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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Good, useful, free stuff

There are days when a table of free stuff is all worthless to me. But, the perfect, free stuff awaited me last weekend.

Tupperware seal
I have a Tupperware divided dish, the kind sold to take a meal to work. One day, I used the lid to collect pecan halves from the floor, trimmed fat from cooked beef, two crushed egg shells, and a half cup of dry oats, among other things. For whatever reason, I left it on the porch. It must have slipped behind and under a chair. When I found it, it was beyond redemption.
remembrance left by a hen
I don't have a picture of the clear, free Tupperware seal since my friend took the dish to work when he was here last week. He brings the dish back each week, clean, and I refill it for his lunch the next day. Oh, I paid only a quarter for a Tupperware, divided dinner dish and pink lid. Coooool! Then, the replacement lid was free from the free table.

Glass lid
My cast iron Dutch oven and iron skillet share the same lid. The pot had its own lid that it had to share with the skillet. But, I burned something onto the lid and still have not gotten the chunk of food from the iron lid. THEN, I bought a Lodge lid that fit both. So, they still have to share.

Lucky Dutch oven and skillet! I found on the free table a glass lid with a wooden knob. I wonder if the knob is original. At any rate, it works! I used it once on a pot of black eyed peas and it did not break, so I suppose it is tempered glass.

glass lid for large skillet

Does it look like tempered glass? It appears to be. Does the knob look original? It doesn't to me. Why oh,  why is this program still centering the text when it shows left justification? Hmmm...now it fixed itself...sigh.


Free other plastics
There was a plastic, divided rectangular dish. It will be used for storing things not edible. The smaller divided dish with the blue lid will be used short term for carrying snacks in the car. While the other divided dish has no lid, it will be used to hold items in a cabinet where I store otc medicine. Those things fall over and I have to dig around, so this will be perfect. Besides, there are always otc samples in the little square packets that like to free range and annoy me.

Organization
Plastic containers are great for organizing in my house.

Money savers
I would have bought none of this. But, if I were inclined to, this would have saved me dough. I usually just keep waiting for the right thing to come along. However, a month or so ago I did go out and buy plastic to organize and took it all back due to all the sizes being wrong. Okay, I could have made do with wrong sizes. But, wrong size and expensive...I think not!

Landfill save
Most of this would have undoubtedly ended up in a landfill. Not now.

Your turn
Do you ever find good stuff on a "free" table? What is the best "free' table item you have found? 





5 comments:

  1. There is a free table and a free book exchange at our recycling center. We read books, take them back and get more. But the best things that I find there are glass jars! I have a glass jar addiction. I have those old blue half gallon Ball canning jars from there that came with the zinc lids, but I don't use the lids. I use jars for pantry storage, otherwise we get pantry moths.

    I'm happy to hear that you are saving plastics from landfill. I do that too. The knob looks new to me though the lid has an interesting old school design to it.

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  2. LindaM, I thought that about the glass lid. It has Mexico stamped on it. hmmmm

    I had pantry moths last year. I doubt I defeated them. But, I have been storing everything in glass canning jars. Every box of oats was emptied into canning jars! I even bought half gallon jars. If eggs do hatch when it is warmer, I will just call it chicken food. I even use things like glass spaghetti jars for dry storage. If there is the rubbery area on the lid, it's tight enough to keep moths in or out. Love the blue jars for storage.

    I stay away from plastic all I can. Of course, yard sale or free plastic is okay. Tupperware is safe for storage and use, in my opinion.

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  3. I love the "free" box at yard sales. The best find there is definitely my cast-iron skillet. It was a bit rusty but some steel wool and a re-seasoning took care of that. I don't know how I ever cooked without it.

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  4. I showed up for a free box on freecycle. The woman added so much stuff I could barely get it all in my car. Inside were six iron skillets! Now, I have four to sell. I already had two and a Dutch oven. Now, I have four sizes of skillets and one Dutch oven. Yeah, how does anyone cook without a cast iron skillet?

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  5. Donna, I did try to give my four extra skillets to friends who turned them down because they have an abundance of cast iron skillets. On freecycle, the same sellers wanted them. So, they will just go in a yardsale that I may have.

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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.