Budgeting Tips to Get out of Debt and Build Wealth

I am a soup-a-holic, year round but especially in winter, there is nothing like inhaling the aroma of a nice hot bowl of soup, especially if it’s spiced up with some cayenne pepper.  Being a vegetarian, I have found that homemade soup is the only way to go.  The canned options out there really are not appealing, and the organic ones are expensive.  Before I learned how to make my own vegetable stock and vegetable broth, I would but the boxes of “No-Chicken Broth” from the natural foods section at the grocery store.  It was $4-$5 a box!   I tried a big-name-brand box of broth one time and found that it smelled and tasted like spoiled rotten vegetables.  Plus, it was almost as expensive as the good one.  So when we went on the warpath to pay off debt, I put a kabosh on buying expensive vegetable broth and learned how to make it.

Making your own vegetable stock is so easy, I feel like smacking my head and saying “I could have had a V-8.”  All you have to do is cut a bunch of veggies up into chunks, cook them, strain them out and season to taste.  You can use any kind of vegetables.  But I think the essence of good vegetable broth is in the carrots, celery and onions.

The recipe I drew upon for my first adventure in making homemade vegetable stock was called Minimalist Broth.  I found it at  http://veganyumyum.com/2008/10/homemade-vegetable-broth/.

Here is the ingredients list:

2-3 Tbs Olive Oil
1-2 Large Onions, chopped
1 lb Celery, Chopped
1 lb Carrots, washed but unpeeled, chopped
3 Whole Cloves Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
10 Whole Black Peppercorns
2 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Low Sodium Tamari
1 Gallon Water

Essentially, you put the oil in the bottom of a deep pot, turn on the heat and toss in your chopped veggies.   Here is a close-up picture of my veggies, all rough-cut.  I loved the way the colors looked.

After rough-chopping the veggies, you add the water, toss in the bay leaf and peppercorns and salt.  You let it come to a boil, then turn it down to simmer for an hour.  After that you add tamari or soy sauce to taste (I did not put in that much because I didn’t want to make my future soup be committed to a Chinese food flavor.)  You let it cook for another 20-30 minutes so the flavors meld, then you strain it.  I found straining to be a little awkward… with such a huge pot of hot liquid and needing to preserve the liquid, I started by ladeling much of it out into a mesh strainer over a bowl.  By the time I was done, I had two large bowls full of broth.

After it cooled I put some in a ziplock bag and left some in the bowl, covered with plastic.  Both went in the fridge, though I could have frozen the ziplock if I wanted to.  I knew I was going to be eating it soon.

The article I was following the vegetable broth recipe said you could add whatever veggies you have on hand.  I think the sweet potato I had never used from Christmas was a good addition.  However, I would not add the salad greens next time.  They gave it kind of an odd after-taste.  It was not too bad however, and very workable for my homemade vegetable soup.  I am looking forward to making another batch of homemade vegetable broth soon!

Posted By: Frugal Cooking, Frugal Living - Reducing Spending by Darcy