Cheese rinds, heels of bread, onion trimmings, celery leaves, ....

[Seafog]

What's in your freezer for stock? Am I the only one saving all the bits?
Sometimes I feel like a weirdo saving all the trimmings, but I use them up with sauces and stocks.
Is it just me?

You can use the bro I’ll stalk too! When I have veg in the fridge to use up I sauté it in some oil with garlic and add herbs and tomatoes, and make a pasta sauce the kids love.
Anything works for this-courgettes, peppers, onions, carrots, leeks. And broccoli or cauli stalks.

It’s a Jamie Oliver idea, I’ve been doing it for ages (think it was when he first did lockdown food saving videos)

The stalls keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge too, so you don’t have to do anything with them there and then. Just hung them in and make a batch when you have time and veg to use up

Can I make a bone broth with the bone from the leg of lamb I'm cooking today? Can I do it in the slow cooker? Will leg of lamb broth be nice?

Sorry double post -

So do I put all my veg scraps like the tops of carrots and onions with the cooked bone in the slow cooker?

generally use chicken breasts so no wastage

That's no wastage in your kitchen. We buy whole chickens, DH cuts them up and we use the whole bird, with only the well used bones going into the bin.

I know how odd / precious that sounds these days. But we have been doing it for years. It seems normal to us and us always cheaper, in the long run, than buying packs of single cuts.

@DragonOverTheMoon

Sorry double post -

So do I put all my veg scraps like the tops of carrots and onions with the cooked bone in the slow cooker?

Yes. Or make a veggie stock, no bones. Adding mushroom stalks gives a really intense flavour

The lamb bone broth will be gorgeous; put the bone in a slow cooker with veg peelings (if you’re having veg today, keep the top & tails from the carrots, maybe sacrifice an onion and a stick of celery), add a bay leaf and peppercorns/pepper, bring to boil and simmer on low/slow cook for as long as you can bear (I do abt 12/18 hours in the slow cooker, but 9 hours is sufficient)

@picklemewalnuts

The ends of the veg make great salad leaves, at this time of year. Put them in a splash of water so they start to grow. Plant them up outside in a pot.

They'll bush up with leaves, and tart up your summer salads.

Carrots, parsnips, celery, onion... just use as cut and come again.

Fascinated by this. Is it a general rule that the leaves of edible roots can be eaten then?

@JudgeRindersMinder

This thread has made me realise how little food scraps I have, we always have skin on potatoes, use the heels of the bread, don’t peel carrots, and generally use chicken breasts so no wastage. I think at most I maybe have the occasional broccoli stalk, so I don’t give myself a hard time if I bin that!

This is us too (apart from the chicken as we're vegetarian). We eat most peel, I love bread crusts, and the rest is composted.

This thread is the latest version of the Mumsnet classic 'I can make one chicken last a week for a family of 8'

I think broth made from bones is so tasty, and I’m told it’s healthy. When you cool down the stock in the fridge, it turns to jelly. I take that as a sign that it has some sort of magical goodness.
My mum taught me to stud an onion with cloves before throwing it in with the simmering bones. Along with a carrot and celery. And to throw in whole peppercorns. I don’t add salt. I leave the salting to the main dish that the stock will go into. My favourite bones come from a roast chicken or beef.

@SamphirethePogoingStickerist

generally use chicken breasts so no wastage

That's no wastage in your kitchen. We buy whole chickens, DH cuts them up and we use the whole bird, with only the well used bones going into the bin.

I know how odd / precious that sounds these days. But we have been doing it for years. It seems normal to us and us always cheaper, in the long run, than buying packs of single cuts.

It doesn’t sound odd or precious at all! It’s absolute common sense

seems a good idea, to make a stock from carrot peelings, does this include leek peelings and onion peelings, potato peelings?
simmer
and then strain, and use the stock?

I currently only save onion, carrot, celery and leek peelings/ends; I’d imagine the starch from the potatoes might make the broth cloudy. But those who do it might say it works so it’s worth a try. I keep a bag in the freezer and throw bits in as I get them. You can buy a cheap gammon joint and throw some of these frozen peelings in as it cooks-then you have the gammon itself for roast dinner/with egg/sandwiches, and can strain the broth and add split peas to make ham & pea soup

great idea @siblingrevelryagain
thank you

@MrsLargeEmbodied

seems a good idea, to make a stock from carrot peelings, does this include leek peelings and onion peelings, potato peelings? simmer and then strain, and use the stock?

Yes. Just add anything you have. It never tastes the same way twice.🙂

I can't promise any rules, @JennyForeigner , but we're all still alive!

So, definitely not potatoes.

Carrots and parsnips yes.
Celery, absolutely definitely, not to be missed!
Onions yes. Just like chives.
Any herbs.

I think you just sort of know. The leaves are very tender and frondy. They taste like the vegetable.

Things like squash are hairy and tough, so you don't eat them.

@quince2figs haha glad your friends are not chilling in your freezer. Hmmm yes I think it will be worth the initial outlay to have a good thrifty storing facility. I often see a yellow stickered item but then think, darn, no room. Had a recent success with fresh basil leaves and stalks in a bag in the freezer, drop of olive oil to stop the blackening. The most delicious homemade pesto ever.
I am picturing my herb pots on top of a small freezer in a back room.

The allotment chickens get all the veg trimmings.

Isn’t that actually illegal? Or am I imagining it?

@halfsiesonapotnoodle

I think boiling up stock from these bits is a false economy. The lengthy heat you need for a chicken carcass etc will cost far more than buying a cube or using bouillon powder. That's why I just don't bother.

This is where your slow cooker comes in, stocks are best made over a long time.

@DragonOverTheMoon

Can I make a bone broth with the bone from the leg of lamb I'm cooking today? Can I do it in the slow cooker? Will leg of lamb broth be nice?

Yes it's amazing!

I boil the leg with some seasonings in the slow cooker usually overnight. Then I fry up garlic, onions and carrots with a bit of paprika for the soup, add the stock and some water with lentils and barley. Also there will probably be little bits of lamb meat still left on the bone so pull if off and put those in. I find it needs fairly heavy seasoning as soups go but it's delicious.

@Shade17

The allotment chickens get all the veg trimmings.

Isn’t that actually illegal? Or am I imagining it?

Nope. Backyard chickens should never, in law, be fed kitchen scraps. Just like pigs can't any longer.

Because of all sorts of issues around species contamination.

Chooks or horses here and anything they can't have goes onto muck heap which is like a HUGE wormery/compost bin.

I did our easter roast for 1 as dd has work. I roasted the onion and carrot tops under the lamb with loads of garlic, thyme and rosemary.

In the slow cooker went carrot pealing, Brocoli stalk and 2 outside cabbage leaves that otherwise would have gone in the compost. Once I took the meat off the bone I put the bone and all the onions and juice from the meat (apart from the bits I used for gravy) into the slow cooker and it's been on then since 1ish.

Do I leave it on low and cook it over night or high and take it off the heat about 7 to make sure its cooled down enough to go in the fridge?

Sorry for all the questions, I've just not done this before and thanks for all the advice so far.

@halfsiesonapotnoodle I'm not fussed about the cost of cooking it vs a stock cube. I've heard that bone broth is great for healing bone injuries, slipped discs and is good for wrinkles. If I can make my back better drinking a cup a day and my laughter lines get less then it's a winner!

@DragonOverTheMoon I would leave it on over night, and it will be done by morning