After seeing Aldi fans talk about them for a few years, I finally tried some of the Specially Selected Italian Ice Cream Cups for myself recently. These ice cream cups tend to show up at Aldi a couple of times a year, usually during Italian week when products such as pasta, jarred sauces, pastries, and gelato make their way onto store shelves.
(Note: These ice cream cups are only in stores for a limited time, and you can’t order them online if they aren’t in stock at your local store.)
Aldi sells ice cream cups like this a few times a year.
Besides the fact that the ice cream is pretty good, these come in fancy plastic cups. While plastic single-use food containers like these are not meant to be used indefinitely for storing or serving other foods, it’s probably all right to reuse them at least once before they might get too brittle or start to break down. So if you feel bad about chucking them in the trash or in the recycling bin after just one use, listed below are a few ideas for how to reuse them.
(And we know many Aldi fans like to reuse certain types of product packaging, considering how popular our posts on reusing Aldi glass pasta sauce jars and Aldi candle jars are.)
Plastic cups that are ready to be repurposed.
Keep in mind that if you decide to reuse these, and especially if you reuse them to serve food, you should not wash these in the dishwasher. They should be hand washed. And never put them in the microwave.
Ways to Reuse Specially Selected Italian Ice Cream Cups:
- Make yogurt parfaits. Layer plain or flavored yogurt with fruit, granola, honey, chopped nuts, etc. for a healthier dessert, snack, or breakfast.
- Make ice cream sundaes. Put in a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or whatever flavor you want), chocolate or caramel syrup, mini marshmallows, fresh fruit, crushed cookies, whipped topping, sprinkles, or any toppings you like. Don’t forget a cherry on top. Or simply serve plain scoops of ice cream to make them look fancier.
- Make pudding parfaits. Layer with pudding and whipped topping, and put a cherry on top.
- Use as snack cups. Serve dry cereal, cut fruit, nuts, little candies, etc. in these little cups.
- Stock a child’s play kitchen with “fancy” serving dishes. Any kid with a play kitchen would love having these little dishes to put pretend ice cream or other play foods in.
- Use as a Play Doh toy. Put these cups in with Play Doh supplies so kids can make Play Doh “sundaes.”
- Put in a children’s sand table or water table, or use with bath toys. These little cups can be great for scooping and playing with water or sand.
- Start seeds in the cups. These are the right size for starting flower or veggie seeds this time of year. Simply fill with seed starting medium, plant seeds, place in a sunny window, and water.
- Place the cups upside down on small seedlings to protect them from predators. If you’re trying to keep rabbits from nibbling your lettuce, spinach, or pea starts, these might help, at least for a short time until your plants grow taller.
- Store small items such as cotton balls, paper clips, or hardware. These cups can be good for holding all kinds of little things that need to be corralled.
Have you reused these ice cream cups? Tell us how you repurpose them in the comments.
I reuse the plastic containers for small items in my medicine chest and there are many! Love all your input!!!