How to Turn Kitchen Scraps Into a Vegetable or Chicken Stock in 7 Easy Steps

If you’re anything like me, you are probably constantly looking for ways to save a dollar here, a few cents there. Whether it be only buying snacks on sale, or eating more seasonably, there are always new ways to save money at the supermarket. One way I’ve done this is by making my own chicken and vegetable stock out of scraps that I would normally throw in the trash.

With vegetables, I always save the ends of broccoli, the stems of cabbage, asparagus ends, carrot tops, etc. and add them to a ziplock bag in the freezer. Once the bag is full it’s ready to be made into a vegetable stock.

At the supermarket I buy chicken that isn’t boneless, skinless, and perfectly packaged. This means going for the bone in chicken thighs or whole chickens. Yes, it’s extra work to break down the chicken at home and remove the bones, but then you can make chicken stock. Making chicken stock is so ridiculously easy and tastes so much better homemade than from a carton or can.

Not only do you know that fresh ingredients are going into the stock, you can also control the amount of salt that is added. Now I always have a jar or two of chicken or vegetable stock on hand for a quick meal.

Chicken Stock

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 5 minutesCook time:3 hours Total time:3 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ziplock bag chicken bones
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 2 stalk celery
• 10 peppercorns, whole
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

1. 
   

   Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roast chicken bones until browned, about 25-30 minutes.

2. 
   

   While the bones are roasting, cut all the vegetables.

3. 
   

   Heat up the chicken fat from the roasted bones in a pan. Sauté the vegetables until browned.

4. 
   

   Add the chicken bones.

5. 
   

   Add in the bay leaf and peppercorns, cover with cold water and simmer for 2-3 hours.

6. 
   

   Allow the stock to cool. Strain the stock with a sieve.

7. 
   

   Portion the stock into mason jars and store in the fridge or freezer.

   #SpoonTip: If you want to make sure to strain out all the impurities use a cheesecloth.

Vegetable stock

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 5 minutesCook time:3 hours Total time:3 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ziplock bag vegetable trimmings
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 2 stalk celery
• 10 peppercorns, whole
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

1. 
   

   Roughly chop the carrot, onion and celery.

2. 
   

   Add the oil to a stock pot and sauté the onion, carrot and celery until browned.

3. 
   

   Add in the frozen vegetable trimmings, peppercorns and bay leaf.

4. 
   

   Cover with cold water and simmer for 2-3 hours

5. 
   

   Allow the stock to cool. Strain the stock with a sieve.

6. 
   

   Portion the stock into mason jars and store in the fridge or freezer.

   #SpoonTip: If you want to make sure to strain out all the impurities use a cheesecloth.

• Broke