What do you do with all that leftover Easter CANdy?

I know the Easter Bunny's name.

It's Melanie.

More specifically my husband's Aunt Melanie. Every year she hosts the most spectacular Easter Egg Hunt I have ever seen. The kids (almost) get tired of picking up the hundreds of eggs she lovingly stuffs with candy and money each year. Her annual labor of love is amazing! Every year we head home with bags and bags of candy in tow.

And man, do I love candy!

Too much.

So when I have bags and bags of it sitting in my house I'm more inclined to "love" it than is healthy. My kids love it too. Like most kids (and adults) they don't know when to say "enough" until they have tummy aches and other *ahem* issues. I finally wised up this year and figured out what to do with all that leftover Easter candy.

It's kind of silly how proud I am of these jars full of goodies. You'd think I planted those gummy bear seeds myself.

Seeing those freshly sealed jars makes me giddy for several reasons. Nothing was wasted. No one feels obligated to eat all the candy all at once. And some night in July we can pop open a jar of jelly beans (Vintage April 2012) wafting in the heady scents of Easter, savoring each soft, sugary bite, while reliving the good old days of Spring.

I had so much fun packing the Easter candy that I began looking for more things to preserve. I had a bunch of gourmet candy canes leftover from Christmas. I crushed them up with the intention of adding them to hot chocolate next winter. Brilliant, no?

And now I just might be getting carried away...

Chocolate chips, Oreos, more leftover Christmas candy, gluten-free noodles, gluten-free cookies, and gluten-free pretzels. All sealed and saved for another day. Nothing wasted. Nothing wanted.

HAPPY Easter indeed!

HERE is a blog post on how to dry pack.

And HERE is a vlog on dry packing.