When you're cooking a delicious meal, you're often left with a bunch of food scraps. It's a shame to let them all go to waste. As one TikToker shared, you don't have to feed your trash can every meal. Instead, you can give a second life to your food scraps while saving money.
The scoop
Summer (@whatiloveabout.summer) shared their "mom hack" for saving food scraps. "No more food waste in this house," the caption reads.
@whatiloveabout.summer Mom Hack | Saving Food Scraps When I saw this idea from @han fran I knew I had to try it out! No more food waste in this house🙌🏼 I can't wait to make my own vegetable broth soon🥕🧅🫑🧄 #momhack #cookinghack #kitchenhack #momsofinstagram #viral #trending #trendingreel #viralreels #microinfluencer #relatablemom #vegggiebroth #nofoodwaste ♬ original sound - whatiloveabout.summer
"I don't know about you," OP says, "but I feel like at almost every meal that I make, I end up wasting so many food scraps. When I saw my friend here on TikTok post that she saves her food scraps and uses them for a homemade broth later on, I knew that I had to try that."
In the video, OP sets aside their chopped veggies for their meal and adds their food scraps into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.
"I started a Ziploc bag and then keep them in the freezer," OP says. "When I'm ready I'll make a veggie broth."
How it's helping
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 30-40% of our food supply is wasted each year. While some of this is due to disease or malfunctions at the farm and market level, consumers also contribute to this food waste.
In 2023, the average American consumer spent about $782 on food that went uneaten, as ReFed reports. Food that is thrown away ends up in landfills, contributing to soil and water pollution and the release of methane, which is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in our atmosphere.
With this simple trick, you can ensure your leftover scraps don't go to waste. And it can even save you money on store-bought broth.
If you don't like broth, composting is also another great option to keep your food scraps from going to landfills and can even be helpful in your garden.
What everyone's saying
Commenters agreed on this incredible idea for limiting food waste.
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What's your biggest motivation in trying to reduce your personal food waste?
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Saving money 💰 "Yes yes yes!" one commenter said. "The freezer scrap bag is a must & the broth/stock is so much better store bought!"
One even took it further and thought of homemade broth ice cubes. "I've been doin it for years," they said. "However [I] put broth in cubed trays."
Others had other ideas for utilizing your leftover food scraps. "Save onion skins dehydrate and grind for onion powder," one wrote.
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