With food prices continuing to rise alongside other household essentials, Britons are constantly searching for quick and straightforward methods to prepare tasty meals whilst keeping costs down. A Reddit user has shared an ingenious tip they claim enhances the flavour of everything, without any additional expense.
In the post, the user explained they preserve scraps by freezing them into “soup cubes”, which are subsequently added to dishes for enhanced taste. In the post they said: “Now everything I cook tastes way better for basically £0.” They wrote: “I cook cheap, like whatever’s on sale plus whatever’s dying in the fridge.
“Until recently I threw away every vegetable scrap and dumped my pasta/bean water straight down the drain. One day I saw someone mention freezing stock in muffin tins and gave it a go.
“I grabbed a big freezer bag, tossed in every veggie scrap for a week (onion ends, celery leaves, carrot peels, mushroom stems, herb stems… nothing fancy), and I also saved the starchy water from boiling pasta and beans. When the bag got full, I dumped everything in a pot, covered with water, added a tiny bit of salt, a peppercorn or two, and simmered it for like an hour. Strained it, poured the liquid into a muffin tin, froze it overnight, popped the little ‘pucks’ out, and threw them in a bag.”
They explained that when they add one of the frozen cubes to a meal or ingredients such as soup, rice, vegetables, lentils, or various others, “suddenly it tastes like I put effort into it”, reports the Mirror.
“Even instant noodles taste deeper instead of salty water,” they said. “The best part is it costs basically nothing because it’s literally stuff I used to throw away. Weirdest thing I’ve tossed in that tasted amazing: a leftover corn cob and some sad parsley stems. Shockingly good.
“Anyway, if you’ve got scraps, don’t toss them. Freeze them. Boil them. Freeze the liquid. Use it in everything, handier than I expected to be honest.”
Fellow users were impressed by the suggestion. One commented: “I have a freezer bag for protein (bones/fat/skin) and one for veggie scraps. When they’re full, I thaw and then roast everything, make stock that I cook wayyyyyy down and then freeze them in silicone cupcake moulds.
“Then I pop them out and save them. They’re better than bouillon cubes, a side product, I make some without salt or onions for my dogs as treats, and with a bit of practice, I’ve gotten pretty good at butchering bone in meat cuts that are usually cheaper.”
Another responded: “Roasting the scraps is a great idea, never considered that with my frozen veggie scraps but I’m sure it adds lots of flavour!”.
A third person added: “I’ve heard of doing this, but I never bothered. You’ve convinced me to bother. I’m starting a freezer scraps bag tonight.
“I never would have thought of saving pasta water. Definitely going to give that a try and see how that works.”
Another commented: “I usually compost all of those things, but this looks like a great way to get a little extra out of them before composting. Thanks!” And another person added: “I save my cauliflower and broccoli ends in the freezer and make soup when I have enough.”