Have you ever wished you could prevent that gross layer of mold from settling on the surface of open pasta sauce jars so you can use it again later?
TikTok's Jazz Leaf (@jazz_leaf) has detailed a useful hack that can stretch the life of your marinara, pesto, and alfredo sauces, among others.
🗣️ What single change would make the biggest dent in your personal food waste?
🔘 Not buying food I don't need 🧐
🔘 Freezing my food before it goes bad 🧊
🔘 Using my leftovers more effectively 🍲
🔘 Composting my food scraps 🌱
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
The scoop
Jazz Leaf began the video with a huge jar of Rao's marinara sauce that was barely used.
Instead of throwing the remainder of it in the trash, though, or letting it go bad in a cupboard or fridge, she goes on to provide an elegant solution.
"You know it goes bad quickly if you're not going to use it," she said, echoing the thoughts of many who have encountered the problem.
@jazz_leaf Try it with pesto, Alfredo or literally any of your favorite pasta sauce! #kitchenhacks #kitchenhack #raos #pastasauce #soupercubes #freezerhacks #freezerhacktiktok #freezerhack #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #fypシ ♬ Wii - Mii Channel - Super Guitar Bros
"I'm gonna show you a trick on how to save it because this stuff is expensive," she continued.
Jazz Leaf took a freezer-friendly super cubes container and filled the sections with the leftover pasta sauce.
She then left it to freeze, allowing it to form bars of the tasty tomato-based sauce.
When she's ready for her next Italian bite, she can put the frozen cube directly into a cooking pan and allow it to thaw (or let it thaw a few hours before use).
How it's helping
This is a smart way to make a purchase go just a bit further. As Jazz Leaf noted in the video, pasta sauce can be expensive, so letting it go to waste in a cupboard is throwing money away.
According to Feeding America, 38% of all food in America is wasted, meaning more than one-third of your weekly shop is likely to go in the trash.
But food waste is also a huge environmental problem, putting pressure on food supply networks to create new products unnecessarily — putting a strain on water supplies and increasing the use of harmful pesticides as a result — and resulting in landfills filling up with items that could have been eaten with some better management.
Feeding America says 80 million tons of food waste is created in the United States every year, the equivalent of $444 billion being thrown away.
Much of that will go to landfill sites where it will encourage the production of planet-warming gas methane — which is around 80 times more powerful in terms of heating potential than carbon dioxide.
Composting is a much more environmentally friendly way to dispose of wasted food, and it can provide a nutritious fertilizer for your garden after a few months.
What's everyone saying?
One commenter noted that the super cubes have proved useful in their kitchen.
"I love super cubes. I have so many frozen cubes of random stuff in my freezer!" they said.
Meanwhile, another TikToker asked if this method can help to extend the life of chicken or beef broth.
"Yes!!!" Jazz Leaf replied. "I love freezing my broths too!"
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