Discarded food is a problem that is often unknowingly ignored by us. It’s easy to discard vegetable scraps or even fruit seeds, but come to think about it, these are still usable. To avoid the waste from happening, it’s critical to enforce new habits within the household, like organizing the kitchen more often or start meal planning.
Another effective way to limit food waste is through repurposing. Check out these quick tricks on how to recycle food into new items at home.
Transform Old Food to New
Fruits tend to spoil quickly, so a vast majority of waste comes from it. One prime example is bananas. Most people buy them in a bunch, and they end up with overripe leftovers.
Samuel Cohen/Shutterstock: Did you know that food can be reused?
Thankfully, it’s a versatile fruit that can be made into anything, from pancakes to ice cream. For an exciting twist on a Cuban drink, soak some ripe bananas along with other fruits like pears, apples, and berries in rum for a couple of days and pop them in the freezer.
Once everything is infused, mix in a food processor before adding honey, a dash of rum, cinnamon, and an orange peel. It’s the perfect concoction to spice up your day!
Meanwhile, vegetable scraps are also prevalent in every kitchen. Make the most out of it by cooking a hearty veggie broth. Gather some extra broccoli or celery stalks and bits of carrot tops then season it well. The result makes for the perfect rainy-day dish.
Organic Beauty Products and Cleaners
iva/Shutterstock: Don’t waste food – use in beauty products!
Love coffee? Think twice before throwing out those coffee beans as those can be used as a facial or body scrub. Add in some olive oil and honey for a richer combination! Exfoliating will become a much more enjoyable activity, knowing you didn’t spend a single cent.
Fruit peels soaked in vinegar is also an effective multi-purpose cleaning agent at home. To make a batch, collect the peels from oranges, lemon, or lime and let it steep inside a container filled with vinegar for four weeks.
Compost
Victoria 1/Shutterstock: Use compost for a healthier soil
This age-old trick is probably a method practiced by many. Dig up a little patch of land in the backyard and start a compost pit. This makes the soil healthier, and plants will grow better – green thumbs will love doing it for sure!
Change starts at home, so if we want to help the environment in a little way, let’s begin by repurposing. It will take a while to make it into a habit, but this will change your life once practiced daily.