Vegetable and various other cooking stocks are a great thing to have on hand... but they are expensive!!
I am one of those people who watches prices, I know when something has been raised and for the most part I know what is cheaper and where. I find that stock is one of those super expensive items that I use quickly when I have it, but even at Target (where I find that pantry items are cheaper) it can be almost a couple of dollars per can!
Ridiculous!!
You know what is even more ridiculous... how EASY it is to make! Seriously- you don't even need to buy anything extra!
It is a great use up of things that you would normally throw away.
Vegetable Stock: At the end of the week I clean out the fridge and anything on it's last day goes into the stock pot; mushrooms, carrots, onions, bell pepper, zuchini, anything! I will also save things like the stalks from my broccoli or (if you have a fine strainer) onion skins and other veggie skins. Things like that I will throw in a bag in the freezer and by the end of the week whatever is in there, goes into the stock pot!
Chicken, Beef or Fish Stock: For these you just save the bones or shells and whatnot that you would normally just throw away. Then you add a couple of veggies, or scraps from your freezer bag and there you go!
Once you have your ingredients, you toss them in the stock pot and fill it up with water and let it go! I bring mine to a boil and then let it simmer for a half hour or so. I just go about my business and check it every so often until it is the color I want. I personally don't salt it because I figure I will do that when I am cooking, but that is up to you. The great part about this is, not only are you saving money, but you are controlling what goes into and there are no preservatives and any other unknown ingredients.
Now for storage... I freeze mine, it is just easier and last longer for me that way. I put them in freezer bags and put what they are and the date. Normally I lay them flat to freeze so they are all neat and tidy but on this day I was having one of those Murphy's Law kind of days so I decided not to take a chance and put them all in a bowl to freeze and then put them in the freezer on their own.
When I need to use them, I just take the block out of the bag and put it in a pot with some water and warm it up, super easy and saves me a BUNCH of money each month.
Do you have any stock making tips to share?!!?
5 comments:
Thank you for the reminder that a few simple steps acan save a lot of $$$$ in the long run!
oh yes, chicken, beef, vegetable and even turkey stock are favorites here. I can them sometimes, just because I am always worried about loosing my freezer stash in a power loss. I lost a lot of breast milk one year like that and won't do it again :)
Here's the link to how to can meat broth. You do need a pressure canner, but you could probably find amongst your group of friends or family or elderly church congregation. For vegetable broth, it depends on what veges you are putting in if you can just use a hot water bath (which could be done in a large stock pot). http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/2010/09/canning-broth.html
I'll consult a canning book and let you know what veges would be ok in a hot water bath.
Canning is fun and addicting. Here are some other easy things to can: http://mamabeefromthehive.blogspot.com/p/canning.html
This is SUCH a great idea!? I always hate throwing out anything that COULD be used somehow and this is an quick, easy project that yields a HUGE benefit! Thanks for posting!
I checked again on the vegetables used in canning. Tomatoes are the only vegetable that you can can using the water bath method. All other vegetables are too low acid and they and their juice must be canned by a pressure caner. It's not hard, it just requires extra equipment.
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