How To Eat Your Compost BEFORE It’s Compost! Becoming A Food Waste Ninja…

by Texas Homesteader ~ 

Have you ever thought about eating your compost to eliminate food waste?

Stay with me now, I’m not suggesting that you rifle through the compost heap and snack on its contents. Come see ways I’ve saved food previously destined for the compost pile. 

Can you actually EAT your compost? Stay with me now, I'm not saying you should eat the contents of your compost bucket. But there's LOTS of food you can make with scraps you'd previously just toss in the composter. Come see my favorite tips. #TexasHomesteader

How To Reduce Food Waste: Going Further

Food waste – we all hate it. We work diligently to make sure none of that food we’ve paid our hard-earned money for is ever wasted.

We all try not to waste food. We’ll make sure leftovers are eaten before they go bad, and we meal plan to use the food we’ve purchased.

But are we doing all we can to eliminate wasted food? Maybe…  But maybe not! 

Today I’m talking about food previously destined for the compost heap – BEFORE it gets there.

Why, you ask? Well I’ll tell ya. Surprisingly enough there are often great honest-to-goodness food uses for those scraps that you may or may not have even thought of.

I’ll share a few of my favorites below.

Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

Saving & Cooking With Broccoli Stems

There’s more to broccoli than just the florets. You can eat the stem too instead of tossing it in the compost.

A fresh head of broccoli purchased without the single-use plastic and styrofoam trash. #TexasHomesteader

After the florets are trimmed and steamed for our supper, I often trim the stalk too. I’ll trim the tough outer skin and chop much of the stem (except for the most fibrous tougher sections) into smaller pieces.

Then I freeze them for use in my next Chicken Fried Rice stir fry. 

Chicken Fried Rice uses cold leftover rice to make supper fast! #TexasHomesteader

The small broccoli stem pieces, having been previously frozen, are softer than fresh & cook up quite nicely in my stir fry.

They add color and nutrition too!

Dehydrating Onion Trimmings

Many people store veggie trimmings in a freezer bag until it’s full enough to make veggie stock. 

But I like to dehydrate many of my vegetable trimmings for homemade seasonings.

I’ve found a way to use those previously-wasted parts – the tough neck & stem parts of an onion. 

Fresh onions from the garden being cleaned and ready for storage. #TexasHomesteader

I separate the tough onion parts from the paper skin. Then I chop those onion trimmings deemed too tough to cook with & dehydrate them instead.

After the onion pieces are dry I use my coffee grinder to grind them into onion powder. 

I use whatever onions I have – red, yellow or white. But I’ve easily saved those savory onion sections that were previously deemed too tough to eat, destined for the compost. And by doing so I also replaced an item I used to have to buy.

Now that’s a two-fer win, y’all!

Onion trimmings dehydrated and ground to powder. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

Dehydrating Vegetable Scraps For Seasoning

I used to buy jars of spicy jalapeno seasoning. But now I make my own with jalapeno scraps.

I dry and powder seeds & ribs from spicy jalapenos and other savory veggie trimmings too.

They’re dehydrated & ground for seasoning our food. I have a small jar for powdered jalapeno, bell pepper, etc. And I use them often in my cooking to season our food on the cheap.

Preserving Fresh Produce Before It Goes Bad

How about making sure that fresh produce never reaches compost-worthy status in the first place? 

For instance, I sometimes buy a single bunch of celery for a specific dish. But although I use celery in other dishes, RancherMan’s not a fan of just noshing on fresh celery by itself.

If I can't use all the fresh celery in time, I dehydrate it for use later. #TexasHomesteader

So even though I try to keep it from going to waste, I look at the rest of that celery & wonder if I’ll ever use it all.

(spoiler alert – the answer is always NO!)

So after I use the fresh celery for my recipe I’ll often dehydrate the rest, both stalks and leaves. 

