Freezer Cooking: Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs are a grocery staple that I haven't bought in years. We always had one or two pieces of leftover bread that I could easily make into bread crumbs, but now that I'm making all of our bread at home, I always have bits and pieces leftover that I can use. Just think of that one hot dog bun that is just sitting in your freezer, waiting to be used, or going bad on your counter. Think of the crusts you have to cut off your kid's sandwich. Think of the last wobbly slice of sandwich bread that's a loner and doesn't have a partner for a sandwich. All these pieces can be used to make homemade bread crumbs that are just as good as store-bought. I know Progresso has different flavors such as Italian and Parmesan but you can easily replicate these flavors (you can add garlic powder, parsley, and Parmesan to make the Parmesan flavor, for example). So this is the easy way to make bread crumbs.

Take your leftover buns/bread slices/crusts/etc. Lay them out on a baking sheet. When your oven has preheated to 350 degrees, pop them in there for about 10 minutes. Buns usually take me closer to 12 minutes to start browning, but crusts may take only about 9 minutes. The point is to get them crunchy but not burnt.

Put them in your blender and blend them.

Pour them into a freezer bag, press all the air out, write the date on them, and freeze.

That's it, people. Nothing difficult, and you can always have bread crumbs on hand.

I have not learned to replicate Panko bread crumbs, if anyone has any tips on that!