Food you can regrow from scraps

Food is expensive. When it comes to making a budget for your family, you’ll notice that one of the highest costs you have is food. While it’s not possible to eliminate food from your budget, you can decrease the costs by growing your own food.

On that note, did you know that many of the scraps from foods you purchase on a regular basis from the grocery store can be regrown in your very own kitchen? Instead of throwing away food scraps, you can start thinking differently about them!

Below, I’ve listed 7 foods from the grocery store that you can regrow in the comfort of your home. If you already grow your own food right in your garden, you’ll have no problem growing your own produce from scraps.

Celery

One of the simplest foods from the grocery store you can grow from scraps, is celery.

Planting celery is very simple: Cut off the base or the bottom part of the vegetable and place it in a bowl with warm water. Place the container in a spot that has direct sunlight most of the day.

After a week, you’ll notice that there are leaves growing at the base of the celery. Once you see these leaves, it is now ready to be transplanted in the soil.

Romaine Lettuce

Romaine lettuce is easy to grow from leftover scraps. Instead of throwing the bottom of the full head of lettuce in the trash, place it in a bowl with a bit of water.

Keep this bowl in a place with direct sunlight. Mist the leaves with water consistently. After two to three days, you will see that there are shoots of new leaves appearing. Once you see them, your lettuce is now ready to be transplanted or simply harvested for salads.

Bean Sprouts

Growing bean sprouts is easy. Just soak a handful of dry beans in water then leave it overnight.

Drain the water and place the beans in a container. Cover it with a towel, leave it overnight, then rinse it again the next day.

Keep doing this until you see the sprouts growing, then you can transfer them to your garden.

Onion

Another easy vegetable to grow, whether it is indoors or outdoors, are onions.

Cut the root of the onions off and plant it in a garden plot or container. Cover the root with potting soil but leave at least half an inch of the onion exposed. In a few weeks, you will start to see leaves growing.

For Green Onions, use the top part of the onion and leave the bottom 2-3 inches with the roots attached.  Place them in a container with water covering the roots. In no time you’ll see the tops of the green onions growing new green.  You can keep them this way and just continue using the tops and allowing them to grow in the water. Just change the water periodically and rinse the roots.

Garlic

Garlic is an easy way to start growing scraps with fast results.

For garlic, choose a whole bulb or individual cloves that have started to send out green sprouts. Place the bulb or clove in a small amount of water and change the water daily.

Potato

Did you know that you can grow a potato out of potato peelings?

Check the peelings to see if there are eyes on them. Cut the peelings into two to three-inch pieces but make sure that there are at least three eyes on each peel.

Dry these peelings, then plant them in your soil, about three to four inches deep. In a few weeks, you will see a potato plant starting to grow.

Tomato

Don’t throw away the seeds from the tomatoes! Rinse them and allow them to dry.

Once dried, you can start planting the seeds in a rich potting soil. Once the seedlings are a few inches high, you can transplant them outdoors where there is plenty of sunlight.

Turn your food scraps into golden nuggets. Instead of throwing them away, use them as another source of food. You are not only saving money, you are also assured that your family gets better and healthier food.