This struggle could not be more real. You sprung for the organic bananas and now here they are, a few days later, already starting to turn a little black. Feeling annoyed and a little betrayed that you spent an extra $2 to only enjoy one banana, you might be tempted to throw those traitors away… but you might want to hold off on your hasty decision. When food is going bad, things aren’t hopeless quite yet. Some foods that aren’t in the prime of life can still make some surprisingly delicious dishes. Check out these 6 foods that you can work with even as they’re going bad.

Stale Bread — Bread Pudding

Photo: Simply Recipes

Bread pudding is one of the few recipes that actually requires you to irresponsibly let your bread go stale, so you might as well embrace it. It involves pouring a custard base over an oven tray full of bread, and baking it into this tasty masterpiece. This gooey dessert is the perfect backdrop for a medley of flavors. My personal favorite? Bread pudding with a vanilla bourbon sauce. Thank goodness for stale bread.

Mushy Berries — Pound Cake

Photo: The Meaning of Pie 

Fresh berries are not made for cakes, they’re made for snacking and enjoying their fresh deliciousness. Berries past their prime? While they’re far too mushy to be enjoyed as a snack, they are perfect for breads and cakes of all kinds! Pound cake is the perfect place to incorporate the extra-juiciness of older berries. Simply incorporate the berries into your cake batter for the ultimate fruity and buttery dessert.

Bananas — Fritters

Photo: The Pastry Chef's Baking

Fritters basically apply to anything deep fried and delicious. Banana fritters, then, are mind blowing fried banana concoctions that work best with older bananas. You know, the mushy kind that you’ve been passively watching as they gradually grow more and more brown. What else are you going to do but deep fry them? Simply fold the bananas into your fritter batter for the ultimate indulgent treat.

Potatoes — Hash browns

Photo: Simple Comfort Food

When potatoes get older, they become a little more aggressive than normal foods. Potato spuds (those funky little eyes that start to grow when the potato has been around too much moisture or is beginning to go bad) are actually poisonous. To avoid dying for the sake of potatoes (a loyal cause, truly) cut off the spuds and shred the potatoes into hash browns! You can enjoy potatoes in their purest form while avoiding all the poison of the spuds.

Overripe Pears — Sour Cream Pear Coffee Cake

Photo: The Sweets Life

Overripe pears? Mushy, bruised, gross. Yuck. Sour cream pear cake? Yum. A moist coffee cake with pinwheels of sweet pears, crunchy nuts and a cinnamon, brown sugar-streusel topping? Absolutely heavenly.

Zucchini — Zucchini Bread

Photo: The Old Farmer's Almanac

There is no better use of a dying veggie than zucchini bread. Heavy, I know. But true. Zucchini bread is easy to make and perfect to give away as gifts! Or to keep for yourself and devour. Just simply use a banana bread recipe and incorporate zucchini instead of banana. Best of all, you can freeze extra loaves to keep the zucchini going for weeks.