Cooking Water: 10 Ways to Reuse It

Did you know that you can ” recycle “the water from cooking pasta, rice or vegetables ? Save money Water is important and even the most insignificant gesture can do good to the environmentenvironment and the portfolios !

No matter why we save water, you should follow our tips on how to reuse cooking water ! You only need to put a bowl under the colander and keep everything in several bottles. From there, you will decide what to do with it… We can give you a hand, with this list of 10 ways to reuse it.

Of course, you know that, for example, the water from cooking rice (but be careful: prefer the integral or organic one to the classic white rice) is rich in starches and can be used as a hair mask. Traditionally it is used in Asian culture to get a softer and cleaner hair, without spending a penny.

Let’s discover how to use it.

1) Hair mask

After the first shampoo, Pour the rice cooking water directly on the hair, massage the skin gently, without omitting the strands. Let the water work for about 10-15 minutes: the starch left over from the cooking process has the power to make the hair softer, stronger and brighter.

Then, make the second shampoo and then rinse. If you feel that the rice cooking water makes the hair too heavy, use the rice rinse water: letting the rice soak for 10-15 minutes before cooking reduces the cooking time. If you take the soaking water, lighter than the cooking water, you can use it to rinse after shampooing.

2) Salt paste

Here is another creative way to “recycle” cooking water: use it as salt dough.

Salt dough is a modeling clay with which you can create extraordinary trinkets for the holidays, gifts, but above all it is a creative idea for spend time with the kids. The little ones will feel like they are playing with a type of monkey and will have fun creating and coloring animals and objects themselves. The ingredients are basic: 100 grams of flour, 10 ml of seed or olive oil, 60 ml of salted cooking water.

Mix everything together to get a very compact dough: then you have to bake it in the oven at 130° for about 4 ½ hours; let it cool down and then finally… release your fantasy !

3) Regenerating effect

If you feel your feet are tired and heavy in the evening, there is nothing better than a shampoo relaxing foot bath. To get it, pasta cooking water (and not only) is really perfect. This is because the starches and minerals in the cooking water have a regenerating and beneficial effect on the skin.

To make it even more pleasant, you can add a few drops of essential oil of lavender.

For a more refreshing effect, you should add a few drops of eucalyptus oil. No swelling !

4) Extend the condiments

Everyone can easily be “mistaken” about the density of the water homemade sauce. The most common case is pesto, which in the “home” version can often be badly made as far as consistency is concerned, but this can happen with all home-made sauces. Adding a little bit of cooking water (1/2 cup of 350 g sauce) can help to find the right consistency.

But not only that, ready-made sauces can also be used in this way. Especially those that need to be heated before eating.

5) The broth

The cooking liquid of pasta, barley, rice is nothing else than water and salt: therefore, it can become without any problem the base of a excellent broth. To prepare it, you can enrich the already salted cooking water with aromatic herbs, vegetables or tortellini and you will obtain a delicious broth. In the same way, you can use it to prepare soups.

6) Washing dishes

Sometimes the solution to save money at home is at hand and we do not realize it. Use the still warm water you cooked the pasta with for clean dirty pots and pans. It will be a real saving ! Although it may look “dirty”, it is not, and if you rinse with tap water, it can be used to wash cups, cutlery and plates in minutes.

7) Pasta

Use it as an ingredient to prepare bread, pizza, focaccia, salted cakes, but don’t forget that the water is already salted.

8) Watering plants

Use the water you used to cook pasta, rice or vegetables to water plants, flowers or the vegetable garden. Obviously the water must be cold and NOT salty.

9) Soaking vegetables

Only the water from cooking rice and vegetables can be used to soak vegetables such as lentils, beans, peas and chickpeas.

10) Steaming

“Recycle” water for other cooking, especially for those steaming, such as vegetables.

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