Stock

It is crazy how much they charge for a can of broth when you realize that all "Stock" "Broth" is, is scraps and water. I always have home made chicken and beef stock in the freezer, I use it all the time and it saves me a nice chunk of change, making it myself. If you want to go virtually "free" you can save your scraps, toss them in the freezer along the way. I don't go that far, I normally just save my meat scraps. If I am cooking a roast I will save my meat trimmings for broth. And with chicken just toss the neck and all the stuff that is shoved inside the bird in the freezer until you need it. I didn't have many beef scraps today so I bought a bone to use with the little meat scraps I did have. As you can see no prep really, just chop the onion in quarters, the garlic head in half and toss it all in the pan. I add pepper corns and bay leaves as well as what you see here.

Bring it to a boil then simmer it a bout an hour or two. Strain it and let it cool all the way then I toss it in baggies and freeze it. If you don't use large portions you can pour it into ice cube trays but in this family that is never enough so I always use quart size freezer bags.



Now that you have home made stock... try adding it to things that call for water (cause we have made it almost as inexpensive as water!) Use half stock and half water when you are cooking rice, use it to de-glaze a pan and make a gravy. There are so many uses for stock.

Just a side note here you can also throw all of this in the crock pot and let it cook on low for a few hours works just as well.