How to Regrow Fresh Produce

How to Regrow Fresh Produce

I love farmer’s markets and fresh vegetables, but I hate food waste.  During my market visits, I can definitely go overboard with fresh produce purchases.  I can easily lose track of what I brought home and by the time I get to cook or eat everything I bought, some of my veggies wilt or spoil.  After doing some research, I discovered that you can easily regrow fresh produce right in the comfort of your kitchen!  Even if you’re a black thumb, you can manage to regrow fresh vegetables for your family.  Be sure to check out these other gardening tips, too!

One of the easiest things to regrow in your kitchen are scallions, or green onions.  All you need is a glass or jar. Place your scallions inside and add water just to the roots.  Change the water when it gets cloudy or re-pot your scallions in soil.  The tops will continue to grow.  It’s an endless supply of green onions!  They’re cheap and make a great addition to a variety of dishes including stir-fries, tacos and salad toppings.

How to Regrow Fresh Produce

We have an outdoor garden and have planted kale and spinach in the past.  We don’t use pesticides so they got buggy.  I don’t like sharing my food with bugs (especially creepy-crawly ones) so I was happy to find that you can regrow lettuce indoors!  After you’re finished making nice, big salads, place the end of your lettuce in a shallow bowl of water.  After a few days, you’ll notice new growth sprouting out of the top.  Once the new growth starts, transplant your lettuce end into a pot of soil.  A new head of lettuce will continue to grow up and out of the old lettuce end!  The same can be done with cabbage.

How to Regrow Fresh Produce

It’s really quite amazing how many things can be regrown inside your house and transplanted outdoors during the Spring. Here are some of the other things you can easily regrow indoors right now:

GARLIC | Take a clove of garlic and plant it pointy-side up in soil  Have patience because a new, full bulb of garlic takes months to regrow.  However, garlic sprouts green shoots and those sprouts can be used just like scallions!  We currently have garlic growing in greenhouse (pictured below).

CELERY | Celery can be regrown using the same method as lettuce. Take the end of your stalk and stick it in a shallow bowl of water.  A new celery plant will sprout and the stalk can be transplanted in soil to continue growing.

AVOCADO | While your plant won’t bear fruit, you can regrow a great new houseplant from an avocado pit.  Suspend the pit in water with toothpicks.  It will root and can be transplanted later in soil.

PINEAPPLE | You can cut the leafy top off of a pineapple and, just like an avocado pit, suspend it in water with toothpicks. Apparently you can grow a new pineapple using this method.  It will just take 2-3 years to bear fruit.  In the meantime, you’ll have a pretty cool looking tropical plant!

GINGER | Cut a piece of ginger root and place it in soil where it will root and continue to grow.

POTATOES | Once your potatoes start to grow eyes, cut them into pieces (make sure your potato chunks have eyes.)  Suspend your potato chunks in water, cut side down, using toothpicks.  Your potatoes will root and sprout stems.  Once the roots reach about an inch, you can plant the potatoes in soil.

How to Regrow Fresh Produce

Not only does regrowing your produce promote a no-waste lifestyle, kids will love watching new vegetables grow from week-to-week!  If you are lucky enough to have a green thumb, you can even regrow tomatoes and peppers from seed.  Allow the seeds to dry out and plant them in soil.

Looking for other ways to save on produce? Check out this post on healthy eating on a budget. You’ll find seven simple ways to save on produce!

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