Save Bologna And Other Meats From Spoiling With A Peanut Butter Jar Lid

The humble bologna sammie has a bad rap for being boring and bland. However, there are plenty of ways to make luxurious upgrades to a bologna sandwich, such as layering in caramelized onions, adding manchego cheese, or spreading on some guac. You can even brown a few slices of this lunch meat in some frothy butter to lend it texture and flavor, making it a super-versatile lunch option. (The fried Bologna sandwich is a Southern classic for a reason!) Having said all that, it can be tricky to eat your way through an entire link of Bologna sausage, leaving you with one small problem: how to stop the open end from drying out when you return it to the fridge. Luckily, there's a simple trick to keeping your bologna from spoiling — and all you need is the lid from an empty jar of peanut butter.

Bologna is commonly sold pre-sliced in packets that can be resealed to prevent them from drying out. While these packets are convenient, it means every slice of meat is of a uniform thickness. Slicing your own bologna from a large sausage gives you lots more flexibility as you can vary the thickness of each slither to use in sandwiches, salad, omelets, and more. Wrapping the open end in plastic wrap makes a quick fix for keeping the end soft, but it's a single-use solution. A better reusable option to prevent the end from spoiling is to cap it with a washed and dried peanut butter lid.

The size of the lid on a regular or high-end jar of peanut butter should be big enough to cover the open end of your bologna. However, this will largely depend on the variety and dimensions of your bologna sausage. This physical barrier will prevent the meat from being exposed to the cold air and moisture in the fridge and keep it soft, which means you won't have to slice any of it off and discard it the next time you want to make a sandwich. If your lid is falling off the end of your bologna, simply push it up against the fridge wall. The wall will keep the lid in place and reduce the amount of air reaching the open end. Once you've eaten through most of your sausage, you could store it vertically so it stands inside the lid if preferred.

Peanut butter caps can also be used to protect other deli sausage meats, such as salami, chorizo, or mortadella, from drying out too. They also fit onto standard-sized mason jars too if you've lost the original lids, so the next time you get to the bottom of your jar of peanut butter, wash the lid and save it!