Making Stock and Using Your Old Vegetables

We have been really enjoying the mixed fruit and vegetable boxes, and cooking sooo much amazing food at home. Even so, we still have a few things going brown in the fridge draw every few weeks. While we do have a compost (and dogs who will eat pretty much anything), I think it's best to try and eat as much of what we get as possible.

If it's left a bit too long to make something nice and fresh out of it, why not make a stock? It's really easy, and doesn't take very long at all. You can use pretty much anything in a vegetable stock (even some fruit, if you're that way inclined), but imagine how it will taste before adding strong flavoured produce. I recently made one with fennel stalks in it which was incredible - but whatever you use it in later on has to suit the flavour of stock you have, so be mindful.

Seeing as you won't be eating the vegetables, you don't need to spend any time on preparing or cutting them properly - just whack them into chunks. Put them in a big pot and add enough water to cover them. You can also use washed peels and trimmings of vegetables that you have used in other dishes.

I always throw in some whole black peppercorns and bay leaves from the garden (or dry work really well, too). I sometimes add salt, but all of these are optional. You can add whatever you like to flavour your stock - some other ideas are chili, spices and fresh herbs such as rosemary and thyme.

Heat the water to boiling, then reduce the heat and cook for about an hour - don't cook past the point of the vegetables becoming really soggy, as your stock will only taste as good as the vegetables in it.


Stock pot on the right, almost ready to add to the soup happening on the left. This soup recipe will be added the the blog shortly.

If you eat chicken, next time you buy some to cook buy a whole one and use the skeleton and cartilage in a stock (or chuck the whole thing in there and turn half way through). You can also use meat bones to make a meaty stock (I recommend still using vegetables as well).

When your stock has cooked for long enough, simply strain it and put it in a jar for use in pretty much anything! Use it as a base for soup, in a stir fry or curry, a risotto - anything that you add water too, just add your stock instead for extra flavour.

Now what to do with the soggy vegetable left overs? Unless you have an enclosed compost, I wouldn't recommend adding it as cooked food can attract vermin. If you have dogs (and haven't used anything harmful to them in your stock, ie: onion), do what we do and mix it through some cooked rice and meat - it's great for them and even if they're fussy eaters, they'll probably eat it along with the meat.

Otherwise, if you have a garden, a Bokashi bucket is a great way to dispose of cooked scraps as well as meat and dairy leftovers. Here is some info on Bokashi.

Does anyone have any other ideas for getting rid of cooked waste?

Thanks for reading, please leave any suggestions in the comments box or email me with any questions: kurt AT knockknock DOT com DOT au.

Happy eating!
xKurt