14 Ideas for Cooking With Food Scraps

Before throwing potato peels, carrot tops, eggshells, a mayonnaise jar, or shrimp shells into the trash, think about what tasty and healthy dishes you can prepare with them or how you can upcycle them.

5-Minute Crafts believes that we should approach food scraps responsibly and would like to offer you a few recipes you can make out of them at home.

Pasta sauce made of carrot greens

Cut off the carrot greens. Rinse them well under running water. Put them into a blender, add a little olive oil, 1 teaspoon of paprika, the same amount of ground black pepper and salt, and a handful of walnuts. Blend until smooth. Use the resulting mass as a pasta sauce.

Green seasoning for broths and sauces

Finely chop leftover greens (including stems) and mix them with olive oil or water, then fill the ice molds with the resulting mixture. Use these cubes to make soups, sauces, or stews.

Eggshell powder as a source of calcium

Boil eggshells over medium heat to get rid of the protein residue. Then put all the shells on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for 15 minutes, choosing an average temperature. Then grind the shells into a powder in a blender.

Use this powder as an extra source of calcium by adding it to breakfast cereals, porridges, milkshakes, or smoothies.

Chocolate milk in a jar from a chocolate and hazelnut spread

Pour hot milk into a jar that still has the remains of the chocolate and hazelnut spread on its walls, and shake well. The remains of the spread will melt and make a delicious chocolate hazelnut milk treat.

Breading mix made of pizza crust

Grind the pizza crust in a blender into crumbs. Mix egg yolks in a bowl. Take chicken pieces and dip them in the egg mixture, then roll them in the crumbs and fry in oil in a pan on both sides until golden brown.

Sauce made of pickle juice

Take about 8.5 ounces of processed cheese or cream cheese and mix it with 7 ounces of pickle juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Serve the sauce with meat, fish, or vegetables.

Watermelon rind jam

Cut watermelon rind (about 3.5 to 5 ounces) lengthwise into small rectangular pieces and put them in a pan. Add about 3.5 ounces of sugar and 17 ounces of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower the heat. While stirring constantly, wait until some of the water boils away, forming a sweet thick caramel, and the rind looks darker. Pour the jam into a clean, dry jar.

Citrus sugar made from orange peel

Remove the pith from the peel of 2 oranges, then put the peel in a blender along with 9 ounces of sugar and 1 teaspoon of water or orange juice. Turn on the blender and grind until smooth. Then put the mass on a baking sheet, spreading it evenly along the entire surface, and leave to dry. After that, pour the citrus sugar into a dry, clean jar and seal it.

Date seed coffee

Take a handful of date seeds. Fry them in a hot skillet. Then put the dried seeds into a coffee grinder and grind them into a fine powder.

Brew it like coffee: to prepare 1 cup of the drink, pour 0.5 tablespoon of powder and 7 ounces of boiling water into a teapot, let it brew, and then pour it into a cup and serve.

A base for vegetable soups made from vegetable and herb scraps

Don’t throw away onion and garlic husks, peeled carrot, potato, zucchini skins, and green stalks, including broccoli or cauliflower. Put them in a saucepan and add 1-2 teaspoons of butter. Fry them a little and cover with water, then add salt and bring to a boil. Cover the pan with a lid, lower the heat and simmer for another 20-30 minutes to get a fragrant and tasty vegetable broth.

Sauces made from leftover mayonnaise

If the only mayonnaise you have is the little bit left stuck to the walls of the jar, don’t rush to throw it away. Pour 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into the jar, the same amount of olive oil, and add a pinch of pepper. Close the lid and shake it in your hands to mix everything until smooth.

Use this sauce to dress salads or meat dishes, such as dumplings. You can try other combinations too, like mixing the leftover mayonnaise with a little meat broth and soy sauce and seasoning some noodle soup with it.

Fluffy pancakes made from sour milk

If your milk has begun to go sour, don’t throw it away. It can be used as a base for fluffy pancake batter.

Watermelon and pumpkin seeds as a source of healthy fat

Put some pumpkin seeds on baking paper, sprinkle them with a little turmeric, red pepper, and salt, drizzle them generously with oil, and let them dry in the oven. You can add them to salads. You can also dry watermelon seeds with spices in the same way and add them to salads too.

Sauce or stock made from shrimp shells

When cleaning shrimp, collect the shells in a clean, dry container and put them in the freezer. Use them to make a sauce or stock: sauté shrimp shells with garlic in butter or simply simmer them in boiling water.

Bonus: how you can use leftover food in the household

Before throwing away food remains, try to find a reasonable use for them not only in cooking but also in the household, like the following examples.

• Put pomegranate peels into a pot of water and boil until the water becomes purple-red. Remove from heat and dip the cotton cloth you want to dye into it briefly. Cotton sneakers can also be dyed this way.
• Don’t pour out the water after boiling eggs, but rather, collect it in a container and use it to water indoor plants.
• Place lemon, orange, or tangerine peels in places where a cat likes to spray or go to the toilet. Cats dislike the scent of citrus.
• Dry some used coffee grounds and pour them into a container. Sprinkle them on the soil near the stems of plants that are suffering from aphids, or use them around the house to remove unwanted odors.
• Pack a quart-size glass jar tightly with citrus peels. Then fill the jar to the top with vinegar. Close it and set it in a sunny spot to infuse for 2 weeks. Strain the vinegar and store it in a glass jar in a dark, cool spot. Use it as a base for an all-purpose cleaner: add 1/2 cup of the liquid you made, 2 cups of distilled water, 1 teaspoon of castile soap (optional), and 20 drops of lemon essential oil (optional) into a spray bottle. Shake well before use.