Homemade vegetable broth

I started making my own broth mainly to reduce my waste. The boxes we got it in were not recyclable. I also noticed our pile of veggie scraps was growing each week as we keep getting closer and closer to a 100% plant-based diet. I was sad at the food waste and material waste I was creating so I thought, why not make my own broth to reduce both! Plus, a big plus to making your own food is you can customize the flavors and you know exactly what is going in it.

And, this is probably one of the easiest "recipes" you will ever follow.

I say "recipes" because there is no true recipe for homemade veggie broth. It all depends on what kinds and how much veg you have and what flavors you want to add to the broth.

What I do is save all my veggie scraps in a bowl in the freezer to keep them from rotting. Once I get a large bowl full, I know it's time to make the broth.

Some veggie scraps I commonly use are:

- (sweet) potatoes

- peppers

- carrots

- zucchini

- onions

- stems from any greens

- broccoli

I simply divvy up the veggies between three pots on the stove, making sure there is a good mixture in both. I fill up the pots with water straight from the sink, just covering the veggies. Then, I will add any seasonings I feel like adding that batch . I typically use:

- salt

- pepper

- garlic and onion powder

- bay leaves

- thyme

- oregano

- And anything else that may spark my interest that day.

Of course you can totally just leave it plain although I highly encourage you at least add a little salt to enhance the flavor.

Next, I bring the covered pots to a boil, keeping a close eye so they don't boil over and since the smaller pots will boil faster than the larger pots. Keeping the pots covered helps bring it to a boil faster and keeps any bugs out since this will be sitting on the stove for a while.

After it is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30-60 minutes. Then, turn the stove off, and let the broth cool down before transferring it to another container.

Once it is cool, you will need:

- a large bowl

- a strainer

- some storage containers

One at a time, I dump the contents from each pot into the strainer over the bowl. I put the veggies into my compost bucket and then pour the broth into my containers and continue this with the rest of the broth.

From here, you can store it however you like. I use up-cycled plastic containers I have lying around, anything from peanut butter to chia seeds. I store about 4 cups of liquid per container and then pop them in the freezer until ready to use. Using three pots usually gives me about 16-24 cups of broth depending on the amount of veggies and how full I make them.

I use up-cycled plastic vs glass because I freeze it. We learned the hard way that the glass is likely to break when you freeze it with liquid inside so plastic is a safe bet and I am glad that I can up-cycle it any way we can versus throwing it out.

I will transfer the frozen broth to the fridge if I know I will need broth that week. We use it for anything from soups to sauces and anything in between.

I hope you enjoy this simple recipe and use it as a way to maximize your food scraps and as a way to reduce your waste.

- Emma