Turn your trash into treasure: 5 creative ways to use your food waste

By MiNDFOOD

herbs
Let’s face it: we’re all throwing away too much food.

But if you don’t have composting facilities, it can be hard to know what else to do with it. Here are five creative ways to give your food waste another life.

5 creative ways to use your food waste

1. Coffee grounds

Rather than throwing your coffee grounds in the bin or down the sink, why not use them around the garden?

Simply sprinkle around your plants to protect them against a variety of destructive pests – ants are repulsed by the smell, while the slightly abrasive texture will deter soft-bellied pests like slugs and snails.

Used coffee grounds also make a great fertiliser for acid-loving plants like azaleas, hydrangeas, camellias and roses.

 

2. Citrus peel

The rinds of your oranges, lemons and limes make an amazing natural cleaner – the only other ingredient you need is vinegar.

Simply collect your citrus rinds as you eat the fruit (ensuring there’s no fruit flesh left) and pop them in a glass jar.

Top off with white vinegar, then leave in a cool sport for at least two weeks (you can continue to add peels during this time).

Then strain the liquid into a spray bottle and use the spray as you would any other household cleaner.

 

3. Herbs

The recipe only called for a tablespoon of chopped basil but you had to buy a whole bunch – what do you do?

Rather than letting your herbs go to waste, simply chop them finely, mix with a small amount of olive oil, then freeze in ice-cube trays for instant pesto whenever you need it.

 

4. Celery & spring onion bottoms

Don’t throw these away – you can use them to regrow your food.

Put the whole spring onion bunch in a glass of water and it will continue to grow, so you can just cut off what you need as you go along.

For celery, pop the base in some water until roots start to grow. Then transfer into potting soil, and new shoots will grow up from the base once it takes root.

It’s also easy to regrow onions, garlic and more.

 

5. Stale bread

Bread is one of the foods we waste most – but it doesn’t have to be.

Simply pop those last dry slices in a food processor and blitz them into breadcrumbs.

Then keep in the freezer for the next time you want to make meatballs, schnitzel, or add crunch to a pasta bake.

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