A pot full of old vegetable ends and food scraps may not look pretty, but it can make for a delicious broth. One Redditor shared their method for making a no-waste savory broth in the subreddit r/AntiConsumption.
"I [save] all my veggie scraps when I cook and put them in a container and freeze them until I have enough to make a broth," they wrote. "Stop paying for store bought broth, you can literally make it [with] things you would throw away anyway … I'm about to have soup broth for the whole winter."
Indeed, their pot is chock-full of scraps, from garlic scraps to celery ends to carrot peels and onion ends.
Many Redditors were already fans of the broth-making method. "I live for doing this," one person wrote. "It is so rewarding. I always have a bag going in the freezer – I save bones, too."
"If you use parmesan, keep the rinds for broth too!" another suggested.
Another commenter had an additional idea: "I got maybe the [happiest] earthworms in my compost pile … My birds are happy for every piece of bread that had gotten too hard. If you can't use it, at least feed the wildlife with it."
The original poster noted that not all vegetables are ideal for broth, mentioning that broccoli and cabbage tend to be too bitter, but they said that anything from onions to garlic skins, celery tips, carrot peels, mushroom stems, and more can contribute to a rich flavor. "Just strain after you cook the broth and you can compost the rest," they wrote.
Making better use of leftovers is a great way to squeeze more out of every grocery budget. Whether you use vegetable remnants for broth, lemon peels for homemade cleaning solutions, frozen scraps for dog treats, or organic waste to make compost for a garden, there are numerous ways to cut back on excessive spending.
Mitigating food waste is also important. People throw away 60 million tons of food each year, with nearly one-third of all food in the world going to waste. Unfortunately, the planet-warming gases generated by this waste account for between 6% and 8% of the world's total.
So not only does making veggie stock help the planet and your wallet — it's simply delicious as well. "Just add one cup of white rice and that's a meal right there," one person commented. "Very healthy too."
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