Have you ever tossed carrots because they had gone flaccid? This home cooking expert shared a tip so you never waste a carrot again.
The scoop
Sharing tips to TikTok, themonticarlo (@themonticarlo) teaches home cooks how to take their cooking to the next level and waste less food and money along the way.
@themonticarlo Dont toss out wilted carrots! #foodtok #foodwaste #savethefood ♬ original sound - themonticarlo
In one clip, she showed how to revive carrots that have gotten rubbery. She said her first mistake was storing the carrots with their greens still attached. "[The] greens are taking water away from the carrot," she said, cutting off the tops, to be used later in a gremolata recipe.
"To revive your carrots, fill a resealable container with water, put your carrots in it, seal it, refrigerate it, and in a few hours your carrots will be good as new," the creator said.
She demonstrated the crunch of the revived carrots by breaking one in half. Storing carrots this way will help them last up to a month, though you may want to change the water a couple of times.
How it's helping
Tips and tricks that help us use more of our food have the potential to save a ton of money.
The average American tosses about $1,500 worth of food each year. This genre of influencer, sharing helpful tips, has taught many of us how to make our food last longer and use up leftovers. Making the most of our groceries not only saves us money and time, but it also helps alleviate some of the unintended side effects of our food system.
Unfortunately for most of us, the items bought in stores have traveled very far to get to our plates, and these distances lead to monetary and environmental costs. According to the European Commission, "Transport accounts for 19% of total food system emissions."
Another facet of the impact is landfills. When organic matter is mixed with other waste, it can increase the amount of methane created during garbage breakdown. "Wasted food causes 58% of methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills," the Environmental Protection Agency says. Both of these impacts contribute to the warming of the planet.
🗣️ What single change would make the biggest dent in your personal food waste?
🔘 Not buying food I don't need 🧐
🔘 Freezing my food before it goes bad 🧊
🔘 Using my leftovers more effectively 🍲
🔘 Composting my food scraps 🌱
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Fortunately for us, utilizing helpful hacks to waste less food is a great way to alleviate some of these issues. You can amp up your contribution through compost programs, and apps such as Too Good to Go that help restaurants sell food they might otherwise toss.
What everyone's saying
Tips like this are very popular — this TikTok had 57 thousand likes and hundreds of comments.
"Celery, leaf lettuce, carrots all can be crisped up by cold soak in water," one helpful person chimed in.
Another commenter wrote, "Oh my god this is going to save me so many carrots."
Finally, someone thanked the creator for their knowledge, writing, "Omg thank you I never knew how to make vegetables last before."
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