What does your freezer look like? This time of year, mine is loaded up with homemade bone broth.
The picture above is the top shelf of my kitchen freezer. The container third from the left is actually a full gallon container (you can’t see how wide it is from the picture), so the total is over 3 gallons of stock right now in my freezer. The middle containers are duck stock, the quart container on the far right is fish stock and the container on the far left is turkey stock.
All those containers of stock you see in the picture will last my family of 5 about one month to six weeks.
I use stock liberally – I even cook rice in it instead of water. The kids don’t even know they are eating stock sometimes!
Stock is my secret weapon to keep my family free of tummy bugs that are running rampant through school and the community at large during the winter months.
Homemade stock contains ample amounts of gelatin, which is a colloidal substance that attracts digestive juices to it and prevents gastrointestinal bugs from attaching themselves to the gut wall. Natural gelatin both assists digestion and keeps you well!
Store bought soups and broth/stocks – even if organic – are nutritionless, loaded with MSG (using deceptive and misleading pseudonyms of course) and do not contain any beneficial gelatin.
Making plenty of homemade soups with homemade broth and you have rediscovered one of the most important and delicious ways Traditional Societies stayed well!
Best of all, stock is FREE. All you have to do is use the bones of whatever meat you have roasted, add water and a bit of vinegar, and simmer for 24-48 hours.
Eating well does not have to break the bank!
Don’t have time to make soup?
Try this 5 minute healthy soup recipe that you can make with a quart of frozen bone broth right out of the freezer.
Another super fast soup is this recipe for panata, frugally referred to as bread soup.
Hi Sara, Is stock made from raw uncooked bones better or more beneficial than when using cooked bones?
Either way is fine. In the Nourishing Traditions cookbook, the chicken stock is made by cooking the entire chicken in water. I prefer making it with the bones only after roasting the chicken and removing the meat. Making the chicken stock with the meat on it makes the meat kind of flavorless to me – but I know some folks who really like this method. So try both and see what suits you.
Sarah, thanks for saying this because I got confused yesterday when it seemed everyone was saying to use just the chicken carcass. I have always cooked the entire chicken, removed the meat for a meal, and then continued reducing down the stock. I’m assuming you wouldn’t leave the chicken meat in the pot the entire time because it would be overcooked, but you would put the carcass back in, right?
I like this! I’m actually making chicken stock right now. 🙂 I’d be interested in learning how you make fish stock though. Any tips?
Hi Angela, I have a videoblog on this very topic!! 🙂 Click on “videos” in the navigation bar at the top of the blog or do a search on “fish stock” in the search box.
Ugh – NOW you tell me about helping the stomach bug ickies?! AFTER we’re recovering from a bout of it? One of my goals this year is to learn how to make good stock. This is an added benefit that’s good to know!
When I cook stock in the crockpot, I just throw in the carcass (from a roasted chicken) after dinner with some veggies, chicken feet, water, and a splash of vinegar. Then I let it cook all night and turn it off around 10am so it can cool for a little while. So the total cooking time is about 15 hours. Then I strain it and actually eat a simple meal with the cooked veggies, broth, and leftover meat bits from the carcass. And then I cook a big pot of soup with the broth for dinner that same night so I don’t have to clean the crock-pot in between cooking broth and soup. (I have a young baby plus a toddler so I’m all about skipping extra dirty dishes whenever possible. That’s why I’ve also been known to “bake” potatoes in the crockpot if I’m cooking up a roast.)
Sarah,
When you make stock overnight, do you have the crockpot set on low? Thanks 🙂
I don’t make my stock in a crockpot. I have it on low on the stove, covered, so that it is a low simmer overnight.
Okay, thanks for the tip. 🙂 I was actually asking Sarah Smith. I love your blog by the way, thank you so much for sharing such wonderful information with everyone!
Yvonne,
I start mine in the crockpot in the morning on high. Skim the scum as needed…when I feel like I’ve gotten it all I turn it to low. Cover and let it cook until the next morning. I find that the crockpot method also uses less energy and for some reason makes me feel a bit safer.
Kelly, Thank you so much! I will definitely try that.
If you make stock in a crockpot, how long do you cook it for and at what temperature?
thanks, Joyce
These pitchers are SUCH a great idea! I just put 8 more quart jars of turkey stock in my fridge last night bringing the total to 10! I was wondering how I was going to use it all up before it ruined because it seems like my jars always break in the freezer – even if I put the stock in there cooled.
Our freezer is also packed. Tons of stock frozen in mason jars (turkey, chicken, and beef), plus our share of steer from December (40% of a cow this time). It’s also packed with frozen chickens (about 8 of them); since we cannot get good chickens locally and I have to stock up when in another location. Oh, and some pork roasts from our milk-share farmer, plus cherries from last year and roasted pumpkin puree. I love knowing so much good food is ready to use! We get bones when we get our steer every year, and they make the BEST beef broth. It is so gelatinous that it is even thicker than Jello would be. My favorite way to use stock, though, is to make a pot of soup right away. That way there is no need to store it (or even to wash the crockpot before making the soup) and we get some terrific food to freeze for lunches in glass containers that can go straight into the toaster oven.
Question: If you’re storing your stock in such large containers, how do you use just a little stock at a time without having to thaw & refreeze, which I’m assuming isn’t safe to do?
I put the jug in a bowl of warm water to loosen the chunk of frozen stock, then when it comes out of the jug, place the entire chunk into a pan and thaw out as much or as little as I want, and then put the remaining frozen chunk back into the jug back into the freezer.
I love this post!
Just before Christmas my daugher, then I, then younger daughter succumbed to stomach flu but we recovered pretty fast since I am always making chicken or turkey stock! I also freeze them in plastic containers with clip-on lids (I get them at the dollar store). An easy soup for us is to add stock to cooked toasted buckwheat, noodles or rice and eat it. My huband likes to drink it with his meals.
I started cooking rice with it, and adding it to stews with some tapioca powder for instant gravy!
I have chicken, beef and turkey stock in my freezer right now! Mine is frozen in some large yogurt containers, so that I can pull just a bit out at a time. We eat rice cooked in stock and I make yummy sauces/gravies with stock, also 🙂 Thanks so much for the informative videos- I first tried making stock after viewing your turkey stock video from last year!