Making Stock

My method for making stock isn’t traditional by any means. It takes me quite a long time to gather what I need for stock because my stock is made up of odds and ends. I have three gallon sized Ziploc bags in my freezer at all times that I slowly fill up with the bits of food I need to make stock. The first bag is filled up with veggies: carrot skin, celery trimmings, the ends and peels of onions. The second bag is filled with chicken bones and little pieces of chicken still clinging to those bones. The third bag is filled with shrimp tails and shells.


Making stock is completely free using this method, but that’s not the reason I do it. I get a small amount of satisfaction knowing that I am using every little scrap of food in my kitchen and not letting anything got to waste. Freezers usually run more efficiently when they are full so having bags of frozen odds and ends helps to keep my freezer full. The veggie bag always fills faster than the other two but I always only have one bag of veggies on hand.  We have a large compost container behind our garage so once the veggie bag is full I to compost veggies scraps.

If I’m making a big pot of soup I like to use homemade stock but for just about everything else I use Magi. Husband introduced me to Magi which is a type of chicken stock his mom has been using for as long as he can remember. Magi is nice in that it comes in a powder form so a little bit goes along way. Check out some of my photos and you see a little yellow container gracing most recipes. Most of the time, when a recipe calls for just a few cups of chicken stock, or less, chicken stock I use Magi. But big pots of soupy goodness deserve homemade stock.

My recipe for stock is far from exact so please feel free to adjust it to make it work for your family.

Enjoy!

Fill a large stock pot with one gallon sized Ziploc bag of chicken or shrimp and on gallon sized Ziploc bag of veggies. Add eight to ten black peppercorns, two bay leaves, and one teaspoon of salt. If using chicken, add a dash of sage. Fill with enough water to cover everything in the pot. Bring water to boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for an hour, then taste. Season as needed and continue to simmer if the flavor isn’t strong.

**You can also throw all your ingredients into a slow cooker and let it cook on high for about four hours. This is a great solution in the summer.

Once you are happy with the flavor drain into another container and discard solids. Allow to cool. Skim off any solidified fats once the stock has cooled.

Store in the fridge until needed, about two days, or pour into Ziploc bags and freeze, lying flat to save freezer space, for up to six months.