There are some ingredients that I cook with so often that I can never buy too many, and most of them are fresh. Onions, garlic, and fresh herbs are essential in many dishes and can be inexpensive, but when you use them daily, they add up.
Some foods are easy to re-grow at home from leftovers, and some of them can even be grown right on your kitchen counter. Here are 10 vegetables and plants that you can buy once and grow again forever.
1. She
When garlic begins to sprout, the little green shoots are too bitter to cook. Instead of throwing away the sprouted cloves, you can put them in a glass with some water and grow some garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a much milder flavor than garlic cloves and are excellent in salads, greens, and as a garnish.
2. Carrot heads
The ends of carrots that you normally cut off and discard will develop carrot heads if you put them in a dish with a little water. Place the plate in front of a well-lit window and you’ll have carrot tops to use as a garnish or in a salad.
3. Basil
Put a few basil stems in 10 cm of water and place them in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 5cm long, you can plant them in pots to grow a whole basil plant.
4. Chalotes
In just five days you can regrow an entire shallot (or green onion) from leftovers. Leave about 2-3 cm of stems and place them in a small glass with a little water. In a few days you will have new shallots.
5. romaine lettuce
If you have a leaf of romaine lettuce still intact, place the stump in a bowl with about 1 cm of water and place it on a windowsill. You will start to see new leaves in about two weeks and they will fully grow back in 3 to 4 weeks.
6. Chinese cabbage
Like romaine lettuce, bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In a week or two, you can transplant it into a pot of soil and grow a full cabbage.
7. onions
Plant the root end of an onion in a pot or directly into the soil outdoors to regrow it. You can harvest early and get fresh chives or wait until the bulb is fully developed.
8. ginger
Like onions, ginger can be planted in the ground to regrow, but the process is much longer. It can take a few months to sprout and you should be able to harvest a mature bulb in 8 to 10 months.
9. Mushrooms
Plant mushroom stems in soil with compost or used coffee grounds and keep them in a humid environment, preferably where it is cool at night. They can be difficult to grow, and within a few days the stems will begin to produce new shoots or rot.
10. cilantro
Like basil, cilantro can produce roots if the stems are placed in a glass of water. Once the roots are long enough, plant them in a pot only. In a few weeks new branches will have sprouted, and in a few months you will have a whole plant.