Dehydrate celery to to eliminate food waste. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

The leaves are crushed and added to my crushed celery spice jar. The chopped ribs are dehydrated and placed in a glass jar in the pantry.

It’s easy to add dehydrated celery to a simmering soup. It’ll rehydrate right there in the stockpot!

I dehydrate chopped celery and store it in a small glass jar to use in the future. #TexasHomesteader

But once again I’ve easily turned produce I knew I wouldn’t be able to use into a product I used to have to buy. SCORE!

Re-growing Celery & Onions From Scraps

Don’t toss that celery or onion base in the compost!

Those base sections can be placed in water until they grow a few roots and then transplanted. More food growing for FREE!

Regrow celery to to eliminate food waste. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

I’ve used this same trick for green onions too, snipping off the fresh onion regrowth from my kitchen windowsill and adding it to my recipe right then. 

Dehydrating Excess Fresh Herbs

Small amounts of fresh herbs can be saved for later too.

Sometimes I harvest a stem of a fresh herb & strip & chop the teaspoon of fresh leaves for my recipe. But what about the fresh herb on the rest of that stem?

Drying herbs to to eliminate food waste. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

I’ll strip, dry and crush the remaining leaves. I add them to the seasoning jar I have in my kitchen spice drawer for each herb. Rosemary, basil, sage, thyme – nothing goes to waste!

NOTE: For those of you wanting to see my setup for drying full bunches of fresh herbs, you can see my Herb-Drying Setup Here.

My herb-drying setup using no additional energy to dry fresh herbs. #TexasHomesteaderI love it because it preserves full bunches at a time & it’s in a convenient location for me to use as I’m cooking.

Replanting Sprouted Produce In Your Garden

You bought that head of garlic but things got away from you. The next thing you know it’s gone too far. It’s sprouted.

Wait a minute…  sprouted

Hey, if it wants to live that badly why not PLANT it?

Planting sprouted garlic to to eliminate food waste. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

Yep, separating & planting each clove from that head of garlic will result in each clove growing a whole new head of garlic, each containing several cloves.

That gives you much more garlic than you started with!

I’ve done the same thing with a sprouted red potato, cutting it up into chunks (each including at least one eye) and planting them. Each piece grows into more potatoes.

If your potatoes sprout don't chunk them into your compost. You can plant them and harvest more edible potatoes. #TexasHomesteader

So if you see your produce sprouting, don’t chunk it into the compost. Think about planting the sprouting pieces to grow more fresh edible food for your family.

Finding FREE Bread Crumbs

RancherMan loves me to make his favorite soft-fluffy sandwich bread. And when I cut that bread into slices it sometimes makes a crumb mess on the counter.

But do I sweep those crumbs into the compost bucket? Nope, they’re my own version of homemade breadcrumbs!

Stale bread used for breadcrumbs to eliminate food waste. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

I keep a small glass jar in the cabinet to hold them until I need them, whether breading Potato Cakes or pork chops.

If needed I can even season them with those same dried herbs I didn’t toss in the compost earlier. See, it helps to save those small scraps of food!

Fruit Peels/Cores Turned Into Vinegar

Fruit peels & cores can be saved from the compost pile too.

That’s because they can easily be made into homemade vinegar. I’ve made both apple cider vinegar & pineapple vinegar from discarded cores & peels.

Apple or pineapple scraps to make vinegar. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

It’s a simple process and it’s eliminated food waste. Plus once again I’ve made for myself a product I used to have to buy.

Homemade Broth From Chicken Bones

After that delicious Homemade Chicken is enjoyed for supper and the carcass is picked clean of cooked meat, set the bones and trimmings aside. They have another very important use!

Place them in a slow cooker and turn that waste into the most delicious, healthy broth you ever tasted. 

Using bones to make bone broth to eliminate food waste. Can you eat your compost? Come see ways I've saved food previously destined for the compost pile for delicious use in my kitchen. #TexasHomesteader

Homemade broth is simple to make. #TexasHomesteader

Using this tip, yet another thing I used to buy that now I’ve provided for myself. I’m seeing a trend here, y’all!

