It’s the right time of year for a hot cup of soup, whether as an escape from the cold outdoors or a soother for a cold in your throat.  Making your own chicken stock is not only an incredibly frugal option, but you can increase your nutrition dramatically over storebought chicken broth. As an added bonus, the process is painlessly simple:

1. Use a vinegar soak. Just put a generous splash of vinegar into cold water with your bones and optional meat and allow to soak for an hour.  This draws out the calcium and minerals from the bones!
2. Cook your stock for 12-24 hours. More time, more nutrients.
3. Roast the chicken first. I used to just throw the whole chicken(s) in the pot and then use the meat from that, but the texture is often lacking and much of the flavor is gone.  You can also boil the chicken until it’s done, then pick the meat off and return the bones to the stock.
4. Add a few (or a lot of) cloves of garlic, slicing them in half to let the juices out but otherwise leaving them alone, i.e. in their skins.
5. Add vegetables: carrots, onions, celery. I started adding these about an hour from the end so they aren’t cooked to mush. I pull the carrots out and throw them into my next batch of chicken noodle soup.
6. Put the parsley in right at the end. About 10 minutes before you take your stock off the stove, add fresh parsley.  This releases additional mineral ions into the broth.  (I use dried, which probably only gives flavor, but I always forget to buy fresh!)
7. Wear your inside shoes. It takes over an hour to strain my broth, because I make so much at a time. Someday I’m going to have two great big glass bowls, and it won’t be so bad. For now, I have to pour through my strainer into my glass bowl, dole that out into jars, then into the bowl again before I can even empty my pot.
8. Wear an apron and push your sleeves up. I’ve ruined too many brightly or dark-colored shirts with grease spots. I’m finally learning my lesson.
9. Condense your own broth.  After straining the veggies and bones from your broth/stock, you can return it to the stove and boil off some of the water.  If you’re low on freezer space, this is a great way to have less to put away!
10. Make it often. The health benefits of homemade chicken stock or broth are lengthy and marvelous, including immunity boosters and calcium for your bones.  In the winter especially, I try to make sure my family gets some stock at least a few times per week.  I even snatch the carcass from the Thanksgiving turkey when we get together with the extended family!

Photos by Katie Kimball