It’s easy and economical to make vegetable stock. Just save all vegetable trimmings left over from your cooking; keep them in plastic bags in the freezer until you have at least 8 cups.
Examples of vegetable trimmings to save:
- onion tops and skins
- potato peels
- beet or turnip greens and stems
- celery ends and tops
- carrot peels
- broccoli, spinach, and kale stems
- parsley stems
Once you have enough, combine them in a large pot with twice the volume of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, and then strain, pressing down on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.
To concentrate the flavor, you can also boil the stock down to half its original volume.
Measure cooled stock into freezer-safe containers (zip-top bags work well. Add about 4 cups per container, which is the amount of most store-bought broth boxes. Squeeze out any air, label with the date and amount, and freeze.
Photo credit: Vinicef / Thinkstock / iStock
