Veggie Stock

Don’t throw out your veggie scraps! Save them for an amazing homemade soup base. Our pal, Eryn Whalen, shows us how to turn our food waste into a new meal. And if you want to follow along with our video, find it here.

What can you use? If it’s a veggie, you can most likely use it! Vegetable scraps like onion and potato skins, celery stick ends, carrot peels, broccoli stems, corn cobs, all can be saved after meals to use later. Take all these extras after cutting your veggies and place them in the gallon freezer bag, press to remove additional air from the bag, seal, and place it in the freezer. You can keep adding to this bag for up to four months. Eryn suggests keeping cilantro, celery leaves, Pumpkin and squash out of your stash as some of the spice and starch can become overpowering. Also be careful of hot peppers as a little bit can go a long way for spice.

Once you have a good stash of veggies and your bag is full, pull it out of the freezer and place in a stock pot with water and bring it to a boil.

Bring it to a boil for 3-5 minutes, then reduce heat to a slow simmer and simmer for 2 - 6 hours.

While simmering, add in additional spices if desired, including salt and pepper to taste. Some great spices to add include:

• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Marjoram
• Dill
• Bay leaves
• Basil
• Salt
• Pepper

Cool and store in the fridge for up to 5 days, freeze in cubes for up to 6 months, or can with a hot water bath canner and store for up to 2 years.

For more of Eryn’s tips on this topic, visit her website.