Thrifty Thursday: In a Pickle

My little sister, Allison, was definitely "the creative one" between the two of us. She still is. She's always been very artistic, and had the most active imagination as a child. We had a set of those Childcraft books in the house, and Allison's favorite was Make and Do. It was full of little craft projects, and I think she must have done every project in that book at least twice. She was a busy kid. She would go to her room and disappear for hours, and when she came out she had made something fabulous out of junk she found around the house. One of our very favorite stories of Allison's creativity is this: one afternoon, she got a great big box and took it to her room. We figured she'd make something like a playhouse, or a boat, or something. An hour or so later, she emerged from her room, excited and triumphant. In her hands, she held a small box. She was beaming, and she said, "Look Mom! I made a box out of a box!" We love that story. It cracks us all up every time we tell it, which is often.
Today, for Thrifty Thursday, I feel like Allison. I made pickles out of pickles! They start out as regular old dill pickles, and are then transformed into a sort of dill pickle/bread and butter pickle crossbreed. My mother- and father-in-law suggested this to me for Thrifty Thursday a couple of weeks ago (they're a staple at their house), and I initially resisted. I love these pickles, but why would making pickles out of pickles be thrifty?

Generally speaking, I don't like bread and butter pickles. I like dill pickles. Therefore, I only buy dill pickles (David has no real preference, that I've been able to discern). They're pretty cheap. So I asked Shirley, "Why don't you just by bread and butter pickles?!" She looked kind of surprised, and said, "Because they're more expensive." I had no idea. So the next time I was at the grocery, I checked out the pickle situation. Sure enough, the jar of dill pickles above was $1.05. A similar sized jar of bread and butter pickles was nearly $3.00! What the heck is that about? I guess it's the sugar. So I decided that it was time to make pickles out of pickles for Thrifty Thursday.
As you can see in the picture up there, it's really simple. You need the whole kosher dill pickles, a cup of sugar, and some plain white vinegar. Drain the pickle juice, cut up your pickles, mix the sugar and vinegar, add the pickles, and shake. In about two more days, you'll have crunchy homemade bread and butter pickles!

How to Make Pickles Out of Pickles

Earl and Shirley Orr

1 jar whole kosher dill pickles (1 used a 32 oz size)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

Drain all the juice from the pickles. Save the juice to use later for some of the neat ideas from previous Thrifty Thursday posts. Slice your pickles into the size slices you like. (Shirley likes 'em thick, Earl likes 'em thin.) Pour sugar into pickle jar, then add the vinegar. Stir to combine. Add your pickles. Close the lid really tight and shake the jar for about a minute or so. Place the jar upside down in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Take the jar out and shake it up good again, then put it back in the refrigerator right side up for 24 hours. On the third day, enjoy your crunchy new pickles!