One Reddit user has come up with an incredible tip they said makes everything taste better, without having to spend anything extra on food. And it’s easy to do at home
With the ever-increasing cost of food and other everyday essentials, many of us are keeping an eye out for quick and easy ways to rustle up some delicious meals while saving a bit of money. One Reddit user has come up with an incredible tip they say makes everything taste better, without spending any more money.
In the post, the user said they keep scraps left over from cooking to freeze into “soup cubes”, which they later add to meals to give them a bit of extra flavour. 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 said when they add one of the frozen cubes into a meal or ingredients such as soup, rice, vegetables, lentils, or a range of others, “suddenly it tastes like I put effort into it”.
“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.”
Users were amazed by the tip. One wrote: “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 replied: “Roasting the scraps is a great idea, never considered that with my frozen veggie scraps but I’m sure it adds lots of flavour!”
Someone else wrote: “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 said: “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 someone else said: “I save my cauliflower and broccoli ends in the freezer and make soup when I have enough.”