Do you eat the heels from loaves of bread?

[GoodBuyGirl]

I was brought up where the ends of a loaf of bread usually ended up in the trash. There were rare times when someone might eat one out of desperation because that was all that was left.
Through my life pretty much everyone I've met have used the same bread philosophy as I have.

I was wondering what other people use them for? Sure they help keep the rest of the bread fresh longer but when the bread is all gone. What do you do with the ends?

[kimiko]

We don't throw food out in our house, unless it is spoiled. We eat the end just like the rest of the loaf. If it's too hard, sprinkle water on it liberally and then toast. It'll turn soft and crunchy.

[MYOM]

I like the ends of bread but I wait until the end of the loaf to eat the ends. The ends of bread make some of the best toast. If you don't like the bitter taste of the ends, toasting will fix that and with a little jelly, you are in for a real treat.

Dan Clemons, author and retired Certified Financial Planner

[Caoineag]

Since the ends of the loaf are the last to get eaten (keeps the rest fresh), they tend to be dried out which makes them perfect for use in swedish meatballs, yum!

[nancy58]

There are so many things you can do with the heels of bread. Here are just a few I use.
1) Toast them and eat with butter 7 honey
2) Made a grilled sandwich putting the crust side inside the sandwich and butter & grill the bread side (you hardly know that it's a heel)
3) save all the heels in a freezer bag and make bread pudding or use it for homemade stuffing
4) dry and crush them and use as bread crumbs
5) Butter and season them, cut into crouton size squares and toast when your oven is on, let cool, and store in a airtight container- use on salads
6) wad a heel up like play-doh and use to "erase" pencil marks on painted walls.

There are so many more uses but you get the idea. A little thought and you'll come up with more ideas! Good luck.

[simpleyme]

when I was a kid only Dad got the end pieces he liked to butter them and use them to "scoop " his food and clean up that gravy off his plate from that good food my mom made
so I always eat them as they are a treat since my dad does not live here I get them ;-)
you all know how it is deny someone something and they will desire it LOL

[mom-from-missouri]

We eat them (my girls are convinced it makes their hair curly). Any uneaten bread goes into stuffing or croutons.

[zakity]

Most of the time, they are thrown out on the compost. We don't use breadcrumbs for anything. We don't use croutons.

We used to save them for "bird bread", but we don't go feed the geese and ducks any more. The boys got older and aren't as into it. We also don't go near anywhere where they have birds to feed.

I might try saving them for stuffing. I haven't tried to make that. But, I bet it would be a cheap side dish. I love stovetop stuffing.

[PrincessPerky]

the kids eat em. I started them on crusts from the start, so the don't know there is an alternative.

[Jazzmint98]

My son and I eat them. My daughter doesn't care for them. I usually make grilled cheese sandwiches for him with any bread ends.

[poundwise]

Since they are bread, we eat them.

[PauletteGoddard]

I put 'em in the blender to make breadcrumbs.

[GoodBuyGirl]

Thanks for all the great ideas.

[My English Castle]

My Swedish grandmother called them "skorpa" (spelling unknown) and liked them more than anything. But Swedes eat hardtack and RyKrisp and those rusks! And we eat the heel--especially these days!.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

We eat them without discrimination.

I've been seeing lots of reference to the Great Depression over in the blogs, including links to some YouTube videos featuring a 91 year old woman demonstrating foods her family commonly ate during the Depression. So in union with that and the bread crusts question, I have a little story to tell about my father-in-law.

My father-in-law prefers to get the bread crusts. He lived in an orphanage during the depression and food was scant. There, the youngest children got the crusts of the bread, as the older ones out-competed them for the more select slices. In those days, bread was a more hearty, crusty affair. A crust was a thick, hard, dry thing with lots of "chew." FIL decided that the crust was actually better than the interior slices, as it took so long and so much effort to eat it. He said it was like having more food!

[kork13]

I've never understood why people don't like crusts, or heels.... shoot, growing up my siblings and i would all steal the heels from the bread to keep eachother from getting to have it! So i guess in response to the OP, I eat it just the same as any other slice.... ??

[sweeps]

Come on, kork, you can't tell me you like the heel as much as the other slices?

I'll eat the heels, but I eat them last. The loaf lasts longer if you save the heels till the end, IMHO.

[Cassandra]

I don't eat the ends. I don't like them. I also cut the crust of the bread for the same reason.

My boyfriend will usually eat the ends of the bread for me.

[disneysteve]

I eat the ends, but my wife and daughter do not. Drives me nuts.

[maat55]

I love the heels. And I'm glad my wife and kids do not.