You may not realize this, but a lot of the produce you buy at the grocery store can be regrown at home for and endless supply of fresh vegetables. Who doesn’t want to save money on groceries with fewer trips to the store? In this article, we’ll walk you through some of the easiest kitchen scraps to regrow.
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These days we’re all trying to stretch our grocery budgets. So why throw away the leftovers from your produce? Sure composting is great, but free food is even better! Some of these veggies will last a lifetime, if properly cared for, with a very small upfront cost.
Green Onions
These are my favorite veggies to regrow! About four years ago, we planted a small container full of leftover, store-bought green onions. They were still going strong when we moved away and had to leave them behind. Time to start over!
You can keep these in a glass on your windowsill – so long as you refresh the water regularly – but they will do better if planted in dirt. Either separate the individual onions and plant them outside in your garden or give them a new container home on your kitchen windowsill.
Lettuce
Though lettuce won’t last forever – because it won’t grow new roots – you can always get another round of leaves from the spent ends. I insert a few toothpicks to keep it at the top of the waterline & avoid slime. Place it in a sunny windowsill and watch it grow!
Ginger
Our ginger has been sitting around long enough that it started to grow on the shelf, all by itself! So I broke off this little node with visible growth and placed it on a wet paper towel. After a few days of keeping it moist, those little root nodes started to form on the bottom. This little guy will be planted in the garden soon to start our own endless supply of ginger.
Beans
Sprouting beans always reminds me of the science projects we used to do in elementary school. You can use any type of dry bean, though they are less likely to sprout the longer they’ve been in storage.
Keep them in a very damp paper towel for a few days and you’ll see them begin to sprout. Once they’ve got a little bit of root growth, plant them in the garden for your own supply of beans!
Onions
Onions can also be sprouted by placing them on a very wet paper towel for about a week. They take a little longer to start growing, but they are generally a plant that always takes a long time to grow.
Once you’ve got root and leaf growth, cut the onion to divide each new planting. One onion will almost always grow multiple shoots. In this case, I would probably cut it into three sections, as each one of those growth nodes will become its own onion. Be sure that each cut section still has roots attached.
Plant them in the garden and in a few months, you’ll have homegrown onions. Be sure to keep the cut ends of THOSE onions, and do the process all over again for an endless supply!
Potatoes
Chitting potatoes is a fancy term for sprouting them. Potatoes don’t require water to begin growing. In fact, you may have some in your pantry that are already halfway there.
Because each potato can be divided into multiple plants, one bag gives you an endless supply. Learn more about the chitting process in our video below…
In closing, I hope you take advantage of your store-bought produce and grow yourself some free food at home. Now, more than ever, we’re looking for sustainable living options. This is a great starting point for your summer garden!
For more gardening ideas, check out these articles & videos:
- Insanely Fast Growing Vegetables to Start Today
- Top 25 Easy Plants for Beginner Gardeners
- No-Space Gardening: Growing Sprouts at Home
What kind of kitchen scraps have you regrown at home? Send us an email or leave a comment below! You can also let us know on our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter pages.
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