An Awesome [Little] Stock Trick

I've used frozen chicken feet for a stock in the past--and it was awesome!

I love making my own stocks, but sometimes I find that I have all the fixings for the stock before I am ready to devote my time to making it. This, in the past, I am sorry to say, has resulted in me throwing out some perfectly good stock bases. That is, until I got a better idea: freeze it!

Now, we all know that really into preserving and freezing, so for most of you, this tip should come as no surprise. But even with my habit of stocking up and preserving and all that jazz, I swear this didn't occur to me until a couple of months ago. And then it took me two more months before the lightbulb went off and I shared it with you guys....I know, I need to catch up to myself sometimes.

Anyway,  this trick is great for vegetable, seafood, chicken, or any other type of stock you are making. What you do is get your carcass or bones, vegetable scraps, or whatever else you don't want to spoil and throw it in a freezer bag. Put it in the freezer until you are ready to make a stock and when you are ready: BAM! Instant stock! Well, okay, not instant, but you have everything basically prepped and you can just add water and let it simmer away!

Most recently I used this trick for some venison chops. Since I can't eat my meat medium rare like I like it (thanks a lot, fetus!), I decided to cut the venison chops away from the bones and use them to make a stroganoff. But I couldn't just discard those lovely bones, so I threw them in a freezer bag for later use. I will add the veggies to them later with a little water and make a great venison stock. I have also used this trick with a chicken I was done with....I threw it in a bag with some kale stalks, celery trimming and carrots peels. It was perfect for a full pot of stock!!!

Happy stock making!