6 Foods You Can Buy Once and Regrow Forever

Have you ever tried regrowing your foods? Regrowing foods and herbs/spices is a fun activity to keep you away from a screen, where you can save food that might otherwise be thrown away and save money at the same time! The best part? It’s highly rewarding to see (and eat) the results!

You can reap the potential benefits of a healthy diet when some of these foods are a constant in your daily diet. It is widely recommended by several sources to purchase organic produce for regrowing, as a lot of produce is sprayed with ‘anti sprout’ chemicals to delay the sprouting process, making it more difficult to regrow effectively.

Here are some foods and herbs you can continue to regrow and some tips to help you along the way:

1. Romaine Lettuce

Step 1: Purchase your lettuce, and cut the leaves at around 1 inch from the bottom.
Step 2:  Place the stump in a bowl with around 1/2 an inch of water, change this water every 1 to 2 days.
Step 3: Place the bowl on your windowsill.
Step 4: You will start to see new leaves as quickly as in 2 weeks - it won’t grow into a full head of lettuce, but enough leaves for a side salad or sandwich!

2. Onions

Onions are amongst one of the easiest vegetables to regrow.

Step 1: Cut off the root end of the onion, leaving roughly 1/2 an inch of onion on the root.
Step 2: Leave the onion Botton to dry for up to 24 hours.
Step 3: Poke skewers or toothpicks into each side of the onion, resembling an ‘x’.
Step 4: Suspend your onion root over water while it roots for up to 4 days, ready for planting.
Step 5: When it grows small roots, plant the onion roots in a pot with soil and fill with more soil to cover the onion.
Step 6: Keep watering when necessary and your onions will grow! This can take anywhere from 90-120 days, so be patient!

3. Ginger

The wonder ingredient of our shots, Ginger, can be regrown with a lot of patience - it may take anything from 8 to 10 months to harvest a fully grown bulb.

Step 1: Purchase some organic ginger, Look for pieces with well developed growth buds. The buds look like little horns at the end of a piece or “fingers” of the ginger. These roots can be cut and sectioned at the buds and planted so that each will grow into an individual plan .
Step 2: Soak the root in warm water overnight prior to planting.
Step 3: In a shallow, wide plant pot, add well-draining potting soil.
Step 4: In the pot, place the ginger root with the bud pointing upwards, covering the bud with 1-2 inches more of soil. Water lightly.
Step 5: Place the spot in an area that stays warm, without being in direct sunlight
Step 6: Keep soil moist - after a few months, small pieces of ginger may be able to be harvested. Don’t forget to replace the soil every few months to encourage growth.

4. Spring Onions

The easiest vegetable to regrow with quick results!

Step 1: Trim the tops of the onions and place them in a glass of water, keeping the root end of the onion immersed in water, filled up to where the onions start to turn green.
Step 2: In a few days, you should see spring onion re-growing from the cut area. You can continue to re-cut these as they grow!
Step 3: Change the water every few days to make sure they keep growing and healthy.

5. Garlic Greens

What are garlic greens? Garlic greens are the shoots that emerge from a clove before the bulb forms - they taste similar to garlic chives, and resemble spring onions. Garlic greens can be added to your favourite dishes - from soups to pasta and stir-fries.

Step 1: Purchase a garlic bulb from a grocery store, remove one or more individual cloves with paper-like white skin attached.
Step 2: To sprout your cloves, wrap them in a damp paper towel and place them in a warm area. Cloves should begin to sprout after a couple of days.
Step 3: Place the sprouted clove in a small, clear container. Ensure that the pointed, sprouted end is facing upward.
Step 4: Fill a container with room temperature water. The water level should cover a little less than half of the garlic sprout.
Step 5: Place the container on a windowsill. Ensure that the location you choose gets eight to 12 hours of sunlight per day. If the tops of your sprouting garlic cloves start to wilt, they may be receiving too much light, and you should remove your container from the windowsill for one to two days.
Step 6: Changing the water when necessary - if the water turns brown and cloudy, refresh with clean, room temperature water.
Step 7: You should be able to harvest your garlic greens after a week! They will be ready to harvest once your shoots are between four to seven inches tall. When harvesting your garlic greens, snip off the top third of the shoot, as garlic greens are more bitter in taste near their base. Only harvest when you’re ready to eat!

6. Leeks

Regrowing leeks is similar to regrowing spring onions. The simple method is so handy to make the most out of your veggies.

Step 1: Purchase an organic leek.
Step 2: Leave 1-2 inches of the leek’s root ends and soak them root-first in a shallow container of lukewarm water.
Step 3: Place the container on a sunny windowsill, changing the water fairly frequently.
Step 4: Watch your leeks grow, you should see leeks start to regrow within a week!

Happy Growing!