In yesterday’s HBHW Newsletter, I shared some tips on reusing milk jugs and today I woke up to quite a few emails with even more uses for those plastic containers. Since almost all of us buy milk in gallon jugs on a regular basis and are paying close to $4 per gallon now, I thought I’d share all these wonderful ideas here on the blog to help all of us make the most of those containers that we’d just toss otherwise.

From Stacy in TX:

My sister does something fun with milk containers.Cut about an inch and half border around the handle area. This makes a handle form to make a scrubber brush on. Punch with hole punchers several holes in close proximity. Take net cut in about 5 inch x 2 inch strips, thread strip through two holes to make a “horseshoe”.  Tie tightly.  Continue till you have filled all the holes and you have a scrubber with handle.  Most convenient for bath, sink or plates. Also makes a good bazaar item.

Also, I completely clean my milk containers, fill with water, leaving room for expansion, cap and freeze in my chest freezer.  When I need ice, especially since I don’t have an ice maker(the cubes from them always seem to have an odor to me), I pull out a container, take my trusty ice pick, and chop the ice in the jug, just punching right through the plastic.  When I have enough picked, I cut a flap on the side, and there is my fresh ice.  If I don’t use it all or if I have only chopped what I need, I close flap and put  back in freezer.

From Margaret in VT:

I save many milk jugs to cut down and use as mini-greenhouses in the garden. I simply discard the caps and  cut the bottoms out and place them over tender plants when they are first set out. I put them over tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, broccoli and cauliflower plants, and hoe the dirt up around the bottoms of the jugs so that the wind will not blow them away.  I keep checking them as they grow, water them right through the tops if necessary, and remove them when they get too tall or the weather gets warm enough. It’s amazing how fast they grow in their own private greenhouses.

From Jillian:

Milk jugs also make great outdoor candle holders.  My neighborhood association collects them at Christmas to make luminaries, which we place on the main boulevard, but they would be good for any outdoor gathering, to light the sidewalk to placed around the yard.  You just cut the top off and put some gravel or sand in the bottom so it doesn’t blow away, then set a tea light inside.

I also remember making Easter baskets out of them when we were kids.  We cut them at an angle, so they kept the handles, and decorated them with colored tissue paper or ribbons or whatever we had around the house.

I just love those ideas and will definitely give them a try.

Do you have another use for empty milk jugs? Please take a moment to share them as a comment below.

Susanne

We just got back from a nice Valentine’s Day lunch. My husband surprised my daughter and I with lunch at our favorite burger joint. We don’t usually do much for Valentine’s day and going out to eat is a rare treat, so this was a lot of fun for all of us.

Anyway… all this talk about Valentine’s day got me curious about it’s origin and St. Valentine. As it turns out,  St. Valentine was a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine”.

I also published the most recent issue of the Hillbilly Housewife newsletter today. You can read it here. If you enjoy it, I encourage you to sign up using the Newsletter signup box on the left.

Susanne

Just a quick note to let you know that all the angel food menus for January are up. The food boxes were actually delivered in late January. I’ve also had a few questions about future menus. My assistant is working on the February menus right now and I will add them to the site once I get them from here – probably around Feb 15 – 20th.

The January menus are available here:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/angelfood/

I also wanted to mention that you don’t have to order the angel food boxes to use these menus. Just add the ingredients from the box to your shopping list and you’re good to go.