Food Recovery Journal

Waste Not: Bullion Bag Recipe

September 14, 2016

Bullion Bag

On average, an American family wastes $2200 worth of food each year. That is a whole lot of green being thrown away and if you are anything like me, I hate to see my money and food go to waste. Recently I began to make my own broth and it turned out to be easy, fun and even saves me money. How you ask? Well, lettuce start with our veggies (get it?). During the summer months fresh vegetables are big and abundant, farmers markets at every corner, local produce floods your favorite market and we stock up on nutritious and delicious produce. While we are quite good at buying produce we are not always as good at using it all up before it begins to wilt. Once vegetables go bad, or start to look to soft to use, our tendency is to throw them away and that means you are throwing your money away.

With that in mind, I bring you the Freezer Bullion Bag. When you are cooking and you schlepp the top off of a bell pepper or onion, you cut the ends off a carrot or peal that eggplant. This is all good plant matter. Take all of those bits and pieces and throw them into a bag in your freezer. Then as you go through your week and notice a zucchini or bunch of kale that will surely go bad before you can use it. Chop it up and toss it into your bag. Keep frozen until it is full or you are ready to use it. When the time comes, put the contents into a pot or crock pot, add water and cook for a handful of hours until it forms a beautiful, fragrant broth. Once done, use immediately or freeze in muffin tins so you can have little usable broth cubes for any occasion.

Freezer Bullion Bag Recipe

Ingredients:

• Stems, leafs, and ends of veggies
• Cut up vegetables you won’t have time to cook
• Ends and pieces that look almost bad but aren’t yet.
• Wilted Leafy Greens or herbs
• Garlic and onion peels

Avoid:

• Starchy things such as potatoes
• Overly potent things such as beets
• If you want a bright clear broth also avoid using many stems or dark produce (like eggplant peels).

Directions:

• Put what every ingredients you have into a freezer bag. Add to it as you cook or realize something will go bad before you can use it.
• When your bag is full add to a pot or crock pot
• Add water
• Cook until fragrant (I normally cook mine in a crock pot on low for 5 hours)

You did it! You made your very own stock and saved yourself money. Go you!