Keep your veggie scraps and floppy carrots and celery in the freezer to make a flavorful veggie stock in the future.
Save those vegetables that may have lost their crunchy appeal for a flavorful veggie stock. Even if stored properly, celery and carrots may become floppy after some time, but don’t let them go to the compost. Throw in your onion skins, potato peels, and other veggie scraps from cooking to add more flavor to the mix!
Materials: knife, cutting board, freezer storage bag, large pot, strainer
Ingredients: any wilted or unused veggies in your fridge (celery, carrots, onions, potato skins, leeks, etc.) and veggie scraps from cooking
- Scan your fridge and pull out any veggies you see that are no longer in peak condition, including floppy celery or carrots, a 3 day-old quarter of an onion, etc.
- Ensure that all your veggies are washed and dried well, including any vegetable peels you want to include in the bag.
- Roughly chop the lackluster veggies into 2-3 inch chunks.
- Place the veggie pieces and peels into a labelled storage bag and keep it in the freezer.
- Add more veggie scraps, including onion peels, potato skins, and carrot ends to the freezer bag until the bag is full.
- When you’re ready to make a soup, pull out the bag and boil your veggie pieces in a pot of water on the stove for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 hours for more flavor).
- Strain out the vegetable chunks and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Use your delicious vegetable stock as a base to any soup or gravy (you can also use an ice cube tray to freeze the stock and store in a labelled freezer bag for up to 6 months).