Photo by AtomicJeep on Flickr

I never used to think about chicken stock.

When I needed chicken stock in a recipe, I would just dissolve a stock cube in water.  This extended to even eating broth made from a stock cube when I was sick.  And if I really wanted to splash out on a recipe, I would splurge on some pre-packaged liquid stock from the store.

That is, until I discovered how easy it is to make homemade stock!  Plus, homemade chicken stock:

* tastes better

* is more nutritious (no preservatives, and have you seen the amount of sodium in those pre-made stocks?!)

* costs less

* helps you use up all those chicken and veg leftovers (great-grandma would be proud!)

Homemade chicken stock can be used right away in soup, or frozen (either in big containers for soup, or small containers for cooking – even in ice cube trays to easily throw into recipes!)

Vintage Tip – homemade chicken broth is also brilliant ‘convalescence’ food (we don’t ‘convalesce’ much anymore, but it’s the process of resting during/after an illness to let your body heal itself) – in general terms, if you’re sick, eat some warm broth, maybe with some mushy noodles in it.  Total comfort food!

Remember our Classic Roast Chicken?  Making stock is the activity for the next day.  Although the stock needs to simmer for a few hours, the active time is very minimal – just throw everything in a pot and let it cook!

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