We did not have any food waste at our house this week! In fact, we actually saved a couple of items that most people would normally compost or throw away for culinary purposes. Here is how we stretch our food budget by taking advantage of all of the edible parts of the produce we buy and we regrow food from our leftover produce.
You can regrow celery from the stalk:
I learned this trick from The Experimental Farmer. The roots looked so completely dead, that I decided to put the celery stalks in water to test for viability. The shoots started growing as did the roots, so these little guys will be planted tomorrow.
When you chop up green onions, save the roots to regrow more green onions.
Carrot tops are edible. Why not try using them in Carrot Top Soup. And yes, my son is eating the greens directly from the carrots!
Radish Leaves are edible. Here is my recipe for Radish Leaf Soup.
Most people know that you can eat turnip greens, but did you know you can also eat Kohlrabi leaves and beet greens? You can add them to a salad or try sautéing beet greens with garlic and olive oil.
You can pickle watermelon rinds. Mary at One Perfect Bite shared this delicious recipe for Sweet and Spicy Watermelon Rind Pickles.
Even vegetable scraps and peelings can be saved to make your own vegetable broth.
Do you consume any food items that other people normally toss?
This post has been linked to Food Waste Friday and Frugal Fridays.
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Beth Anne says
Good post Alea. Like you, I work very hard to eliminate food waste in my kitchen. I’m looking forward to making the radish leaf soup.
Tracey @ Dont Mess with Mama says
I love this! Great tips. I never thought about regrowing celery. I’ve heard the same can be done with green onions – and now I’m thinking maybe regular onions too. My husband actually likes to eat watermelon rind, but I like the idea of pickling for the rest of us.
Alea says
Thanks for the reminder! I did this last year with some garlic that started to sprout. It appears to be growing well, but I haven't dug any of them up to see how they are progressing (even though I really want to).
Anonymous says
I'm going to try the celery!
You can do the same thing with garlic- just plant one clove from the bulb and it will grow.
Angela says
Beet greens are my favorite! I can't imagine throwing them away!
juliecache says
i am so trying the celery and onion thing.
Maureen says
I'm so glad that you tried the celery and things are going well. I think I may try a few in pots as well. I intended to do succession plantings and containers sound like a good way to go.
I must try the green onions and check out the other tips 'n tricks.
Porch Days says
Very interesting fact about the celery! Mr. B was recently reminiscing about the watermelon pickles him mother used to make. I'll check out the recipe and see how complicated it is. My aunt used to make green tomato pickles and I loved them.
Laura says
Loved all the tips today! We've got a great growing climate here for celery, so am going to give it a try. Same for the green onions as we use a lot of them.
Watermelon rinds also work great as pet food for some animals. We kept tortoises when we were kids and they would eat the rinds down to nothing. Same with our rabbits.
(And I have always preferred beet greens to turnip greens!).
Jenn Erickson says
I used to love projects like this when I was a child. You've inspired me to get my girls started now. Never knew you could do this with celery. We're big fans of wasting nothing, and finding creative ways to reduce waste. I happen to have some celery in the fridge right now, so I'm excited about trying to sprout it!
Jill says
This reminds me of when I taught my preschoolers we use to do this with celery, and use colored water and watch it draw up into the stalks lots of fun! Your blog always has me leaveing hungry, lol, great ideas and recipes! Thanks for sharing!
Blessings, Jill
FoodontheTable says
What a novel idea! I will have to try it.
Leah says
I would never had thought to try regrowing celery like that. So clever! Thanks for the link to the watermelon rind pickles, I have been looking for that recipe for a long time.
Alea says
Here is a simple tutorial on growing celery from the stalk: http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/re-growing-celery/
Celery needs lots of water, is a cool weather plant, but is suseptible to frost. In another words, not a plant I would ever start from seed considering where I live. I am going to grow mine in pots, in nutrient rich soil. I am keeping it inside until the temps are more reasonable, then will put it outside but leave them in the pots, so I can bring them in when there is a cold spell. If I lived somewhere with milder fall weather I would plant them in the garden , once the worst of the summer heat is over.
Colorado Girl says
I had no idea you could regrow celery either! Do you need to regrow roots first, or just put them back into the ground? Thanks!
Amy Walker says
oh my goodness! we use so much celery. my husband's going to be excited…we were already recycling all celery leftovers by throwing them in to boil to death for homemade chicken stock and sometime compost, but I think this might be an even better return!!!!!!!!!!
amy
http://www.thecheapandchoosy.com
Sheila says
I had no idea you could re-grow celery!! I love learning new things. I have a recipe around here somewhere for watermelon rind pickles using red hot candies. I love those things so much. My Ma-Maw used to send me home with a couple of jars every time I visited her. I put the recipe in a safe place–only problem is–I forgot just where that would be!! Have a wonderful weekend.
Alea says
I would never have thought to use cantaloupe seeds!
CrystalsCozyKitchen says
I recently just found a recipe for a drink using cantaloupe seeds – I made it and I think I will be using cantaloupe seeds more often now!
I have also made vegetable broth from peelings and such as well as chicken/beef broth from fat, skin and bones.