Have you ever tried to estimate how much
perfectly good food you’re throwing out every time you cook? Fruit and
vegetable peels, animal bones, leftover herbs, overripe fruit, used
coffee grounds - these are just a few common ingredients that end up in
the trash because we don’t realize their potential.
It doesn’t matter if you’re cooking with
produce you grew yourself or using store-bought foods, you can maximize
the utility of food ingredients by using them up completely. With these
11 tips, you’ll be able to reuse so-called food scraps and save yourself
lots of money and food at the same time.
1. Prepare homemade bone broth
Bone broth is an excellent alternative to
vegetable stock in soups, gravies, and sauces. In many ways, it is the
superior choice. Namely, bone broth has numerous proven health benefits,
including improved digestion, sleep, cognition, and joint health. Bone
is made of just three simple ingredients - water, bones, and vinegar.
You can use any bones, including leftovers from meals like bone-on
chicken or steak. Raw bones, skin, and cartilage scraps also work.
Instead of discarding all of these leftovers and scraps, store them in
the freezer and reserve for bone broth. The bigger the variety of bones,
the better. To prepare the bone broth, combine 2-4 lbs of animal bones
with 1 gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar in a large stockpot
and simmer for 12-23 hours on low heat. Strain the broth and refrigerate
for up to 5 days.
2. Stale bread makes delicious croutons
Why would you ever buy croutons at the store if you can make your own by
reusing stale bread? Truth be told, fresh homemade croutons are much
tastier than store-bought ones, and they’re so simple to make that it a
crime not to make them. This method also works great with bread ends.
To make croutons, cut the bread into bite-sized cubes and place them
into a bowl. Drizzle with any oil of your choice and season with black
pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or any seasoning of your choice.
Spread the croutons on a baking sheet pan and crisp them up in the oven
at 200°C (400°F) until golden. Use immediately or store in an airtight
container. These homemade croutons will add crunch and flavor to any
dish, be it a soup, a salad, or any other savory dish.
3. Freeze leftover herbs
For some reason, herbs always come in huge bunches at the store. One
bunch of parsley, dill, or basil is usually more than enough for a whole
month worth of cooking. But even if you store fresh herbs in an
airtight container in the fridge, they will wilt and turn black in about
a week.
For a long time, this discouraged me from buying fresh herbs, as I
always ended up throwing out most of them. Then I started freezing them,
and I never looked back. To freeze fresh herbs, chop them up and
transfer them to an ice cube tray. Depending on how you prefer to cook
with herbs, you can pour either water or oil into the tray. Wait until
the ice cubes are completely frozen, and then pop them out of the ice
cube tray and store them in a zip bag in the freezer. Freezing will wilt
the herbs a little, so these frozen herbs work best in cooked dishes
like soups, roasts, sauces, and stews.
4. Save carrot-tops and radish greens
If you grow your own carrots, beets, and radishes, save the leaves when
harvesting these root vegetables. Most people throw away these healthy
greens, which is a real shame. Instead, de-stem and tear them up into
bite-sized pieces, and confidently add them into any salad or soup in
place of lettuce or spinach. Alternatively, you can sautee these leafy
greens with some seasoning, et voila, you have an extra side dish for
your dinner.
5. Citrus peels are so versatile
There are so many ways to reuse lemon peels that we have an entire
article on the topic - Great Uses for Lemon Peels. But before you check
it out, we’d like to show you one more way to reuse citrus peels that we
didn’t mention in that article. Thanks to its natural deodorizing
properties, any citrus fruit - be it orange, a lemon, or a tangerine -
can be used to make a natural all-purpose cleaner.
Simply pack the leftover citrus peels into a jar and cover them with
vinegar. Let the peels soak for 5-7 days, and then dilute it with water
and use the liquid to clean any suitable surface in your home. Unlike
other vinegar-based cleaners, this one actually smells pleasant and will
deodorize your home.
6. Coffee grounds make a great fertilizer
Coffee is quite pricy, so it’s only natural
for you to want to get the most out of it even after you had your
morning cup of java. This means not disposing of used coffee grounds and
reusing them around your home and garden. Fortunately, this is quite
easy. For one, coffee grounds are a terrific natural fertilizer in your
garden that also increases the soil’s ability to retain water.
Simply sprinkle a thin layer of coffee grounds onto the area you wish to
fertilize and mix with the top of the soil. Coffee grounds attract
ground worms, so this method works best for plants that require
well-drained soil.
7. Overripe bananas
Before you toss brown bananas into the
trash can, consider these ways you could reuse them. Ripe bananas may
not taste too well as a stand-alone snack, but they are full of flavor
and natural sugars. This actually makes them the superior choice for
recipes, be it banana bread or banoffee pie. But even if you’re not keen
on making a dessert right then and there, you can always cut your
overripe bananas into pieces and freeze them. Frozen ripe bananas are
the absolute best ingredient to use in smoothies.
8. A great way to reuse bacon grease
Bacon grease is difficult to reuse or even
dispose of. If you let it go down the drain, it can clog your sink or
lead to a fatberg in your local sewage system. But there is one way you
can save your sewage system and help your local bird population by
saving bacon grease.
Animal fat cakes called suet help birds to stay warm in the winter. You
can make your own suet by straining any leftover fat drippings through a
mesh sieve or cloth and mixing them with any type of seeds, nuts, or
dried fruit. Refrigerate the mixture and shape it into suet cakes, which
you can then place in your local bird feeders in the winter.
9. Make pickled watermelon rinds
Did you know that preserved watermelon
rinds make a delicious snack? As outrageous as it sounds, it’s very
true, so the next time you buy a watermelon, save those rinds too and
follow these steps. First and foremost, peel the watermelon rinds and
cut them up into smaller chunks.
Then, the process is identical to pickling other fruits and vegetables:
simmer the watermelon rinds in a brine made of 6 parts water, 4 parts
sugar, 2 parts white vinegar, and 1 part salt until they soften, and
then store in the fridge. You can also add a few cloves, cinnamon, or
black peppercorns, or ginger to the brine.
10. Freeze tomato paste
Most recipes call for a very small amount
of tomato paste and you’ll have a lot of it leftover in the can. Instead
of waiting for it to dry out in the fridge and throwing it out, you can
try freezing it and extend its shelf life. This requires a bit of
preparation, but it’s definitely worth the little extra hassle in the
end.
Line a baking sheet and place dollops of tomato paste on the sheet. Once
frozen (this usually takes a few hours), place the tomato paste scoops
into a plastic bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
11. Make flavored water with fruit and vegetable peels
Who doesn’t like to infuse water with a
little flavor? Not only is it a healthy treat, but it’s also a great way
to reuse fruit and vegetable scraps. To do so, just drop a few
cucumber, lemon, or apple peels into a bottle of water and let them sit
for an hour or so. The longer you leave the fruit or veggie peels in the
water, the more pronounced the taste. You can experiment with adding
some leftover herbs to mix with the fruit or cucumber infusion, too. The
possible combinations are endless!