Thrifty air fryer cook reveals how she never wastes food scraps

A thrifty cook is sharing her clever food hacks, including turning broccoli stems into chips and carrot peelings into crisps.

Abi Thompson, 39, from Kent, regularly shares recipes, tips and tricks on TikTok, where she has more than 380,000 followers.

The associate director loves coming up with dishes that are not only cost-effective but also more sustainable, by using ingredients that may otherwise end up in the bin.

Some of her most popular hacks include using an air fryer to create mouth-watering meals – with one clip alone racking up eight million views.

‘My mum and dad bought an air fryer a couple of years ago and always banged on about how good it was and then finally I bought one,’ Abi said. 

‘To be honest, thought it would be used a couple of times and put in the cupboard, like every other gadget I’ve bought over the years.

‘But it’s been fab and I actually love cooking in it.

‘It’s super convenient, especially as I have super long days and the last thing I want to be doing is spending extra time cooking.

‘Plus they (the leftover ingredients) cost £0, as you probably would’ve thrown these bits away.

TURN POTATO PEELS INTO CRISPS

One of Abi’s tips includes using potato peelings to make crisps, with her clip receiving over 363,000 views and hundreds of comments from stunned viewers.

In the video, she can be seen peeling potatoes, adding the peels to a bowl and washing them in cold water.

She then dries these with kitchen paper and recommends drying them off as much as possible to get them really crunchy.

She then covers them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and chucking them in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 190 degrees.

In the video, she can be seen peeling potatoes, adding the peels to a bowl and washing them in cold water

She then covers them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and chucking them in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 190 degrees

Zed commented: ‘This might be the thing that makes me buy an air fryer.’

Someone else said: ‘Good idea!’

Another person added: ‘So we eating trash?’, to which Abi replied: ‘Trash tastes good.’

Another user said: ‘I may have to start peeling my taters cuz omg those look so good.’

‘Just done this and they were amazing,’ added someone else.

‘What!? Great idea,’ agreed Debbie.

‘We are not throwing anything in the bin in 2023!’ said another grateful user.

Abi then showed her followers how delicious potato skins – which many chuck away – are when they are cooked

Users were very impressed with Abi’s video, with one person even putting it to the test themselves

MAKE CHIPS FROM BROCCOLI STEMS

Abi also made a video on how to turn your leftover broccoli stalks into fries, captioning the post: ‘Why hadn’t I thought of this before! Broccoli fries?!? No waste which is great.’

The clip has gathered 1.2 million views, showing Abi chopping the head of the broccoli off before getting to work on the stems, cutting off any hard edges and peeling them smooth.

Then she slices the stalks into chip size pieces, adds them to a bowl and adds oil, garlic granules, salt and pepper, before popping them in the air fryer for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, and serving with a bowl of tzatziki.

Abi chopped the head of the broccoli off before getting to work on the stems, cutting off any hard edges and peeling them smooth before adding oil to them

She then popped them in the air fryer for 15 minutes at 200 degrees to crisp them up and turn them into chips

Danielle said: ‘Trying these right now!’

Marcel added: ‘Brilliant idea.’

Naomi wrote: ‘No because I LOVE broccoli. Gotta try this.’

‘Well this is a game changer!!!!,’ said El.

‘This is genius!’ added Rhonda.

Abi the served the yummy looking broccoli fries with some tzatziki – food which would have otherwise been chucked in the bin

Users loved Abi’s idea to turn broccoli stems into chips, with one labelling it ‘a game changer’

WHAT TO DO WITH THE ROAST LEFTOVERS

Similarly to the potato peel hack, the food influencer shared a video of what to do with leftover carrot and parsnip peels, especially after a big roast dinner.

She captioned the clip: ‘Put those peelings to good use! If you like veg, you’ll love these air fryer carrot and parsnip crisps.’

In the video, Abi grabs her leftover peelings and adds them to a bowl with some sunflower oil, before simply putting them in her air fryer tray for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.

The food influencer shared a video of what to do with leftover carrot and parsnip peels, especially after a big roast dinner

Abi scooped up her peelings and popped them in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 200 degrees

She captioned the clip: ‘Put those peelings to good use! If you like veg, you’ll love these air fryer carrot and parsnip crisps’ 

TikTok users took to the comments to praise Abi for her hack, with one person saying they would try this with their peelings

When taken out, the carrot and parsnip peels look nice and crispy.

Lila said: ‘Thinking to add these to a salad.’

Matilda added: ‘Genius.’

Jack wrote: ‘Woohoo great watch.’

‘Going to do this today with roast peelings,’ added Rab.