Frugal Bread Crumbs

I challenged myself to make my own bread crumbs a couple weeks ago.  I have only used bread crumbs once in my limited culinary life, and I have a vauge recollection of purchasing a SMALL bottle of McCormick bread crumbs for $4. $4!  My sis-in-law has made homemade chicken nuggets , and I wanted to give that recipe a whirl.  They were very yummy, but first I will share how to make homemade bread crumbs.

I used a loaf of marked-down wheat bread at Kroger.  Spread half of the loaf out on a cookie sheet to become stale.  We ate the other half, but you could use the whole loaf for bread crumbs if you go through them quickly.  I let the bread sit out for about a day.

After the bread is nice and stale, bake it in the oven to get crispy.  I made 'egg stuff' for dinner and after I turned the oven off, I put the bread in to toast in the remaining heat.  After the bread is crisp, break it up into small chunks.

Use your blender or food processor to blast the chunks of bread into a dirt-like consistency.

Manually break down any chunks that are still too big.  Store your homemade bread crumbs in an air-tight container for up to three months. 

It was sooo easy to make homemade bread crumbs.  When it comes time to use them, don't hesitate to add your own spices such as salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  You could even consider flavoring it with Italian spices (such as basil, oregano, parsley)  or Mexican spices (such as chili powder, paprika, cumin).  No matter what you put into it, it will taste amazing and be amazingly inexpensive.