Next time you finish a jar of mayonnaise at home, don't throw away that lid, as one smart home cook found the perfect way to give it a second life.
Many things in your kitchen cabinets can be repurposed, but only if you know what to do with them.
In a post to the r/ZeroWaste subreddit, the home cook revealed they recently discovered an ingenious trick.
"Just discovered you can reuse mayo lids for regular mouth mason jars," the post read. It was accompanied by a photo of what appeared to be a Hellmann's mayonnaise lid screwed onto a glass Ball Mason Jar.
Typically, store-bought mason jars come with detachable screw-on lids. However, if you live with children or in a busy household, those pesky lids can sometimes get lost or accidentally thrown out.
Instead of purchasing an entirely new tray of jars, this hack looks to repurpose items in your home that would otherwise be thrown out. As a package of four 16 ounce jars currently sells at major retailers like Walmart for nearly $13, this trick can help homeowners and families pinch pennies when looking for those lid replacements.
At the same time, reusing lids from jars of condiments or other foods is an easy way to reduce your personal waste.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average American throws out around 4.9 pounds of trash every day — adding up to nearly 1,800 pounds each year. Opting instead to repurpose small items, we are not only lowering our personal waste but also decreasing the amount of trash that winds up in overcrowded landfills — which go on to release heat-trapping pollution.
Other Reddit users have raved over the trick, with several revealing that the Mason jars can also be sealed with other lids from parmesan, pasta sauce, or peanut butter jars.
"Thank you! Signed, a glass jar enthusiast," one user said to the original poster.
"I have a drawer full of random lids and jars I've accumulated over the past few years," another said. "So many of them fit one another, it's great."
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