Cleaning out my pantry today—found rock-hard marshmallows. Toss ‘em or keep ‘em? Keeping them seems the frugal thing to do, but if I keep ‘em, what do I DO with them?

Turns out, it’s a good idea to keep them, because they actually do have a lot of life left in ‘em. There are several uses for hard and stale marshmallows. For instance:

FUDGE: Melt hard marshmallows with butter, chocolate chips, and your favorite stir-ins for a quick and easy fudge recipe.

BROWNIES/COOKIES: Chop hard marshmallows and add them to brownie or cookie batter for a sweet and chewy texture.

HOT CHOCOLATE: Add hard marshmallows to hot chocolate for a fun and gooey treat.

S’MORES: If your hard marshmallows are mini, you can use them for S'mores. The outcome will be chewy instead of ooey-gooey.

POPCORN BALLS: Melt marshmallows with butter and mix with popped popcorn to create these fun and sweet treats.

KRSIPY RICE TREATS: Just melt them down with butter and add them to your krispy rice mixture. No one will ever know rock-hard marshmallows were used in making them.

ROCKY ROAD: Incorporate hard marshmallows into Rocky Road bars, cake, cookies, or fudge.

OTHER TREATS: Consider using hard marshmallows in Ambrosia salad, marshmallow creme, or even in marshmallow cake.

FONDANT: Hard marshmallows can be melted and mixed with powdered sugar and food coloring to create fondant for decorating cakes and other desserts.

CANDIED YAMS: If using the large size, cut them up and fold them into your pureed yams. If using the mini size, it’s even easier—just fold them in.

FISHING BAIT: Believe it or not, hard marshmallows have been used as fishing bait ever since the mini type was created.

KID CRAFTS: Along with sturdy toothpicks, hard marshmallows work well for children’s construction projects. Pre-school and kindergarten teachers would thank you for them.

Here’s something else I learned: You can actually soften hard marshmallows up by adding a couple slices of fresh, soft bread into their bag. Sources say it’ll take a day or two, and the results are amazing.

I’ll close with a favorite quote on frugality from Benjamin Franklin: “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” Living frugally is not just smart, it feels good, wouldn’t you say? So to those of you who may have rock-hard marshmallows hiding out in your pantry, now you know what to do with ‘em!