Random Reuse: The Spaghetti Sauce Jar

I'll admit it: I like to cook most of my dinners from scratch, but I have one 'cop-out' thing I buy -- pre-made spaghetti sauce.  Some nights, it's all I can do to just dump some spaghetti into some boiling water and heat up a jar's worth of sauce. Cheaper than eating out, right?

The upside of this not-from-scratch item on my shopping list is that the jars are great for reusing. I always wash and reuse these jars. Call me crazy, but I feel weird throwing glass away (since our city's recycling service doesn't accept glass).  Here are a few of the ways I've reused them:

• Leftover soup (on the far right -- it's PW's corn chowder with chilies. YUM!)
• Honey -- I buy mine in bulk, so I store it in a jar, along with the wooden honey wand. I've also stored agave nectar in reused jars
• Nuts -- also purchased in bulk.
• Popcorn kernels
• Chocolate sauce
• Garage storage -- good for nails, screws, etc.
• Insect zoo -- my Cub Scout den made little habitats for crickets in the jars I saved to pass off their Naturalist badge.

There are a bunch of ways to reuse these jars; I've only named a few that I've done.  You can go to this link for 10 simple reuses for spaghetti jars for even more reuses for that spaghetti sauce jar. Delicious spaghetti sauce and a practical container for storage and less trash? Everyone wins.