14 Brilliant Kitchen Hacks To Help You Avoid Food Waste
With the aim of reducing food waste in the kitchen, a series of tricks have long been shared that help you get more out of some ingredients and even extend their shelf life.
Although many are based on popular beliefs, those who have tried them suggest through different means that they can be useful. Do you dare to try them?
How to avoid food waste
1. Keep eggs fresh
Most of the people consume eggs regularly. However, some fear that they will not keep fresh while it is time to consume them. Fortunately, apparently, you just need to apply a layer of olive oil on top to keep them in good condition. Cool!
2. Recover a salty soup
Did the salt get out of hand when preparing the soup? Do not worry! It is a mistake that can happen to anyone. Luckily, we can try to fix it with a simple trick.
Peel a potato and place it inside the pot, for about 20 minutes. In popular wisdom it is said that this helps absorb salt. In addition, this way you could help avoid food waste.
3. Use every last drop of mayonnaise
To take advantage of the mayonnaise that remains in the jar, add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar or lemon and prepare a dressing for your salads.
4. Prevent the berries from rusting
Berries are one of the fruits that spoil the most when not consumed in a short time. To prevent rust, there is a simple trick that seems to work. It consists of putting the berries in a container with water and apple cider vinegar.
If you’re not going to eat them soon, don’t contribute to food waste and put them in an airtight container in the freezer.
5. Protect garlic and onions for a longer time
Popular culture suggests that paper bags with small holes could preserve flavor and freshness of foods like onion and garlic.
6. Keep half avocado fresh
Sometimes when you eat avocado, you only want to eat half. However, you know that if you leave the remaining part it will rust quickly. What can you do?
In the wide list of tricks that people share, we find one for this problem: it consists of placing the part of the avocado in an airtight container together with a large piece of onion. Go ahead and try it!
7. Using leftover Nutella
Nutella is delicious and it’s a shame to have to throw away those small amounts that stick to the jar. Instead of doing this, pour in some hot milk, mix with a spoon and you have a chocolate drink. Delicious!
8. Preserve the celery
Do you want to keep the celery sticks for longer? As you know, it is a vegetable that tends to deteriorate in a short time. However, according to popular wisdom, wrapping it in a good amount of aluminum foil will keep it fresh longer.
9. Extend the shelf life of bananas
Bananas are part of the regular diet of many people. They are delicious and also nutritious. However, they tend to mature quickly, to the point of losing their useful life in a very short time.
Do you want to avoid this? Well, if you cover the end of the bunch with plastic wrap, they can last three or four more days. Try it for yourself!
10. Reuse milk to avoid food waste
Milk, like all dairy products, is a food whose storage and conservation must be careful, as it can become contaminated. However, just because it is no longer fresh does not mean that it is no longer useful.
If it has only been a few days past, you can take advantage of it in other preparations such as kumis, cottage cheese, cheese or other derivatives. You’ll love it!
11. Store the fine herbs
Many of your dishes are better if you add a little fine herbs to them. The downside is that if you don’t preserve them well, they can be damaged in less than you think.
To prevent this from happening, and especially to avoid wasting them, put them in ice buckets, fill them with olive oil and take them to the freezer. The cubes you get can be used in many recipes.
12. Put potatoes and apples together
Did you know that putting apples next to potatoes helps both foods to preserve better? While it is not a fact proven by science, in popular culture there are those who point out that this serves to maintain its freshness.
13. Take advantage of the mango pulp
If you are one of those who removes a significant amount of the pulp when peeling the mango with the knife, it is better to cut it into several parts and remove the fruit with the help of a glass. This same advice can be applied with kiwi, avocado and other similar fruits.
14. Reuse coffee grounds
Since ancient times, coffee grounds have been used to prepare fertilizer for plants or compost for soils. Do you dare to give them this use? Although there is not enough evidence to support this information, it is a simple method that you can try without problem.
Avoiding food waste is a good way to help
As insignificant as they may seem, all of these tips and tricks are simple ways to avoid food waste. It will cost you nothing to carry them out and, with a little effort, not only you will take advantage of them.
Being generous to others costs nothing. Therefore, in addition to applying these tricks, remember that you can also share the food that you have left with those who need it most. This way you will not waste food and, in addition, you will contribute to helping other people.
