We are passionate about eating better for the planet and this vegetable stock is a fantastic way to reduce waste!
One of the downfalls of shop-bought stock cubes is the unnecessarily high levels of salt (dangerously high levels for babies!). Even the ‘low-salt’ options have ten times the amount of salt found in ‘baby stock’; and buying special baby stock can get pricey!
The beauty of this stock is that you can use pretty much any vegetable scraps that you accumulate over a few days – each stock will be slightly different but very resourceful! Pop the scraps in a sealable tupperware pot in the fridge and prepare once you’ve filled it or after ~3 days (don’t leave it too long or the contents will start to go off!)
Ingredients
A selection of your veg scraps could be:
- Carrot peel, top & tail
- Pepper stems, ribs, seeds
- Cucumber top & tail
- Onion skins
- Celery stalk ends
- Leek ends and outer layers
- Cauliflower leaves, stems
- Broccoli leaves, stems (NB max. 1 stem)
- Courgette peel, top & tail
- Aubergine top & tail
- Mushroom stems (if not using in cooking)
- Potato/sweet potato peel
- Butternut squash peel, seeds
- Garlic skins
- Herb stems
– NB best to avoid asparagus as the flavour is very overpowering
To enhance the flavour
- A couple of chopped garlic cloves for flavour
- Chopped fresh herbs
Method
- Empty your tupperware pot of scraps into a large saucepan and add just enough water to cover them
- Put a lid on and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour
- Strain the liquid into jars/tupperware/freezer bags using a sieve to collect the veg scraps
- Discard the veg scraps and use the reserved stock as required (either pop in the fridge for more immediate use or freeze for future recipes.
NB stock made in this way is equivalent to a ‘made up’ stock cube and so will not need diluting (and if a recipe requires 500mls stock, you will need to use 500mls of this stock)
If you would like to read more inspiring stories about joining the war on waste we recommend the videos and links from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s resources, click here.
Baby Loves Veg 
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