Homemade Vegetable Stock

This homemade vegetable stock "recipe" could be in the tips & tricks section as this is not a full recipe, but it is absolutely a great way to utilize waste and also be in control of your ingredients.

This tip will not save you a tonne of money and I cannot claim credit for this tip, but I have found it a really useful technique to get the most from food waste and create delicious flavors with no gluten or additives guaranteed.

3 reasons why I make my own vegetable stock

  1. No meat based stock
  2. Gluten free without effort
  3. Get the most from food waste
Since I became vegetarian at the beginning of 2018 I obviously could not use chicken stock in any of my meals any more.

As we have friends that are gluten intolerant I thought it would take the risk out of buying stock cubes by making my own stock.

It is also a great way to utilize food waste.

What you need for homemade vegetable stock

  • Vegetable waste / cuts
  • Salt  (optional)
  • Pot & colander (optional)
  • Freezer bags
  • Ice cube bags (optional)

Saving waste

homemade vegetable stock ingredients

Preparing and making the stock is an easy process. The first part of the process is collection of the vegetables. This means bagging (almost) everything that you don't use from the vegetables you are preparing.

Make sure that you rinse your food first and you can include skins, especially onions for color. I do not save potato peels, the seeds of peppers, chili or garlic waste and I avoid strong smelling or colored vegetables like asparagus or red cabbage.

Stick them in a seal-able freezer bag (mine are 1 liter in size but any size will do). Repeat the process until you have enough bagged off cuts in the freezer. I find that about 2 and a half bags is enough to make a big batch of stock.

Cooking

homemade vegetable stock being made

Empty the contents into a big pot, add 2 to 3 liters of water (enough to cover the vegetables) and a bit of salt. Bring to a simmer, stick a lid on the pot, and cook for 20 - 30 minutes.

If I were making a soup I would semi-fry the ingredients in a little oil before adding the water but I feel that this step is not required for a stock.

Drain the stock after cooking so that there is only liquid left.

Storage

homemade vegetable stock - the final product

Once the liquid has cooled you can use the stock immediately or freeze it. I usually just freeze them in old ice cream tubs (or similar), but you can also make them into ice cubes.

I've found that the stock is quite rich so if a recipe states 1 stock cube and liter of water, then I would make the liquid up of 50% stock, 50% water. But your taste will vary.

I kind of got the idea from All Recipes but I'm not too precise with amounts and the taste of the stock varies week to week as the ingredients are never the same or equal quantity.

So there you have it. After the promise of adding recipes to the site, here is the first and it really is more of a waste usage tip for homemade vegetable stock. I hope you find it useful.

Originally created: 2018-03-12 08:24:31