Stale bread
Bread that has gone hard but not yet bad — supply that is no longer fresh and is not yet wasted.
Stale bread in a dream is the dream's image of supply that is no longer fresh and is not yet thrown away. The bread has lost its first virtue; older traditions still know what to do with it — soup, toast, breadcrumbs, the dish that asks for hard bread. The dream brings the stale loaf when something in your life — an old kindness, a tired friendship, a piece of knowledge from a previous job — is past its fresh moment and is still capable of feeding something. Stale bread used in a dish that needs it is the dream affirming that the past supply is being honoured. Stale bread thrown out because it is not new is the dream noting that the old supply, which would still have nourished, is being wasted on a standard of freshness that does not apply to it.