Home chef shares genius food hack using common kitchen waste: 'What a fabulous idea'

A home chef sparked excitement online after sharing a video of a brilliant kitchen hack that saves money and time while reducing waste.

The scoop

In the video, TikToker Charlie (@charlierewilding) demonstrated how to transform leftover veggies from the fridge and brine from empty pickle jars into homemade pickled vegetables.

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First, Charlie took a cucumber, carrots, radishes, and red cabbage from the fridge and cut them into bite-size pieces. Next, she took several used store-bought pickle jars — cornichons, gherkins, and red onions, to be precise — with the brine still in them and placed the sliced veggies in the jars.

When one of the jars didn't have quite enough brine to cover all the red cabbage, Charlie added some apple cider vinegar and a bit of salt to ensure the veggies were completely submerged in the brine.

Then, she placed the lids on the jars and gave them a shake, after which they were ready to be stored in the fridge for pickling.

"I reuse each brine once," Charlie explained. "Keep these in the fridge, and they'll last a couple of months. … You can start eating them as soon as you like, but they'll obviously get more pickled as time goes on."

How it's helping

The genius of Charlie's hack is that it is actually several hacks in one.

First, we've all had the experience of wondering what to do with leftover veggies in the produce drawer. We don't want to waste them, but what can we make out of a couple of carrots, some radishes, and half a head of cabbage?

Pickling offers a great way to give those stray vegetables another life while adding an extra acidic spark to your meals that a side of pickled veggies provides. It also saves money by reducing food waste and eliminating the need for store-bought pickles.

Second, Charlie has found a great way to reuse not only single-use glass pickle jars but also the brine inside them. This keeps the glass jars out of the landfill or the recycling bin while saving the expense of buying new pickling jars.

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Reusing the store-bought brine also saves the cost of purchasing vinegar, salt, and other ingredients, which can add up over time.     

What everyone's saying

TikTokers flooded the comments section with praise for Charlie's brilliant pickling hack.

"What a fabulous idea!" exclaimed one commenter. "Will be doing this!"

"Using the leftover brine is genius," said another. "Why have I never thought of this?"

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