It's the night before your vacation, and you still have loads of perishable food in your fridge. Whatever you do, don't throw it out. Instead, try this TikToker's delicious, food-saving hack.

The scoop

Brennan Kai (@brennan.kai) posted a TikTok sharing her genius trick to use food in her kitchen before taking a trip so she can enjoy it after she gets back. 

Before taking off, she whips up a soup or stew with short-lived ingredients and freezes it to eat when she returns. 

"This is my go-to hack for avoiding food waste when I'm about to go travel," she says in the video. 

@brennan.kai this is a plant-based green split pea soup I made in my instant pot— helped to use up carrots & half an onion I had in the fridge. Now when I get back, just pop out a cube & defrost! #vegan #plantbased #instantpot #instantpotrecipes #vegetarian #recipe #zerowaste #lowwaste #plasticfree #easydinner #easyrecipe #highprotein #sustainable #foodwaste #foodwastesolution #mealprep #mealplan ♬ Sunshine - WIRA

In the TikTok, she makes a plant-based green split pea soup using an Instant Pot using carrots and half an onion left over in her fridge. Kai recommends dividing the soup into portions using a freezer mold.

When she returns from her trip, Kai will defrost her soup or stew in the fridge before heating it.

How it's helping

This trick ensures you won't come home to an empty fridge after a long travel day and can help make the most of increasingly expensive grocery store trips. 

Kai uses this hack regularly when she travels because she does not have to rush to the grocery store or order food delivery once she returns. She already has a meal prepared as soon as she walks through the door.

"It makes life a lot easier when I get back from my trip because I know I have at least one meal ready to go. I just defrost it in the fridge," Kai says. 

Vacations are expensive, so you don't want to spend money before you board the plane. With this hack, you'll maximize money spent on food by consuming as much of it as possible. 

The environmental benefits are the cherry on top of this traveler-friendly trick. It prevents unnecessary food waste by helping you use foods you would have thrown out. 

Kai's suggested one-cup serving size cuts down on waste even further, preventing you from thawing more food than you can eat in one sitting.  

Every year, about 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States, amounting to nearly 40% of all food in the country. Implementing this pre-travel cooking routine can help offset your household's food waste. 

What everyone's saying 

Kai's fellow travelers thanked her for sharing this brilliant food-saving technique in the comment section.

One user says, "This is better than me trying to eat everything all the night before I leave."

"This is actually a really good idea," another TikToker writes. 

"Such an easy but overlooked way to prevent food waste," a user adds. "Thanks for sharing!"

Bonus travel tips: TCD-partner brand Hilton operates via the guiding principle of Travel with Purpose to make a positive impact. That means Hilton is always aiming to create more sustainable stays for guests — by focusing on energy efficiency, reducing water and waste, promoting biodiversity, and sourcing products responsibly.

For example, the brand reports it has saved 3.9 million meals from ending up in landfills across nearly 200 hotels to date, and the Hilton Global Foundation invested more than $7.3 million into projects building a better world for travel in 2024 alone. These actions offer place-based solutions that travelers and vacationers can feel good about.

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