A Great Home Made Broth/Stock Can Help Alleviate Waste In Food Budgets Right Now!! Tips For Using!!

Am sure you are thinking what the heck is that? That is my home made bone broth/stock putting away in my crockpot. I roasted up 2 big fat roasting chickens, removed the meat from the bones, used some for recipes and froze some, and started my bone broth for a soup and the rest for the freezer. Every day there are beginning to be more and more reports of food shortages, even soups, fights over items, national guards being called in, police patrolling stores and on and on. Therefore it is imperative that when we are able to get grocery items, are able to raid our pantries, freezers and fridges, that we use up everything and anything we can. Waste not, Want not!! I have in past recipes given suggestions on how to use leftovers, even the liquid from fresh or frozen veggies you have prepared can be frozen for future use. For instance in my broth/stock cooking today I used some cooking liquid I saved from fresh beans, and fresh asparagus I cooked during the week, plus water. There are vitamins in the liquids that cook out of the veggies that are good for you and extra flavors to add to your recipes. Of course if you roast your veggies then you cannot, but right now maybe simmering in a little water would be helpful for flavor and goodness in your meals.

Also on another note any leftover pieces of fresh or frozen veggies can be made into veggie broths. Any broth can be used to sautee in, cook rice or pasta in, thickened for gravies, sipped on hot if not feeling well and the list goes on. If you have a fresh vegetable getting limp, you can shock in ice cold water and most will crisp back up, if not use in your broths. Right now stretching what we do have is the key to feeding our families, Beef broth with beef bones, chicken broth with chicken bones or veggie broths with veggies!!

If vegetables, fresh spices etc are scarce in your area, start using up all the dried spices we all have hanging out on any given day, create new recipes with new spice combinations, I know everyone who cooks has dried spices, and the health benefits are another perk to using them. I have seen and read so many articles and or heard from the drs. that eating healthy right now will keep your immune system working at its best. Save any meat or chicken bones you might have leftover and freeze until you have enough to fill your crock pot 3/4 full, add water to cover, add either fresh onions, garlic, bay leaves etc., or dried and any other spices you have, and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8, it just needs to bubble lightly on the sides of the pot. You can also make stock or broth by baking in your dutch oven/soup pot covered for several hours at 325-350 depending on the size of your pot and amount!! It really is hard to ruin or overcook a broth. When done, strain, cool slightly and refrigerate overnight, the next day skim off any fat that will have risen to the top and you have your broth/stock! Now you are ready to use or freeze. How??

Your kitchen your choice, stay safe everyone!!!!