Homemade Vegetable Broth

Let me save you $2.50 every time you go to the grocery store. Just let me do it.

By making your own vegetable broth, you are eliminating what you can’t control: the ingredients in shelf stable, store bought stock.  You are also saving yourself money to put back into your grocery budget and reducing waste.

All you will need is:
1 gallon size zip-top bag
freezer
stock pot
salt and pepper
bay leaves
large heat resistant bowl
strainer
pitcher with lid

While you are cooking all your wonderful and fresh veggies, get out your “stock bag” (the gallon size zip top bag). Chop, chop, chop away but instead of throwing away that base of the celery stalk or the top of that onion or carrot, toss it into your stock bag. ANYTHING can go in here, as long as it is 1) a vegetable that isn’t starchy 2) isn’t rotten and 3) is clean enough to eat (no dirt!). This would be carrots, onions, garlic, celery, bell peppers, mushroom stems, etc. Once you are done chopping everything up, toss the stock bag into your freezer.

Now, every time you cook you will pull this bag out and toss all of your vegetable ends into it. Look at all that waste you just eliminated!

Once your bag gets full, bring out the biggest stock pot you have. Dump the bag (or half the bag if you don’t need a full batch) straight from the freezer into the pot. Fill to the top of the veggies with water. Add in salt, peppercorns or ground pepper, bay leaves or any other herbs you would like. We just stick to the basic salt, pepper, bay leaves.

Put this on the stove and cover. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for an hour and a half. Let cool for 20-30 minutes.

Place your strainer over your heat resistant bowl and carefully pour out the contents of the stock pot. Slowly pull the strainer away from the bowl and discard the boiled vegetables. You may have some floaters in your bowl. You can either fish them out with your hand or use a strainer with smaller holes when you pour the stock into your pitcher.

Please do this over your sink. Because, if you’re like me, you will try to do this on the counter and then get it everywhere. Pour the stock that’s in the bowl into the pitcher. Let the stock cool before you put it in your fridge.

Store in your refrigerated airtight pitcher for up to a week.