As we adjust to our new lives in isolation and we try our best to avoid too many trips to the supermarket because #socialdistancing, getting hold of fresh produce can be tricky.
Whilst there’s plenty of great grocery delivery services on offer, many of them involve lengthy online queues and lengthy waits (anyone else officially broken up with Ocado after being offered a delivery slot in June?). But have you ever stopped to consider that you can make your food waste go even further by re-growing your scraps? Us neither.
In a bid to #stayhome and stay sustainable, food waste expert and Oddbox co-founder, Emilie Vanpoperinghe, has shared her ingenious hacks for how to re-grow food from scraps.
Literally all you need to start is some vegetable ends and scraps, a little sunshine and water, and a good dosage of TLC.
“Before you know it, you’ll have a much more sustainable way of eating that provides you with delicious vegetables, all from something that you might’ve otherwise have thrown away,” she said.
Here, Emilie shares some of the veggies you can easily regrow at home and how to go about it…
Living Lettuce
2 – 3 weeks
- Place the stem in water making sure it covers no more than two thirds and leave in a spot with plenty of light.
- Fill up and change the water when it needs (typically if it gets a bit cloudy).
- If you have the space then transfer the little shrub to soil, which will allow for better growth, but if a window-sill and empty jar is all you’ve got, this’ll do just fine.
- Ensure you cut from the outer leaves and leave a small inner core. Then just keep eating and regrowing in this beautiful circle of life for as long as your lettuce allows you.
Spring onions
1 – 2 weeks
From spring onions
- Leave about an inch from the roots, and pop them in a shallow glass of water so that the tops aren’t submerged.
- Change the water every few days and watch the green shoots continue to grow.
- Cut what you need from the tops, and the spring onions will grow for as long as you take care of them!
From onion ends
2 – 4 weeks
- Leaving about a half-inch up from the roots of the onion attached, place it directly in a small pot of soil and cover it with a layer of soil, keeping it in a sunny spot.
- Water it everyday to keep the soil nice and moist, and you’ll begin to see the spring onion shoots come up in a few weeks.
Coriander, basil and other cut herbs
2 – 3 weeks
- Ensure that there’s around 2 to 3 inches left of the stem of your herbs, and place them upright in a tall glass of water. The new roots should start to sprout after the first week, after which you can transfer them into a small pot of soil for your windowsill, making sure not to over water it.
- Once the herbs have begun flourishing, make sure never to pick out more than a third of the plant.
Celery
1 – 3 weeks
- Leave around 1 – 2 inches from the base of celery, and place down in a small bowl/glass of water in a sunny spot.
- After the first few days, you’ll see new leaves begin growing from the middle, and roots begin to grow.
- Transfer the celery shrub to a small pot of soil, making sure to keep it in as much direct sunlight as possible each day, watering it generously for it to grow its stalks to full length.
Leeks
1 -2 weeks
- Leeks regrow much like celery and spring onions, the only difference is the sheer size of the leeks!
- Leaving 1 – 2 inches of the leek’s root ends, soak them root-first in a shallow glass/container of lukewarm water.
- Place them on a sunny windowsill, changing the water fairly frequently. You’ll begin to see the leeks regrow from the middle within the first week.
Garlic shoots
1 – 2 weeks
- Plant your garlic cloves with their roots facing down in a small pot of potting soil. Sit in a spot with lots of direct sunlight, and you’ll begin to see the beginnings of the new shoot in a few days.
- Alternatively, pop garlic that has sprouted slightly into a shot glass of water. These tops will continue growing and can be eaten just like spring onions.