And now that I have an Instant Pot, I can make Instant Pot Broth even faster & with true push-button convenience!

It really doesn’t get any easier than that, folks.

Eliminate food waste by taking the bones from that chicken you enjoyed for supper and making them into healthy homemade broth. #TexasHomesteaderWhichever method you use, making broth is incredibly easy.

And healthy.

And CHEAP!

So if you decide to try any of these food waste tips, be sure to make your own broth from meat trimmings & bones. In my opinion it gives you the most bang for your buck.

It's easy to use these tips to save money. #TexasHomesteader

So there ya go. The next time you’re headed for your compost bucket with the last scraps of food, take note.  Hummmm…  Can we EAT this?? 

Oftentimes the answer is ‘YES’!

~TxH~

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8 thoughts on “How To Eat Your Compost BEFORE It’s Compost! Becoming A Food Waste Ninja…

  1. Sissy

    This is one of the most useful posts I’ve read in a long time! I “reuse” almost all of my vegetable trimmings (I say almost all because cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower don’t work in this application) by saving them in gallon sized ziploc bags in the freezer. Once I have two bags full, I make vegetable stock to use as the base of quick soups and gravies.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I’m a huge fan of homemade broth, Sissy. And I’m with you on the cabbage, broccoli & cauliflower scraps. ~TxH~

      Reply
  2. MeanJean

    Ha! I finally found someone more frugal than myself!
    I have saved onion bits for soup base, but, never saved the onion/pepper bits for a spice mix– what a great idea!
    You do beat all Mrs.TexasHomesteader!

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      LOL MeanJean – It all started when I excitedly purchased some jalapeno powder years ago so I could add the spice to my own plate without subjecting others to that kind of heat. Then I wondered (as I often do) “I wonder if I can make that myself??” Several days later as I was de-seeding jalapenos to bring down the heat level for company at a dinner party, the light bulb came on. Yep, I use that jalapeno powder all the time in many different dishes. And I have a spice jar that’s a mixture of many savory dehydrated veggies all powdered together – bell pepper and some of the onion along with various herbs. It’s my all-in-one seasoning & I like to use it with soups & such. Yep, I’ve been eating my compost for years! LOL ~TxH~

      Reply
  3. candace

    A couple of thoughts –
    I’ve never had great luck here in Oregon growing garlic heads from those little teensy annoying garlic cloves or the cloves that have sprouted but I do plant them and often just trim some of the sprouts for whatever I’m cooking and they keep on sprouting, I also toss them into the bag in the freezer that is destined to become vegetable broth.
    I do put bones in the compost, after boiling the daylights out of them they are very soft and quite free of any meat product so in they go. I never see them in the finished compost. I also sometimes toss them into the fireplace and then they still end up on the veg or flower garden. Crab and shrimp shells (I DO live near the Oregon Coast) go right into the compost. If you’ve ever seen a field that has had shrimp shells (Kind of stinky for awhile) spread on it you are missing something,

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I love all your tips Candace, thanks for sharing! And you’re right, those bones are often crumbly after their broth-making cooking so I should totally toss them into the composter too. Especially since I have a tumbler so there’s no opportunity for wildlife to come scratching around for it. ~TxH~

      Reply
  4. Patti

    When I first saw the message it said “How to eat your compost” you had me worried. I thought I was going to have to set up a go fund me page, that you guys were starving and resorting to……… 😉 I feel so much better after ready the full article and as usual it’s GREAT! Now I can sit down and enjoy my morning coffee knowing everything is honky dorey.!!!!

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      LOL Patti! I must admit I was after an eyebrow-raising reaction to the title. But let me assure you (although we’re eating plenty of our pre-compost food these days in the form of onion powder, broth and much more) everything is definitely hunky dorey at the Homestead! XOX ~TxH~

      Reply

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