Time Saver of the Week: Freezer Stock Bags
Photo credit: StockFood
When you think about, write about, talk about, and eat a lot of food, people are compelled to tell you their culinary shortcuts, secrets, and confessions:
"Oh, I made the most amazing steak tacos last night," one might coo before telling you about a transformative tortilla.
Or: “Here is how my partner and I meticulously plan meals for the week, while eating toast on Saturday mornings. It’s changed everything!”
Or: “Have you ever tried putting mayonnaise on a Triscuit with cheddar? Sounds kinda gross, but it’s totally amazing.”
These are good insights—thank you!—but the one tip that’s been the most earth-shattering of all is a testament to recycling and blissful simplicity.
The freezer stock bag.
It works like this: when you chop onions, or peel carrots, or lob the stem off a butternut squash, don’t toss it. Open a gallon-sized freezer bag, and throw the vegetable scraps in. When the bag is full, dump its contents in a pot, and cover with water. Simmer away, then strain. Vegetable stock from what would have wound up in the garbage! Doesn’t that feel good? (You could also throw roasted chicken carcasses in the bag for a chicken stock. Or beef bones for a beef stock. Are you getting the picture here?)
Then use the stocks for risottos, homemade chicken soup, pasta dishes, beef Bourguignon, or whatever you’re craving.
Not to get all Laura Ingalls Wilder/waste-not-want-not French lady on you, but there is no feeling more satisfying than a kitchen that uses every scrap and bit. See for yourself.
