Homemade Chicken Stock (Broth)

To help save my food budget, I make a big pot of homemade soup each Saturday. Today is no exception and I have decided to make cream of potato.

But as I was checking my freezer, I realized that I did not have any frozen chicken stock left. How can I make my family's favorite soup when I don't have one of the main ingredients.

So I switched gears and now I have decided to make chicken stock. With some of the stock I will make a quick batch of chicken noodle soup.

1. Purchase a small to medium size whole chicken. If you purchase fresh one, it will more than likely already be thawed. If not, you will need to hold on making your stock until it is.

2. Rinse your chicken inside and out. Pull out the neck and the gibblets (heart, liver, and gizzard) and discard.

3. Put your chicken in a 8 quart stock pot and fill it about half full of water. If you don't have a stock put, you may want to invest in one. You will find that you will use it alot. I found mine at Shopko for $12.

4. Into the pot add about 1 cup of chopped onion, 1 cup of chopped celery, 1 cup of chopped carrots, and salt and pepper. Bring to a small rolling boil and let it boil until the meat is almost falling off the bone. This may take 1 to 1/2 hours.

5. Let cool.

6. Strain in a collandar. This will separate the chicken stock from the meat and vegetables. Cool.

7. Pour the chicken stock into freezable containers. I usually put about 4 to 5 cups per container.

8. Remove the meat from the chicken. Throw away the skin and bones. The meat can be used for other meals... or in my case to make chicken noodle soup.

9. What do you do with the vegtables? You could throw them away. If you decide to use them, I would suggest that you use them the same day.

If you have another recipe for chicken stock, I would love to hear from you. One batch of chicken stock will fill about 7 freezer containers.

What't the cost?
Chicken: about $7.00
vegetabeles: about $2.50

If you don't have containers.... this will add about $3.50.

If you consider the cost only for the stock, you may think it is a bit pricey, but once you realize that you still have all the chicken meat for other things...... then it's a pretty good deal!