Redux, Reduce, Reuse…Take a Little Off the Top, Part II
In our last episode, we see the intrepid, super hero, meaning you, yearning to create new dishes, birthed out of what shall be named, “scraps” or “leftovers”, when nothing could be further from the truth. Remember, reducing the amount of food wasted requires a little pre-planning and thought given to how you can extend a particular dish. If done right, you might be able to resurrect the extraordinary from the ordinary and save money to boot. Here’s an example of what I mean. Old bananas can be frozen to make banana bread. The bananas weren’t wasted and the money wasn’t either.
Here are a few more ideas…
Got wilted carrots, zucchini or parsnips? Why pay for someone else’s baking skills? Create an easy-to-bake bread, muffin or pancake with them. Remember the banana bread idea? Now think smoothie! Or, you might consider making a cold soup with a touch of your favorite cheese. Speaking of cheese…
Add the rind of Parmigiana Reggiano to bolster the flavor of soups.
Retain the seeds, pits, and cuttings of your veggies and regrow them at home – saving you money on seeds or seedlings. This puts us on the trail to square foot or window sill gardening. Stay tuned for how to build an inexpensive indoor grow system.
Save veggie peels for all-natural fabric dye. What about using the dye to make your own water-based paint or add to your homemade paper hobby? Use beet ends for reds and purples, red cabbage for blues, yellow onions for oranges, and spinach for greens. Have a look around Pinterest for inspiration!
Keep the green “trunks” of your broccoli. They make for a delicious soup. Just search “broccoli stalk soup” for inspiration.
Hold onto tomato peels, cores and juice and turn into a tomato sauce. Just blend and simmer with oils and spices of your choice.
Reserve kale stalks for soups that call for chopped greens.
Remember, the added bonus to this is the amount of money that you will save while reducing the amount you waste.
That’s for now.
