Two Minute Pickled Veg

This is such a brilliant cheat!!! I know most people wouldn't give tossing out pickle juice even a second thought, but for me it's always seemed such a terrible waste. Did you know that the average American family tosses away about $2,200 worth of food every year! That number seems just staggering to me considering most people say they're re finding it difficult just paying for all their monthly necessities.

Now I'm sure these studies aren't referring to pickle juice lol but in my books why toss it if you can use it. It brings to mind my theory that I call the Costco Mentality and I can be guilty of it myself. My theory with the Costco Mentality is that when we buy and have so much food on hand we tend to not only eat more than we need thus helping spur our obesity epidemic but we also tend to be more willing to throw out food that is still edible but might be coming close to its expiration date simply to make more room in our fridges for our monster Costco shop. Then, when we need to buy the few items we don't usually buy in bulk, like fruits and vegetables we start the same purging process all over again just so we can make space. It seems ludicrous I know, but  I've certainly done it before because I realize after my shop that I have absolutely no space left in my fridge. So this also begs the question...are we actually saving money buying in such large quantities or are we merely just wasting more food? Something to consider next time you buy in bulk, I certainly try to be more mindful of it now.

 Anyway I'll get off my soap box now lol. Back to the pickles. I tried this once as an experiment and it turned out so well I've been doing it ever since. I simply re-use the pickle juice to pickle other things!

Now keep in mind this is lazy pickling, not "real" pickling so whatever you pickle you'll have to store in the fridge. This isn't your grandmas pickling that can be stored in the pantry until you decide to use it.

Okay, here's what I do:

Fill your jar of leftover pickle juice with washed and trimmed green beans or spiral cut beets...I buy the ones already prepped at the grocery store. It really is as easy as that lol!!!!! I'll often eat them the next day but the flavour gets better the longer they sit. I've also been experimenting by adding a bit of  flavoured vinegar into the pickle juice, it adds a subtle back-ground flavour that takes your pickled veg to the next level.

These are delish added to salads or served on an appie plate.

Enjoy!