We’ve had a “Can I Compost This?” email from Wynn:

Can I compost fish heads?

The answer to this, like meat & animal products, is usually no. Unless you have a sealed composting system or the like, the odour of the fish might attracted unwanted vermin to your compost heap and unless your composting area is really far away from your house, it might get a bit stinky for you too.

But like other animal bones, you can though use fish heads and skeletons to make fish stock. There is often quite a bit of meat on the heads of bigger fish like salmon, so don’t forget to save that: it can be used anywhere you’d use mashed up fish (salads, fish cakes, seafood risotto…) or in the stock to make a hearty soup. Like all stocks, it will freeze well if you’re not going to be able to use it straight away and if nothing else and you’ve got cats, the stock will make you a firm favourite with your felines.

Any other suggestions of things to do with leftover fish bits?

(Photo by mama)

We’ve had a clever “Reduce This” idea from “Someone else”:

I try to cut back, it’s true, but I love Doritos, so not having chips ever wasn’t an option. I did find a way which is perhaps a little easier on my health and the environment by baking some tortillas instead. We buy those tall stacks of 6 inch corn totillas, cut them up with a pizza slicer, and spread them out on sheets to bake them. we eat them with salsa, and you can find recipes online.

It helps me get the crunch I want, and one stack comes in a soft plastic bag, recyclable the same was as a bag on a loaf of bread, and contains enough to make quite a few batches. Yes, I still get Doritos occasionally, but I am weaning myself off them and those strange bags they come in.

That’s a great compromise – I love ideas that provide an alternative without feeling like a punishment.

For people that prefer potato-based crisps/chips, you can make them out of sweet potato in the microwave without needing tons of fat and packaging.

Any other suggestions for cutting back on snack waste?

• How can I reuse or recycle crisp packets?

We’ve had an email from Maggie:

I’ve seen all your suggestions for reusing clothes but I’ve got an old coat that’s vinyl not cloth. What can be done with that? It’s got a tear right down the arm so can’t go to the charity shop.

If the tear isn’t in a very obviously place (perhaps on the underside or bodyside of the arm), it might be worth trying to repair it. I’ve not tried it but I wonder if, working with it inside out, whether a bicycle wheel puncture repair kit might work. Anyone tried anything like that?

Aside from that, it is certainly worth salvaging the material for use around the home or in craft projects. Obviously it depends on how it is constructed but I’d have thought the back panel would give you a nice flat piece of vinyl, and the sleeves opened out would be pretty good too. Take advantage of the fact it is waterproof and use it to make table protectors, swimming/gym bags, shelf liners – or if you’re very handy with a sewing machine, there will probably even be enough fabric to make a smaller version of the same sort of coat for a child.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Pam, asking:

How do I construct a garment rack from any materials, that will display my tie dyes openly so they can be seen? It can’t be too heavy to transport, and can’t end up top heavy.

Not picky about materials, just needs to look presentable and not require anything well, like soldering tools, etc. Looking at the ones for sale, it does not look like rocket science.

I saw a great idea for making a display stand out of an old suitcase recently – the creator is using it for showing off dangly earrings but I guess it could work for ties too.

Another idea might be to make a rack out of copper pipes – like the one I featured on Things To Do Today last week – you could maybe salvage and polish up some old ones, and as the how-to explains, it’s a no-solder job because you can buy/salvage the elbows and joints and it’s just a case of clicking it all together.

Any other ideas?

It was my birthday (the big 3-0) last Monday and because I’m wild and exciting, I decided I’d like to spend the day making cheese. I’m determined to get quickly confident with soft cheese so I can move onto hard cheese as soon as I’ve got a room they can be stored in for 12 months (*insert misc house-moving grumbles here*).

I planned it out carefully to make sure we used up everything as efficiently as possible – we started making butter and used the leftover buttermilk to make buttermilk cheese (which was interesting because it was slightly sour), and I’d planned to whey ricotta from the whey leftover from the paneer and lemon-flavoured soft cheese making but there just wasn’t enough milk solids left to do it justice.

What else could I do with the watery whey? I’ve heard it can be a good protein drink for bodybuilders or people who just want to, um, build up their bodies — I tried to give some to our poorly-sick cat to help her bulk up but she was more interested in the leftover cream.

As I said, I’d like to conquer cheeses so will be producing a few litres of this a week – any suggestions? Recipes? Other ideas?