Kitchen Scraps Vegetable Stock

When you hear "kitchen scraps," you probably think, "trashcan." Not so fast! Vegetable stock is actually effortless to make using food scraps and saves you money! It also adds more flavor and nutrients to your food. What more could you ask for?

Just add vegetable scraps that you usually throw away (like onion, carrot, potato peels, celery ends, herbs that are about to go bad, etc.) to a one-gallon reusable bag or container. Keep that bag in the freezer until it's full of your vegetable scraps. Then simmer over low heat--topped with the lid--in a pot with 5 cups of water. Do this for a few hours. You can cook it in a crockpot too. After a few hours, drain the water through a strainer. You should have about 6 cups of colorful vegetable stock. If an hour or so of the cooking is done without the lid, the stock will concentrate down to less than 6 cups and you can just add water to it later if you want. This recipe has a lot of leeway!

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Kitchen Scraps Vegetable Stock

Yield: 6 cups of stock

Author: Judes Draughon

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 4 HourTotal time: 4 H & 15 M

When you hear "kitchen scraps," you probably think, "trashcan." Not so fast! Vegetable stock is actually effortless to make using food scraps and saves you money! It also adds more flavor and nutrients to your food. What more could you ask for?Just add vegetable scraps that you usually throw away (like onion, carrot, potato peels, celery ends, herbs that are about to go bad, etc.) to a one-gallon reusable bag or container. Keep that bag in the freezer until it's full of your vegetable scraps. Then simmer over low heat--topped with the lid--in a pot with 5 cups of water. Do this for a few hours. You can cook it in a crockpot too. After a few hours, drain the water through a strainer. You should have about 6 cups of colorful vegetable stock. If an hour or so of the cooking is done without the lid, the stock will concentrate down to less than 6 cups and you can just add water to it later if you want. This recipe has a lot of leeway!

Ingredients

• 1 gallon ziplock bag or container of vegetable and herb scraps
• 5 cups water

Instructions

1. Fill a gallon ziplock bag or gallon container with vegetable scraps (like onion, carrot and potato peels, celery ends, vegetables, herbs that are about to go bad etc.). Keep in the freezer until it's full and you're ready to make stock.
2. Pour frozen vegetable scraps in a large pot and add 5 cups of water to the pan. Cover and simmer over low heat for a few hours (2 - 4 hours). You can also cook in a crockpot for a half a day on low or shorter on high.
3. This recipe yields about 6 cups if you cook the vegetables with the lid on the whole time on simmer. Cook without a lid for some of the cooking time to get a more concentrated stock and less volume.
4. Drain the cooked stock mix through a strainer into a bowl. Discard the leftover vegetable sludge and use the stock to make whole grains, soups, and any recipe that calls for stock or broth. Add salt to taste.