Nobody likes a soggy, floppy cucumber, but most of us have probably found a limp one lying at the back of the produce drawer at some point.
Luckily, Too Good To Go, an app that connects customers with stores and restaurants that sell leftover food at a discount, shared a simple hack to revive sad-looking cucumbers.
The scoop
On its TikTok account, Too Good To Go (@toogoodtogo) showed an easy one-step hack that will prolong the life of your cucumbers — and it only requires water, a Mason jar, and a knife.
@toogoodtogo Keep your cucumbers crunchy with this easy storage tip 🥒 #cucumberstorage #freshveg #foodwastehack #lowwastehack ♬ original sound - logan
Cut the cucumber into matchstick shapes and place the pieces into a Mason jar. Fill it nearly to the top with water and refrigerate for at least two hours, according to a comment by Too Good To Go.
When you take them out, you should have fresh, crisp cucumbers to add to salads, smoothies, sandwiches, or water for a flavor (and vitamin) boost.
"Keep your cucumbers crunchy with this easy storage tip," Too Good To Go said in the caption.
How it's helping
Keeping your food fresh longer with hacks like this can help lower your grocery bill and reduce waste. On average, Americans throw away $1,200 of uneaten or spoiled food every year, so if you salvage just 5% of that by storing your food correctly, you could save $60 annually.
In addition, cutting food waste by 5% can keep 16 pounds of food out of landfills. Americans throw away around 325 pounds of food per year, so every little bit counts.
While companies such as Too Good to Go and Misfits Market are helping to tackle the massive global food waste problem, so much perfectly good food is still squandered.
According to Feeding America, 80 million tons of food go to waste every year, which equals 149 billion meals tossed into landfills. Meanwhile, 44 million people in the country face food insecurity and hunger.
Reducing food waste contributes to a cooler, healthier planet by easing the strain on the Earth's resources needed to grow food, such as water and energy, in production and transportation.
Keeping food out of landfills also reduces the polluting gases in the atmosphere since decomposing food releases methane, a gas even more potent than carbon dioxide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
What everyone's saying
While some commenters were disappointed because they were anticipating a pickle recipe, others were grateful for the money-saving tip.
"This is huge news if true…" one person said.
Someone shared another way to enjoy cucumbers: "After you eat the cucumber, drink the water afterwards because cucumber makes it more refreshing and adds vitamins."
Another added a helpful tip about properly storing cucumbers: "Guys, don't forget to change the water every day, I did this w/ carrots without changing it, and they fermented."
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