Stockpiling Your Scraps: What to Save & Freeze for Stocks

When it's time to make a batch of stock, I don't head to the grocery store. I just open the freezer. Inside I keep freezer bags full of scraps that by themselves are inedible, but when simmered slowly for hours, transform into the magical elixir that is from-scratch stock. So what should you be saving instead of tossing in the trash?

• Bones and carcasses: Whenever I roast a chicken, I wrap up the carcass in foil and store it in the freezer a freezer bag. If I end up having any random poultry parts like chicken wing tips, feet, or necks, I toss those into the bag as well. When I have an afternoon free to make stock, I use everything in the bag.

• Vegetable & herb scraps: Leek tops, wilted parsley, carrot greens, and other trimmings make great additions to stock. Just make sure to avoid including cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or brussels sprouts, which can overpower the flavor, or beets, which will turn the stock pink.

• Seafood shells & bones: Shrimp heads or shells, and fish heads or bones can be transformed into flavorful seafood stocks. Crab and lobster shells work too.

• Cheese rinds: Not only does adding the leftover rind of a hard cheese like Parmesan or Pecorino to a soup make it better, you can actually make a soup stock from rinds only. The subtly cheese-flavored stock can be the base for pureed vegetable soups or meatball soups.

Do you stockpile scraps in the freezer for stock? What do you like to save?

(Image: Emma Christensen)

Comments (9)

I put pretty much everything in my freezer bags, including carrots, etc. Haven't had a problem so far. It did turn pink once because of some rainbox swiss chard, but I didn't care.

I'm real good about saving my chicken carcases and parmesan rinds but never think about saving my veggie scraps until I read something like this. Thanks for the reminder and lets hope that it sticks.

I save almost everything! Including fruit cores, peels, and pits (I haven't tried citrus in stock yet, but I do have a bunch of orange halves that I juiced a while back hanging out in the freezer waiting for their turn. They might be a one orange per batch of stock thing). At any rate, I don't really think there's a limit to what can go into a stock.

Whenever I roast a chicken, I make stock overnight in my crockpot - just throw in the carcass, add a couple of carrots, some celery (there's almost always a couple of limp stalks in my fridge), an onion and a bay leaf or two. Fill with water and cook on low overnight -- voila! Stock with close to zero effort. Love it.

We have a compost bin for our garden so I never think to do this - good tip!

PS, my husband says we shouldn't put any citrus peels in our compost as 99% are treated with pesticides. @Idle Wife, I would investigate your citrus peels and if they aren't organic I wouldn't think you should be boiling them.

I made a batch of stock awhile ago that had a lot of broccoli & cauliflower and it stunk up the house real good... I'm sure a few limp cabbage leaves are okay, but keep the cruciferous to a minimum for sure!

My freezer bag on the go right now has a pound worth of clam shells & lots of green bean trimmings- a work in progress!

I also use the big giant yogurt containers for this. I remember seeing a French chef on TV who used milk jugs and then would just hack the top off with his super sharp fancy knife and drop the frozen veggie block into the stock pot. I don't trust my knives like that!

Tragic, true story: had a freeezer full of lovingly curated scraps all ready to go for a new batch of stock when Hurricane Irene came through and knocked the power out for two days while I was away. Lost all my little bits and pieces.

Wait...a question! Do you collect and freeze the vegetables? I have been freezing chicken bits but hadn't thought to go any further.

I put everything in freezer bags (but keep the veggies and meats separate). After making the broth, whatever is left goes into the compost bin.