Leftover Halloween Candy

We have loads of leftover candy, and my husband and I sure don't need it. Its nothing special - mini hershey bars, reeses peanut butter cups, kit kats, etc., but we spent a lot of money on it, and I don't want to throw it away. Also, there's already way too many halloween leftovers at work already, so I don't want to drag it into the office.
So, will it last until next year? What's the best way to store it?

[MrsT]

In NYC, I heard a news report about a dentist that was buying left over Halloween candy for $10 a pound. They didn't say what he was doing with it after he bought it. They had one little girl who sold 5 pounds of candy. It almost makes me want to break into a house with lots of kids, steal their candy, and pawn it off.

[duck833]

Dropped off four dozen big Costco bars at local Republican office for the phone bank and walkers. They need the three bigs, caffine, sugar and alcohol.

We may be losing but we are having fun!!!!

[lucyis]

I have used candy bars in cookies several times and they were always a big hit. Plain chocolate bars can be used any way you'd use chocolate chips in recipes. the taste is just less intense. I would also suggest dropping the candy off at your local school for the teachers' faculty room. We teachers could use the treats.

[lucyis]

Try this site for loads of recipes using candy.
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/candyba...

[KaimukiMan]

I tried freezing it one year, and it worked fine.... for three weeks before it all magically disappeared. Candy doesn't keep - and it has nothing to do with shelf life. If you don't want to eat it it's best to get it off the property as soon as possible.

[im_nomad]

Well...you'd be surprised that can be chunked up and thrown into an impressive chocolate chip cookie dough or what not. Those you can freeze for sure. I know peanut butter cups can also be chopped and folded into a cheesecake recipe.

I'd venture a guess that half the stuff that is on the supermarket shelves is not fresh out of the factory anyway. Keeping it a little while longer wouldn't help. I'm also fairly certain that frozen, year old candy wouldn't harm anyone (unless it was on some lost forgotten recall list). I Lol'd at the "don't give my kid year old candy". Does no one remember some of the crap we used to get as kids that paled in comparison to the fancypants packages of stuff sent out now?

I'm sure food banks would appreciate anything given, but most importantly healthy foods, not just a load of junk food. Anyone remember the mac and cheese study? Leftover halloween candy does not feed hungry families .

I wish the Kidney Foundation would still sell the peanut packets , but have now gone towards jellybeans instead, i'm guessing due to peanut allergy scares. I used to feel good about buying those, and then the leftovers could be stored much longer, and used in many more ways than chocolate such as stir fries and the like.

All in all, maybe a thought to next year to maybe give out items you are apt to use in your own home, or maybe non-candy items like fun school supplies, that you could donate to a local school and they'd make good use of, women's shelters that frequently house kids...etc.

[enbell]

My thought was to use it for gingerbread houses next month.

[nancyusa]

Send the candy to the troops anyway! They don't care if it's melted! Just be sure to put it in Zip-loc type bags. This time of year is not generally a big problem. It gets cold now.

The troops really love it. They eat some and share some with the grateful children of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a great good-will gesture!

I've been helping people do this, and much more, for 5 years now.

http://auntnancyusa.blogspot.com/

"Aunt" Nancy

Since it won't keep and you don't want to eat it, how about donating it to a local food bank?

I would agree that local food banks or churches/synagogues/mosques that run soup kitchens would be glad to get some sweets.

I heard that you can keep candy bars for up to 20 years!

i love everyone's ideas about donating, but if you want to keep it and not have to re-buy next year just freeze it. some of the chocolate might bloom (the whitish stuff you sometimes see on choc.) but it won't effect the taste or texture. it's nice to have on hand because you can make your own fancy "ben and Jerry" or "mix-in" want-to-be icecreams. just crush them up and stir them into your favorite slightly softened icecream. viola! also good for kids parties to crunch up different ones and let them decorate their cup cake tops or sundaes. i do this alot for kids cooking class parties.

No offense but I wouldn't want my kid to have year old candy. It is darn cheap, and well, once a year. Donate it somewhere, bring to your kids school for the office, bring to your dentist office for cripe sake but PLEASE buy fresh for next year. Egads

that's the whole point, is to freeze the candy and use it way before a year passes. it won't come close to being in the freezer for a year if you get creative with it. good grief!

If you got it at Waldbaums, there was a sign that they would give you a refund for any unopened leftover candy, and I don't think you need the receipt (I'll find out for sure in a little while). But I like the other, more charitable ideas too.

Never mind, you need the receipt.

Our local middle school is collecting it to send to troops in Iraq. I bet there's something like that going on in your area too.

If you can't find anything locally, there is a website called operationAC.com that allows you to "adopt" a soldier in Iraq. I imagine that might be a way to donate some candy.

A group I am involved in was sending a pre-Halloween care package to Iraq, but we were warned not to send chocolate, as it'd most likely end up a melted mess long before it got to the soldier. Chocolate and desert aren't complementary :-)

OOH, good point. Although, I AM told that it gets cold in the desert in the winter, so I'm confused by the whole thing. The website I mentioned, was originally started to send room air conditioners to the troops (thus operation a/c), but now I see they are sending space heaters.

I just sent a box of brownies and chocolate chip cookies to a friend in Iraq. I froze them first, then packed them in a styrofoam cooler w/ those frozen gel pack things that my last shipment from Lobels came packed with. That was just last week, so I haven't heard yet what condition they were in when they arrived. I hope my friend will be willing to tell me if they were destroyed because I don't want to keep sending stuff if it is stale/melted/mutilated when it arrives.

Well, it's 89 degrees in Basrah today, and I imagine mail and packages end up riding around in the backs of trucks in the sun for a while before they get to the soldiers, so I'd stick with non melty things.

Take it to the food bank or to a nursing home. It will be greatly appreciated, and you'll feel good about doing it. No matter how you store it, year-old Halloween candy is not a nice trick or treat.

The food pantry I gave my leftovers to last year was really thrilled -- they said it's nice to be able to give some sweets along with the more mundane things they give out.