Smart Uses for Food Scraps: Tips that would make you love food scraps

1. Bought too much salt or have old oatmeal in the pantry? Use them as a face or body scrub, the natural coarse texture will exfoliate. Bonus: oatmeal also soothes eczema. 
2. Baked a lemon tart and have extra egg whites? Don’t throw them out! Apply a few layers of egg white over your face, wait a few minutes for it to dry and peel it off like a mask. Ta-da! Smoother and brighter skin. 
3. What could be more relaxing to sip tea and get an eye mask at the same time? Make tea with 2 Green tea bags, remove excess liquid from the tea bags and chill them in the refrigerator for about 10 mins so they’re at around room temperature. Apply the tea bags to closed eyes for 15 to 30 minutes. 
4. Another great eye soothing and moisturizing eye mask idea is cucumber, it’s especially efficient for puffy eyes and helps to reduce wrinkles. Cut two slices off the cucumber, about a centimeter thick. It’s important not to slice the cucumber too thin. You may want to remove the cucumber skin, as it could contain pesticides that you don’t want near your eyes. Once one side becomes too warm, you can flip them over. Remove them after 15 mins. 
5. In cooking, coconut oil is typically used when frying or cooking that requires a high smoking point. But coconut oil can also be used as moisturizer for face, body & hair. Apply a light layer of coconut oil after bathing and your skin will have a silky smooth to the touch. 
6. Last but not least, if you have expired milk (although we try our best to avoid this but it still happens), we can shower with expired milk! Sounds like a spa treatment at home right away. 

Broth, broth, broth. Can’t say enough how important this is to level up the flavours in our dishes without using too much seasoning. The best part is you can prepare them in abundance, freeze them in ice trays or containers. Vegetables scrap broth: garlic, onion peel, celery leaves, carrots peel, mushroom stems. 

Tip: if you don’t have freeze food scraps to accumulate enough eg. asparagus trimmings for broth

Pickles is another great way to preserve extra vegetables. Watermelon rinds, the white part can be used to make pickles or stir fry them (just remove the green skin). You can also make pickles with ginger and radish. Click here for Pickle Radish Recipe. 

If you buy beets, don’t throw away the peel, you can use them as natural food dyes. 

Leftover bread? Use steam bread to make croutons and add them to your soup or salad. This is really easy! Looking for soup or salad ideas? Check out Soup Recipe and Salad Recipes in YoRipe App. 

Do you find the oily odeur in the kitchen after heavy cooking unbearable? Boil citrus peel in a pot of water, the heated steam will refresh the kitchen and the odour would be gone in a few minutes. 

To celebrate Earth Day, YoRipe is also running #UseFoodScraps Contest (from now till April 30th). Share your hacks in transforming food scraps and win FairPrice vouchers! 

Author Prisia K (Instagram: @oysterg)