The Cheapest (and easiest) Stock

You buy vegetables, right? Well, I have a trick for you that’s easy on your budget and will prevent you from buying store-bought stock.

Vegetables. You cook ’em, fry ’em, sautée ’em, blanche ’em, and, well, you get my drift. You use them for all sorts of things. What if I told you the peels, heels, sticks, stems, bits and bobs from all the veggies made the best stock?

This is a cheap way to make the richest stocking using sustainable, local and in-season produce. Snag up some organic ones from the Dirty Dozen list if you can. Before you peel and prep for any meal, give your veggies a quick wash, and maybe a scrub, depending on its earthiness. Then, chop up and use what the recipe calls for. But do not compost those cut-offs and peeled pieces… at least not yet!

Place them all in a container in the freezer (yes, even the onion peels and the celery bottoms). Everything.

When you need a stock, toss those frozen remnants and pop ’em in a pot, top with water, and blamo – cheap, easy stock.

Once the stock is made, then, and only then, should you take your mushy cast-offs into the compost bin.

Mind blown!

How easy is that?