Soup season is now in full swing, and a health and wellness influencer is sharing an ingenious way to turn your food scraps into a delicious base for all sorts of comforting stews.
The scoop
TikToker Kayla Varney (@consciouslykay), who has more than 290,000 followers, revealed how she makes broth from veggie scraps. While just about any will do, Kayla had onion peels, bell pepper cores, kale stems, and celery heads on hand after keeping them fresh in the freezer.
@consciouslykay HOMEMADE VEGGIE BROTH 🥬🍅🥕🧅 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
To make the broth, add the scraps to a large pot with water and bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer. Kayla says she also likes to enhance the broth's flavor by adding garlic, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. After simmering for around an hour, strain the broth and then store it in an airtight container.
"This beautiful liquid is packed full of healing, nourishing nutrients and can be used in so many ways," Kayla concludes.
How it's helping
Making homemade veggie broth is a surefire way to maximize what you already have in your pantry, resulting in less money spent at the grocery store — and likely fewer packages made from dirty fuel-based plastics cluttering your home, as Kayla points out.
"It keeps me from buying unnecessary cartons with unnecessary ingredients," Kayla says.
Getting creative with leftovers like veggie scraps can also reduce food waste. In addition to wasting money, discarded food contributes to the overheating of the planet because organic material releases heat-trapping gases like methane when it breaks down.
The warming climate has caused crop-destroying weather events, like droughts, to become more severe and frequent. Ultimately, the costs of such damages are passed on to consumers, leading to more expensive shopping runs in the long term.
Other ways to reduce food waste (aside from the aforementioned freezing) include turning frequently discarded asparagus ends into a flavor-packed dip and taking advantage of apps like Too Good To Go, which sells users leftover food from restaurants and grocery stores at a steep discount.
What everyone's saying
Other TikTokers were intrigued and excited by Kayla's recommendations.
"This looks amazing!" one person wrote. "So many good things for you and easy to do."
"How long does this last?" asked another, to which Kayla replied: "No more than a week in the fridge! You can freeze or can, though, for longer storage."
"Love this," a third commenter said.
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