Rescue and Reuse

There’s no doubt that food waste is a big issue for our society as a whole, and it’s important that we all do our part to help reduce it.

One of the best ways to do this is to regrow and reuse your old veggies that didn’t make it onto the plate. There’s a whole bunch of different ways to make the veggies buried at the bottom of your fridge come back to life, so we’ve put together a list of 5 of our favourites to help you become a Dr. Frankenstein of the kitchen.

Spring Onions

You know how when you buy a bunch of spring onions, the base often has some hair-like roots attached? Well, if you leave the white part intact and just use the green, leafy top part, you can keep your spring onions growing for weeks. Simply place your spring onions—white part down—in a glass of water, and watch as they start to regrow!

Lemongrass

Very similar to spring onions, leave the white root part of the lemongrass intact, leave in a glass of water in the sun, and you’ll soon have a fresh stick of lemongrass.

Bok choy

Most people cut the hard, dirt filled base off of the leafy stems of their bok choy before they eat it. Well, if you place the base bottom side down in a bowl of warm water, it will start to regenerate its leaves!

Garlic

This one requires a pot and some soil, but it’s super easy. If you’ve ever kept garlic around a little too long, you’ll notice it starts to sprout a little green shoot. If you plant even a single clove in some soil and give it some water, you’ll soon have a bulb of fresh garlic of your own.

Ginger

Much like garlic, plant some of your unpeeled leftover ginger in a pot with some potting mix and leave it for a week. When you start to see some new roots and shoots, you can dig it up and use it again, and repeat the process!

We hope this inspires you to reduce food-waste in your home and get creative with your leftovers. It’s something the kids can get excited about, and who doesn’t enjoy some homemade science experiments?