Turn your kitchen scraps into vegetable broth

Plastic Free July has changed the way I shop for food.

I roam the supermarket aisles avoiding everything in plastic, and look for packaging that can be recycled and have begun to take my own bags for vegetables and containers for cheese. I find that it is easier to buy food that is not packaged in anything. Hello more vegetables and fruit!  

Going without plastic, especially single use plastic is not as hard as I imagined. It has been small changes here and there, mainly going without items. Most packaging is made up of plastic (those cardboard milk cartons have plastic in them!!!). I am learning a lot of about the impact plastic is having on the environment, animals and other people. It’s staggering!

I have not had to tackle letting go of take away drinks like coffees as it’s not something indulge in. I was already in the habit of carrying my refillable water bottle on me if I needed a drink. My usual routine of picking up takeaway food has dwindled down. If anything, I find I am saving money and eating better. And the best part is, that I have seen my waste decrease.

I also discovered that my apartment block has a compost bin. It is not a big compost bin, so I am limited as to how much can be put in. I have decided to keep kitchen scraps to make vegetable broths as a way to use up as much food as possible.

The process is so easy. Did you know, a stock can only be technically called a stock if it has bones in it? I didn't. I love learning new facts.

For the last three weeks I put away an assortment of food scraps. Stuff like the first layer of onions, the rough part of celery, carrot ends, parsley stems, coriander stems, pumpkin skins, squash skins, garlic, and fennel. I packed these away into the freezer until I was ready to make the stock.

Handy tip: When putting your finished vegetable broth into jars or containers, measure how many cups are in each jar/container and write them on a label with the date it was made. That way you will know how much broth you have for your recipes and how old the broth is.