Leftovers Are For The Birds!

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Over the past weeks, we’ve been talking about some creative ways to use leftovers, and here’s yet another one for you. It's one of the most simple and enjoyable activities we have discovered over the past few years: feed the birds. Best of all, the kids and I have even learned a bit of bird ID too. Black-capped chickadees. Blue jays. Cardinals. Cedar Waxwings and Dark-eyed Juncos. And really, what could be better than helping to feed feathered friends with your leftover scraps? Scraps that would otherwise be garbage.

Even if you don’t choose to go the leftover route, once you have a feeder or two, bird feeding is as simple as keeping good quality seeds on hand—we like black-oiled sunflower. Economical and easy-to-use, they are high quality protein, providing much needed nutrition for birds of all types. From Goldfinches and Mourning Doves to Starlings and Woodpeckers, they’ll flock to your feeders.

Now that spring is right around the corner, and the warmer temperatures herald milder seasons to come, birds are still struggling with their winter-weakened bodies to find enough to eat since the natural food from the previous season is long gone and the current season’s growth has yet to get started. In getting ready to nest and lay eggs, birds will be extra thankful to you if you continue to put out nourishing feed—and if you supplement it with crushed eggshells or oyster shell, that’s even better, since they help provide the high calcium needed for egg laying.

Indeed, leftover cereals like oatmeal and cream of wheat can be used to feed the birds, and by stirring in some peanut butter, preserves, fruit or berries, you’ll make it even more attractive.

For several years now we’ve actually mixed up a homemade vegetarian-based suet from our local environmental center. We use equal parts peanut butter and shortening and add a variety of dried grains such as cracked corn, cornmeal, even cereals like cornflakes and rice crispies. Additional treats can include raisins or dried fruit. We add enough to hold the mixture together and then we fill our suet feeder.

One word of caution: Peanut butter should never be served straight as it can stick to a bird’s beak. Always be sure to mix it in to a corn or grain mixture.

Here’s a super way to use up some of your leftovers and help the birds at the same time.

Serves/Makes: 1

• 4 cups crumbs (bread, crackers, cookies, etc.)
• 4 cups kitchen scraps (noodles, meat, veggies, chopped)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fine sand
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted bacon fat or shortening