5 Inventive Ways To Reuse Food Scraps
During lockdown, I am sure the emphasis for a lot of us has been on food. With not much to look forward to, it seems the only thing we can get excited about is “what’s for tea?” I mean, how can we not put so much focus on mealtimes, when we’ve spent breakfast, lunch, AND dinner at home for months now. Whether that’s cooking family meals, baking some yummy treats, or even making a sandwich on your work from home lunch break, we’ve all been spending a lot of time in the kitchen- and with that comes A LOT of food scraps.
So, it’s hard not to notice all the food waste that a household can accumulate in just one week, and how quickly that kitchen bin can fill up. Here are some practical ways in which you can reduce your household waste by creating inventive new uses for your food scraps.
Vegetable Scrap Broth
We’re talking onion skins, courgette ends, carrot peels, pepper cores, and veggie stems and leaves that you don’t tend to include in your home-cooked dishes. Instead of gathering them straight into the bin, get a container, and start adding your vegetable scraps to it every time you cook. Store this in the freezer until you have enough to make a vegetable broth from the leftovers. Here is an easy recipe to follow.
Potato skins
You may be a rustic mash potato or skin-on fries type of person, but a lot of people get that potato peeler at the ready every time there is a roast dinner or shepherd’s pie in the making. So, what can you do with the peelings that you’re left with? Potato peel crisps that only take 15 minutes to make of course– result! Everybody loves crisps, and what better way to enjoy them than homemade. All you need is oil, salt and pepper, and a few other seasonings. Learn how to make them here.
Citrus peels
Whether that’s lemons, limes, grapefruits, or oranges… citrus peels are so versatile and their potential would be wasted by ending up in the bin. From candied peels, household cleaners, and garden pest repellent, to tea bags and marmalade… the opportunities are endless! Don’t throw them out and instead make creative new uses for them in the home.
Bread
Does anyone actually get through a full loaf of bread nowadays? And if you do, I bet you throw out the crusts? If your bread has gone a bit hard or stale and doesn’t have the fresh feel you’re looking for- there are still many tasty recipes that can help bring it back to life! We’re talking french toast, croutons for soup, bread and butter pudding, and using bread crumbs for the likes of fried chicken.
Egg Shells
We get it, nobody wants to find a bit of shell in their birthday cake, omelette, or pancake. But there are so many egg-celent ways you can give those discarded shells a new purpose! Why not head out to the garden, crushing the shells on the way to be used as a snail repellent. They can also be used as a chemical-free alternative to pellets as they introduce a whole load of minerals to your soil. Inside the house, they can be used as natural and eco-friendly cleaning solutions for your pots, pans, and drains!
We hope this has inspired you to be a little more creative with your food waste. We can guarantee you will see how satisfying and rewarding it is to recycle food scraps once the results of their new uses start to show around your home. You might even save a little money along the way too!
