Not everything that’s a byproduct of food production and meal preparation is waste. Most of them, especially organic ones, are just gold waiting to be discovered. Ground coffee, steeped tea, trimmings, and peels? Don’t get the food waste bin just yet. We’ll show you how to do food scrap recycling.
Recycling food scraps has tons of benefits. It can help your plants grow, flavor up your dishes, or be the main ingredient in your next meal.
Food Scrap Recycling With Banana Peels
Hold onto your banana peels to shine your shoes and tenderize your meat. Rub the inside of your peel on your shoe and rub off any excess to shine them up.
Put a ripe banana peel at the bottom of your roasting pans. This will make your meat nice and moist.
Try Recycling Tea Bags
There are actually lots of ways you can reuse tea bags.
You can use them to make more tea by or as DIY deodorizers for your home and carpets, to keep your soil healthy, and they can even be used to make hand and foot scrubs. You can find lots of uses for them here.
Using Tough Kale
When the edges of your kale start to toughen up you can still use it.
Just dehydrate it and ground it into a health powder and use in smoothies and protein drinks. Learn how to do this here.
Pickle Juice Recycling
Don’t toss all that pickle juice when all the pickles are gone. You can use it to pickle other items like canned green beans, onions, or cucumbers.
You can also use the pickle juice in cocktails. You can find recipes here.
Fruit Pits
Use fruit pits to make more fruit.
Avocado pits can be turned into more avocados, the same with peaches, plums, and lemon seeds and pits. Get details on this here.
Using Food Scraps: Freeze Bread Ends
Most of us end up tossing out bread ends or giving them to the animals outside. You can freeze these scarps of food and reuse them.
Beet Greens
If you’re cooking with beets, hold onto their stems. You can make a salad or cook them in with pasta. Another option is to steam and season them.
Mushy Brown Bananas
Don’t toss those brown bananas. Their texture and sweetness are great for baking recipes. Turn them into some banana bread or use them in other recipes you can find here.
Egg Shells
Don’t toss out your cracked eggshells when you’re making breakfast or baking.
You can use them to unclog a drain, in your skin regimen, or in your garden. You can find lots of uses for eggshells here.
Planting Carrot Tops
Most of us toss out the stems when we cook up carrots. But have you considered planting carrot tops? It’s a great way to reuse these often discarded parts.
Orange Peels
Orange peels are another food scrap that can come in handy around the house. You can use it to make a cleaning spray and to keep brown sugar from hardening.
You can find a bunch of ideas here.
Reusing Potato Chips
If you’re making mashed potatoes, you’re going to need to boil some skinless potatoes.
You can use them for skin care or turn them into chips. You can find reasons to never throw out potato peels here.
Takeaway
There you have it, different ways on what to do with food scraps without composting them. So next time you’re preparing any of these dishes or beverages, you can go back to this list and know exactly how to go about food scrap recycling.