Are you tired of making trips to the grocery store almost every week? Do your groceries keep going bad before you’ve had the chance to use them? As a New Year’s resolution for 2022, consider adopting a DIY approach and making/ growing some items at home instead of buying them from a grocery store. This not only saves you money but is also a step towards living a sustainable lifestyle! For example, did you know that you could make yogurt at home instead of buying it in a container? You can take up several DIY projects at home by keeping track of your groceries and reassessing what you really need to buy from the store and what you can make at home. Here are some DIY projects that are cheap and sustainable, saving you a trip to the grocery store!
Make your own yogurt at home
Yogurt is a versatile dairy product that has numerous uses, whether you’re eating it as a healthy, tasty snack, adding it to smoothies or cooking it with curry; it is always nice to have your fridge stocked up with yogurt. Store bought yogurt is mostly packaged in plastic containers, which isn’t great for the environment. Store bought yogurt is also more expensive than the price for the same amount of milk (the main ingredient for making yogurt at home) so you can save money by making yogurt at home. Making your own yogurt is simple! This recipe from the “Serious Eats” blog goes into detail regarding the science behind yogurt production and also has a tried and tested recipe with all the Do’s and Don’ts for beginners. Give it a try!
Other products you can make using milk
Like yogurt, there are various other milk products you can make at home such as butter, cheese and sour cream which are also commonly used in the kitchen. You can look up beginner level recipes for these products online and experiment at home!
Grow your own herbs
Fresh herbs are a game changer in the kitchen. While it is convenient to use store-bought dried herbs, they do contain preservatives and are just not the same as using fresh herbs. Not to mention that once again, they are often packaged in plastic containers. One common problem with buying fresh herbs from the store is that you don’t always use the whole bunch up immediately, so you store them in the fridge but since the shelf life of these herbs isn’t very long, you end up having to throw them away at one point because they’ve gone bad. You buy more fresh herbs from the store the next time you go grocery shopping and the cycle repeats; frustrating sometimes, right? Try buying live herb plants from a store such as Walmart. You can buy cilantro, basil, mint, parsley, rosemary and many more herb plants! They are a one time investment and not too expensive either. All you need to do is water them and provide sufficient according to the instructions that come with them, and you can just snip small amounts of herbs off the plants whenever you need to use them. When you have an excess grown you can also dey them at home, without the preservatives. No more worrying about herbs going bad in the fridge!
Grow your own spring onions
Growing your vegetables can often be tricky depending on the type of vegetable. But spring onions are very beginner-friendly and be grown indoors easily! Just dip the roots in water and let the onions grow. All you need to do is change the water weekly and snip off the green parts when they grow long enough. They grow pretty fast so you’ll always have spring onions in stock!
These are just a few tips to get you started in creating a more sustainable kitchen at home. You replace many more items from your grocery list with homemade ones. Try looking up more homemade alternatives online and experiment around!
Written by Hanyia Ahmed, Class of 2022
Photo courtesy of Hanyia Ahmed
good article