, crushed dry Weetabix should be ok – it’s even recommended in some circles as a starter food for wormeries.

(Another general rule of compost heaps is keep it balanced and well mixed, so keep that in mind if you’ve got a lot of the wheat biscuits to get rid of.)

Aside from composting though, are there any old uses for out of date Weetabix? I have a half memory of a facial scrub/mask thing using Weetabix but a search doesn’t show anything up. Anyone know?