I’m not sure why our culture has gotten away from a lot of the things our great-grandmothers used to do, like preserving food. I have to admit, it seemed really intimidating to me, but I decided to try this year. Blame it on the nesting, maybe?
So for the past few weeks, I’ve been stocking the pantry and our new freezer with stuff. I feel very Martha Stewart, but the truth is it’s not that special. Women used to do this all the time, and many still do. And guess what? Turns out it’s really easy.
I used a water bath canner and preserved the strawberries we picked from our local farm as jam and syrup. That was more of a process, but there are tutorials all over the internet that explain it much better than I can (no pun intended) if you’d like to get started.
Today’s tip is super easy, but I’d never done it before last night: Making your own chicken stock.
We had a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for dinner last night and after I’d picked off the leftover bits of meat and put them in the refrigerator, I went to throw away the bones like I always do, but this time I stopped.
My grandmother is forever telling me to make soup out of my leftover bones, but I never do. We never eat a whole pot of soup. We get sick of eating the same thing over and over again and it gets wasted.
So instead of making soup, I just threw the bones from the rotisserie chicken into a large pot of water and let it simmer on the lowest setting of my stove for about 2.5 hours.
Ta-da. Chicken stock. I strained it, then ladled it into small freezer bags. (Bonus tip: fold a freezer bag over a coffee mug to make it easier to fill the bag.) That way I can defrost one bag at a time if I want to make what would be equivalent to a can of soup for lunch. I can just throw in leftover meat, vegetables, rice, noodles, or whatever. It will be a different kind of soup each time. Perfect for individual servings for the kids, or if I want to send homemade soup to a sick friend, or during the winter snowstorms when I like to send meals to the widowers in our neighborhood.
Or I can cook with it when I’m making other meals or use it in the crockpot.
You can easily make different kinds of stock out of whatever kinds of bones you have on hand.
I really like the idea of having the smaller servings on hand, I think I’m going to make it a habit.
If you’re looking for a delicious soup recipe, you can use the homemade stock with my Chicken Corn Soup Recipe. This traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipe is perfect for a rainy, cold day.
use it to make mashed potatoes! YUMMY!!!
I’ve wondered about trying this before but didn’t think I had anything suitable for storage. Your idea about the freezer bags is awesome – I don’t have anymore excuses not to try! (and it would be a WHOLE LOT healthier than the sodium and MSG loaded stock cubes I use instead)
great idea! that’s what i do with leftover bones when i cook a chicken in the crockpot. i just get all of the meat out, then fill it back up with water (you can also add veggies) and cook it on low for 6-8hrs. then strain, let cool, and put in the fridge until the fat solidifies on the top and you can scrape it off. then i put it into serving sizes into the freezer. YUM! you can also cook rice with it.
I’ve made stock a few times when I’ve roasted a chicken. It’s very satisfying to have homemade! I didn’t think about freezing can-sized portions, though. That’s a good idea.