Why Make Homemade stock?

- Nutritious, rich in vitamins and minerals, you can use it to boost any dish’s flavor and nutrition.

- Economical, saves money and packaging waste.

- Makes your food tastes MUCH better without coloring/ flavoring/ preservative agents in commercial stocks or soup bases. I use it to cook grains, soups, legumes and stews.

How To Make:

Making Homemade stocks is easy.

The Scrap bag is key-

I always keep a bag of veggie scraps in my freezer. I stick all the ends, peels, trimmings and not-so-nice-looking-but-totally-ok parts of onion, celery, carrot or any other vegetable that I am cooking in there. There is lots of flavor and nutrition in these, and they are perfect for making stock.

Basic Vegetable Stock

when it fills up I put it in a pot, cover it in water and bring to a boil. I simmer it for 30 min to an hour and then- its ready to go.

Basic Chicken Stock

There are many ways to make chicken stock.

Long Version-

You can start with boiling an entire chicken for an hour or so, taking it out, deboning it, then put the carcass back in, cover with water and add the contents of the frozen veggie scrap bag, add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to help the minerals come out of the bones and simmer for 6-24 hours.

Short Version-

take the bones from a cooked chicken, or leftover bones, and put them in a pot with the veggie scraps. often I will have a pot of stock simmering and I throw in the scraps as I go when preparing a veggie dish or stir fry. Add a tablespoon or so of apple cider vinegar and simmer for 6-24 hours.

Basic Beef/Buffalo Stock

This is similar to making chicken stock.

Take either a bone, shank or any leftover beef or bison bones, especially marrow bones. Boil the bones in a pot of water for 1-3 hours with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Add the veggie scraps and simmer for another 2-12 hours. This makes a rich and nutritious stock.

Stock will keep well in fridge for 4-5 days. you can also freeze it in quart jars and defrost as necessary.

Happy cooking!