When a YouTuber's chive patch in his grow house started to sprout like a weed, he shared a clever way to make the most of the excess herbs with an easy preservation hack.
The scoop
"I'm going to show you an awesome hack that gives you timeless storage," says YouTuber Sustainable Stace (@sustainablestace) in a video before cutting his thriving green chives to show viewers exactly how to make the most of these homegrown herbs. He then preps his harvest with a fine chop before throwing it in a Mason jar for the crucial, final step.
"Put it in the freezer, it stays green and perfectly beautiful," he notes.
When harvesting the chives, he is careful to pull the stalks that have grown flowers for an important reason.
"Only a few are going to seed, so I'll just pull those out because they get kind of woody and hard," he adds.
By using his freezer as a way to extend the shelf life of homegrown herbs, this gardener can capitalize on his efforts without wasting a single chive stalk.
How it's helping
In general, a freezer can be a powerful tool to keep food fresh longer and limit waste. By freezing perishables, individuals can save money on groceries by extending the shelf life of common foods and can make cooking at home more manageable without the constant trips to the store for ingredients.
While freezers can stretch a grocery budget, they can also help limit food waste in landfills over time. Considering that roughly 92 billion pounds of food go to waste annually, according to Feeding America, it's crucial to find ways to make the most of ingredients with every meal.
Plus, with efforts to grow ingredients — like with this YouTuber's chive plant — freezing what's harvested can allow amateur gardeners to maximize the cost savings of growing food at home.
While not everyone can grow their own food, freezing leftover herbs and produce is a simple and effective way to stretch a grocery haul — and budget. Plus, with organizations like TooGoodToGo, one can even help businesses in their community limit waste by buying end-of-day perishable products at discounted prices and then freeze what you can't use immediately.
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Not enough time ⏳ What everyone's saying
Many commenters appreciated this simple and easy hack.
"Loved this," one commenter noted. "thank you for this lovely…explanation."
"I'm working on mine today," another said.
Others had valid questions about using a freezer for perishables like herbs.
"After a while can it get freezer burned?" someone asked.
"Mine don't suffer freezer burn," another commenter responded with an additional helpful tip. "I store in small bags so I can only take a bag to use without having to disturb the others."
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