A health and wellness TikToker has demonstrated a great way to make the most of the odds and ends left over from using vegetables in your cooking: Stick them all in a pot to make a versatile and delicious broth.
The scoop
Kayla Varney (@consciouslykay) details how she takes veggie scraps like celery, kale, tomato, onion, carrots, and bell peppers and adds them to a large pot of water on the stove. She also suggests adding salt, garlic, and bay leaves to achieve a richer flavor.
@consciouslykay HOMEMADE VEGGIE BROTH 🥬🍅🥕🧅 Welcome to Episode 3 of my favorite food waste reduction recipes! By saving all of your produce scraps (and/or anything about to go bad) in the freezer, you can make delicious and nutritious veggie broth at home! Simply👇🏼 1. Take all of your veggie scraps (we love celery, kale, tomato, onion, carrots, and bell peppers) and add to a large pot with water. We also like to add garlic, bay leaves, and salt & pepper for added flavor! 2. Bring to a boil and then uncover and reduce to a simmer for about an hour. 3. Strain and store in an air tight container! #veggiebroth #veggiescraps #foodwaste #foodwastewarriors #foodwastereduction #compost ♬ original sound - Kayla Varney
She then boils the mixture and lets it simmer for around an hour, allowing the veggies to transfer their nutrients and vitamins — that would otherwise have gone to waste — to the liquid.
When the time is up, she strains the mixture and puts it in an air-tight container — she also says it can be frozen to keep it fresh for longer. It's as easy as that.
How it's helping
The video is the third installment of a series in which Kayla encourages her 255,000 followers to reduce food waste.
Food waste is a huge problem in the United States. According to Feed America, 80 million tons of food gets thrown out every year, equivalent to around $444 billion in discarded items annually.
Not only is it a waste of the time and energy needed to grow and produce crops or rear animals, but it's also a drain on the bank balances of families across the country.
Furthermore, a lot of food waste goes straight to landfills, where it will simply contribute to the production of planet-warming gases like methane — which is significantly more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of planet-heating potential.
Kayla's video can help you make the most of the food you've bought with your hard-earned money, prevent organic waste from going to landfills, and offer a tasty addition to soups, stews, or noodle recipes.
What everyone's saying
"Thanks for sharing this great idea!" one TikToker said.
Another added, "I just did this and was blown away at how good it was!"
But Kayla wasn't done with smart choices. She suggested another way to use the scraps left over from the broth mixture.
"We compost them," she said, meaning the veggies will soon provide nutrient-rich fertilizer to use in her garden.
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