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Serious question, is canned vegetable stock actually worth the price compared to making your own?
I was reading through some old budgeting blogs last night and found a stat that stopped me cold. A blogger tracked the cost per cup of homemade vegetable stock versus the cheap store brand cans. She figured homemade came out to about 12 cents a cup if you save your carrot peels and onion skins in a bag in the freezer. The store brand was 89 cents a cup at the time she wrote it. That seems like a no-brainer, but then she factored in the time. Simmering stock for an hour and a half, plus cooling and straining and storing it. I do love the convenience of just grabbing a can off the shelf when I'm making soup on a Tuesday night after work. But I also hate throwing money away when I could be using scraps I'd normally toss. I'd love to hear which side people here fall on. Do you make your own stock from kitchen scraps, or is the convenience worth the extra cost to you?
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rowanellis24d ago
Make the stock... you're basically getting paid to compost.
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the_jason24d ago
Frozen veggie scraps are a game changer for this. Keep a gallon bag in the freezer and toss in carrot peels, onion ends, celery tops, mushroom stems whatever. Once it's full you dump it in a pot with water and simmer for an hour. Strain it and you've got stock that cost you nothing and tastes way better than the boxed stuff. The trick is to avoid anything too bitter like broccoli or cabbage unless you want that flavor. Saved me a ton of money and my kitchen waste bin barely fills up anymore.
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