Cooking Tips: Scraps

Save the bones of any animal meat that you eat, along with the scraps and trimmings of all vegetables.

Put them in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and stick them in your freezer.

When two or three bags are full, you’re ready to turn your scraps into a nutritional party. Your body will thank you.

Take out a big stock pot.

Chop up all the scraps & bones and dump them in.

(To chop the bones without chipping your knife, cover them in saran wrap on the counter, then use the back of your chef’s knife like a hammer.)

Fill it with 4 quarts of water, or, enough to cover all the scraps.

Add some herbs & spices if you like. Anything will do. Could be lemon peels, bay leaf, dry spices, some salt & pepper … whatever.

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer / boil on low for about 2 or 3 hours.

Run the liquid through a strainer and into some containers. I use old plastic quarts (like the kind Chinese food comes in) for portions I’ll freeze, and, locking glassware for portions that I’ll keep in the fridge and use this week.

You now have a several weeks’ supply of nutritionally robust bone / veggie broth.

All of the awesome goodness that was in those scraps is in your liquid.

You can reheat and eat plain. Or add more fresh veggies, grains, or proteins and use a soup base.

Enjoy!