What to do with too much raisins?

Joined
Aug 5, 2002
Messages
23,088
Location
Silicon Valley
So, our school district is giving out free foods. It is an honor system to keep people employed and hungry children fed. People didn't come and now they are giving out more than on the menu so they won't be wasted.

So far we have been able to consume and use them for our cooking as ingredients. We do have the "hospital grade" food and kids are getting sick of them, and parents I know aren't going there anymore. I still go but you cannot pick and choose what you get. So far I'm ok except raisin.

I normally don't eat raisin and I couldn't figure out what to cook them with. Now I have about 10 small boxes but the number is increasing. Any suggestion? I do not want to spend a lot of effort to consume a little, like making 2 lb of bread to use up 1 oz, I want to use them up efficiently.

What else have I made so far with school foods:

Apple pie (10 small apples per pie)
Roast baby carrots
Roast corns
Strawberry and banana smoothie
Turkey / Ham "BLT" sandwiches
Mac and cheese
Grilled chicken with cheese sticks
Apple "cider"
Fish ball with celery and shallot
Pepper Jack and breakfast sausage burritos
Grilled Ham and Cheese sandwich
Chicken nugget and pickle slider

Just don't know what to do with raisins.
 
Here we had a local restaurant that made some really good rice pudding that had raisins in it. That and raisin bread were the only two times I would eat raisins just because I’m not a fan of them. So that’s an idea. I have no idea of the recipe or nothing and now the chain of local restaurants is closed that had it so I can’t ask lol.
 
Thinking mix with some dry cereal?
Yep, great with Cheerios, Rice Crispies, Wheaties etc but not so good with sweet cereals. Also good with oatmeal if you like it.

Makes a great snack mixed 50/50 with peanuts. Or M&Ms. Or both.

If your kids are young, "Ants on a log" is fun -- celery with peanut butter in the groove and a row of raisins stuck in the pb.
 
While it takes a little effort, you can have a fun education by...
1) Canning (Mason jars) the apples or peaches. Use a recipe with raisons and cinnamon.
Eat the apples/peaches alone, on ice cream or give jars as gifts.

2) Find the recipe for Mid-Asian (Afghan etc.) spinach. IT'S FANTASTIC.
The raisons add great touches of flavor but the basic spices are what I can't identify. Absolutely tops recipe.
 
Fact remains, you have to TRY to go hungry in the USA

WA state? Too much food, can never find enough people for all the free food. We take some just because a friend of my wife will just leave it because no one else will take.

Lastly, that lady who leaves the food. I have not known many like her. My God she spends every waking second of her life helping others, giving. She has all the sources, and distribution channels for free food. She even pulls a little cart. Amazing heart. She definitely has more food than hungry people, but keeps on going and giving.

Sorry for the interruption. Raisins and bread make me fat. But I keep eating them! Make raisin bread!
 
Raisins ARE NOT good for dogs.
I look at it this way... He weighs about 100 pounds. I don't think 3-5 raisins are going to hurt him.
Years ago, my brother and I had a shepherd-doberman mix. Great dog. She LOVED grapes. After feeding her grapes for years, we learned that grapes were bad for dogs so we cut her back to just one or two whenever anyone was having grapes. She lived to sixteen.
 
Personally I don't care for cooked raisins, or raisins in food in general, so I'd eat them straight as a snack. IIRC they are high in potassium so I try to eat in the summer months when I sweat a lot.

I wonder if you could put into containers and save for later?
 
Hmm, so it seems like based on my personal preference, it would end up being: raisin breads, oatmeal with raisins, and oatmeal raisins cookies.

I have a lot of sugary cereals about to expire, I'll finish them first and then get some super plain cereal on sale (like cheerios and rice crispys, rice chexs) to go with them.
 
Fact remains, you have to TRY to go hungry in the USA

WA state? Too much food, can never find enough people for all the free food. We take some just because a friend of my wife will just leave it because no one else will take.

Lastly, that lady who leaves the food. I have not known many like her. My God she spends every waking second of her life helping others, giving. She has all the sources, and distribution channels for free food. She even pulls a little cart. Amazing heart. She definitely has more food than hungry people, but keeps on going and giving.

Sorry for the interruption. Raisins and bread make me fat. But I keep eating them! Make raisin bread!

To be fair this is a local problem as our neighborhood with 1.5M home price we won't expect too many starving families. You will see people getting all they can in the lower income part of our school district (interestingly it span across poverty to 3M homes). They donate the perishible (already warmed but not taken) food to local food bank at the end of the day so it is not really wasted.

It is just that I am the scavenger of the house and I have 3 other picky eaters here, and I am running out of ideas.
 
Use them with a slingshot to keep squirrels at bay.
 
To be fair this is a local problem as our neighborhood with 1.5M home price we won't expect too many starving families. You will see people getting all they can in the lower income part of our school district (interestingly it span across poverty to 3M homes). They donate the perishible (already warmed but not taken) food to local food bank at the end of the day so it is not really wasted.

It is just that I am the scavenger of the house and I have 3 other picky eaters here, and I am running out of ideas.
Understood.

You could finely chop them in the processor and use as sweetener. You could soak and pulverize and strain, then reduce to sweet syrup for sweetener as well.
 
Back
Top