How to Make Homemade Vegetable Broth Without Spending ANY Extra Money

 

I titled this post “How to Make Homemade Vegetable Broth Without Spending ANY Extra Money”, but I could just as easily have titled it “How to Make Homemade Vegetable Broth without Spending Any Extra TIME”. This trick is that easy! Seriously!

I have been enjoying this method for making vegetable broth so much that I just had to share it.

All you need is a gallon size freezer bag - you know the zip lock type that are so often used for freezer meals. Now label it with the date, so that you have a general idea of when you started. Next stick it in the freezer. Yes, I know it’s empty, but this way it’s ready to go and just waiting there for you.

Next time you cut up vegetables for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, etc, bring the bag out of the freezer. Now take all those scraps (you know the skin from the onion, and the ends of the carrots, the green bitter tops of the leek, and the bottom of the mushrooms, the stems left over after you pick all the cilantro leafs off, etc), and instead of putting them in the trash or even the compost, throw them into your labeled freezer bag and stick it back in the freezer.

Repeat.

Every time you cut up vegetables take all those odds and ends and stick them in your freezer bag.

Once the bag is full throw it in the crock pot, cover the vegetables with water and turn it on low for the whole day (or over night, or for a whole 24 hours). Strain the vegetables out and store your broth. If you are into canning, go ahead and can it so that it lasts a long while. Or freeze it. Or just use it right away to make soup, sauce, or some other lovely goodness.

If you want the broth to have a deeper richer flavor wait till you have two full gallon size bags of vegetable kitchen scraps and use that.

How often you cook with vegetables will determine how quickly you are able to fill a bag with scraps, but since you store the scraps in the freezer you don’t need to worry so much if it takes a while - none of the produce should go bad before 3 months (this is why you label the bag, just in case).

Well, that’s it. Just like I promised, no extra money was spent in the making of this broth. And barely any extra time either. That’s my kind of kitchen tip.

Rejoicing in the journey, Bethany