Homemade Chicken Stock

Having kids with food allergies has made me think outside the box for meal planning and shopping.  I try to get the most use out of everything I purchase, and Chicken happens to be something I get many uses from.

I spend the extra money to buy a free range non-hormone laden whole chicken.  I roast the chicken in the oven (there are several seasoning methods I use that I will link to) and we can get up to 3 meals out of the chicken itself.  As we use the chicken I save the bones, skin, fat (basically anything we don’t eat) in a container in the freezer.  I do the same with the remains from leeks, celery, carrot peelings & tops, ginger peels, onion ends (you get the idea!) Remember some non-organic produce has been sprayed with chemicals, so if you’re going to save veggie parts make sure they are certified organic and cleaned well.

Put everything in a pot and cover with water.  

The only thing I add that was not used before is bay leaves. 

 
Let this sit at a simmer for about 4 hours.  Notice there is NO salt added to this recipe.  I use my stock for many things like the obvious soups and also in rice instead of water and as a healing tea when we are sick and the sodium is not always necessary.

Strain the liquid from the solids and store the liquid in a glass container.  It does freeze well, just remember to leave space in whatever container you use if you are going to freeze for expansion.