A couple of months ago my best friend and fellow frugie asked me what I did with the juice from canned fruits. “Um, well, sometimes I drink it. I’m trying to do better about not wasting it.” She chuckled and told me that she’d had the idea to freeze the juice to make juice pops for her kids. Genius! Once we cleared enough room in the freezer for my mold, I did the same. Little One and Turkey absolutely love them!
My husband says “Why wouldn’t they- it’s just sugar!” In a way he’s right, but that “sugar” also holds nutritional value. A few years ago I was chatting with the cafeteria ladies at the school I worked at about the little kids always spilling the juice. It turns out the juice is part of the serving size for the fruit- that means part of the nutrition. Most of the ice pops I buy are basically just sugar. (The real fruit pops are way too expensive!) That juice is counted in the price of the fruit, so I might as well make some use out of it.
Keep in mind that some fruits are packed in 100% juice, some in heavy syrup, and some in light syrup. Nutritionally you’d want to buy the fruits with 100% juice, but either way you’ve bought it so use it! Most stores have multiple varieties of each canned fruit available, so look around until you find the ones with 100% juice. The cans I have currently (some heavy syrup, some light syrup and some 100% juice) have the same or less sugar than frozen fruit pops I found online!
Here are some other ideas to make use of that juice or syrup instead of buying something else:
- drink it – whether diluted or straight
- mix it with other juices
- substitute it for veggie oil or water in recipes
- use it as an icing of sorts on cakes, breads or muffins
- use it for hummingbird feed
If you have other ideas, I’d love for you to leave a comment!
Add sugar & pectin to make jelly.