After reading My Vintage Kitchen‘s post Tutorial: Make Your Own Veggie Broth in the Crock-Pot I had an apifany! For all these years I have been throwing out all my veggy scraps when I could have been savings them, recycling them, and making free stuff out of them. FREE? OH I love free!! It only took me a week to have a zip bag full of veggy scraps in my freezer. You name it I had it in the bag.. a ton of garlic and onion skins and some pieces. Asparagus and bell pepper pieces, oh yeah and green onion ends too. The bag was just full of veggy “trash!” A few nights ago we had a roasted chicken for dinner, and I knew it was time to make my chicken broth.
I had a large chicken so I knew it was never going to fit in my crockpot.I ended up cooking my broth in a large stock pot instead. I decided to add some flavor by sauteing the vegetables pieces first. The pot looked like something I would normally be putting down the garbage disposal.
Once they were a nice dark color I added the chicken and filled the pot with water leaving about 2 inches from the top of the pot.
I brought the water to a boil, then dropped my temperature down to medium/low. I put the lid on the pot and let it simmer for around 8 hours, then it was ready.
I ended up with 28 cups of broth that I split up into 14 bags (2 cups each) that are now residing in my freezer. That’s 14 cans of broth for free!! I only had to pay for the freezer bags which cost $1.99
I figure I saved a minium of $12.
Please visit My Vintage Kitchen you will be so happy you did. I know I am!!
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Hey, Nicole! Thanks so much for the shout out! I usually throw a handful or two of the veggie scraps into my chicken stock mixture but never thought to saute it first to draw out the flavors! Great idea! I made some veggie stock today in the crock-pot. I have so much in the freezer that I need to start giving it away!
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Heard about you from Alison. Great post, thanks for sharing.
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Hi Lisa,Welcome to Colie’s Kitchen. I hope you are able to have some valuable information here!! If you have any recipe you would like to contribute please let me know. My virtual recipe book is also located at http://www.coliesrecipes.info
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I love home made chicken stock. I don't saute mine, either, but I do use my crockpot and leave it going for 24 hours, so those veggies and chicken really give their all! I wrote my method out here: http://thesavedquarter.com/2010/01/19/chicken-stock/Some of the tips could overlap to make the best stock evah!
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