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You’re steaming your veggies, right? Keep that water once the veggies are done because you are going to have the yummiest, most nutritious, and positively cheapest – FREE! – veggie stock without any more fuss or cooking.
Here’s the trick: Once the steaming water has cooled, add it to a quart container, lid it, then put in the freezer. Add subsequent steaming waters to it until the broth is about an inch from the top of the container to allow room for expansion and avoid a messy explosion in the freezer.*
Accumulate a few jars of broth for your next soup or stew creation. Let thaw and use in place of broth or water in your favorite recipes.
You can use the steaming water from all sorts of veggies, even water left from boiling potatoes. ‘Bean juice’, the extra liquid from cooking dry beans, is a nutrient rich base for soups and stews featuring beans as a main ingredient. Save bean juice in separate containers as it can overpower the flavor and mess up the visual appeal of light broth-based soups.
*If you use a glass jar, make absolutely certain that the water is completely cooled before adding it to the jar, both a new jar and one you’re adding to from the freezer. Otherwise, you’ll have something else to do, like clean up a dangerous mess of broken glass and oozing vegetable broth.
Important note: Always use filtered water for cooking veggies and other foods. Adverse health effects from drinking water contaminants found in tap water can be exacerbated when subjected to heat.
Soup’s on!
