#28 Another way to use those kitchen scraps...

Do you use chicken broth or stock from a box or a can? Do you realize what you are paying for? The packaging, that you must throw away when that golden, tasty and very inexpensively-made liquid is used up. Here is the solution. Home-made stock. Keep scraps from veggies or fruit that are clean in a bag in the freezer. Add in bones and scraps from a chicken or ham, or whatever meat you had that week (optional.) You can keep adding to it until you have enough to throw it all in a big pot of water and simmer it for a few hours. Add a little salt and seasonings if you want. Drain out the scraps (and put them in your compost, except for the bones,) bottle up the stock (mayo jars are perfect for this,) and put them in the freezer.

We use our pasta pot because it is much easier to get the scraps out that way. You can also use a crock pot.

It has so many uses, that we go through the stuff very quickly. Use it for soup stock and you can make a quick soup that tastes like it has simmered for hours, thicken it up and you have gravy, use it instead of water to make very flavorful rice, use it in any recipe that calls for broth or stock.

Pros: Yummy and easy. No packaging. I feel like I'm getting more use and vitamins out of my vegetables.

Cons: It takes some electricity to cook it. It's a pain to drain out the slimy scraps if you don't have a pasta pot. I get a little layer of fat on top from the meat scraps--You can scrape it off if you want.