Turns out that the outsides of fruits and vegetables are pretty nutritious. Anti-oxidant phytochemicals concentrate at the surface to repel would-be attackers. This can be to a consumer’s benefit if we actually consume the skins and peels of said veggies. (It goes without saying that I recommend ORGANIC produce ONLY, and wash it well.) So onion and garlic skins are quite nutritious – this was news to me – but they are a bit weird and unpleasant to eat. You can simply toss them into your veggie stock pot to add their antioxidants to your soup stock, or crush them into a big tea ball/tie them in some muslin and throw them into soups or stews for easy retrieval. Since I use red onions mostly, this makes for quite a vibrantly colored stock. Woo hoo!
I keep a ziplock in my freezer where I toss all my veggie ends and once it is full, throw the whole thing into my crock pot for a while to make veggie stock. Throwing onion and garlic skins in there instead of the compost is simple. once the stock is made, then everything goes in to the compost anyway, but I get to consume the bionutrients in the stock.