How many times do you find yourself cleaning out the produce drawer of your fridge and kicking yourself for not actually using those veggies you were certain you’d use, “this time”?  It happens to me a lot.  I overbuy the beautiful produce I see at the farmer’s market, use only half a bunch of celery or undoubtedly leave half an onion sitting wistfully softening in the drawer.  Don’t beat yourself up.  You can use those leftover veggies to replace something you’d normally buy at the market, but without all the added sodium.  Something you can use to make soup, risotto, mashed potatoes, sauces…the possibilities are endless.  Vegetable broth.

Last week we deconstructed store bought chicken broth and found that some varieties contain as much as 860mg sodium per serving.  Well, unfortunately vegetable broth isn’t much better.

This week we’ll compare a couple of store bought vegetable broths with Out of the Box Food’s own “Clean-Out-The-Fridge” Vegetable Broth.  You won’t even need to go to the market to make this easy recipe.  It’s a great way to use up any leftover veggies in your produce drawer and even offers the bonus of relieving  food-waste guilt.  An additional tip:  When using vegetables during the week, save any scraps in a large re-sealable baggie to use in your broth.  I keep a bag with onion tops, celery leaves, carrot peels, etc.) in my produce drawer.  Then when I’m ready to make the broth, I add these little morsels to the other old veggies I’m using to make an even richer stock.

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(All ingredients followed by an * can be referenced at www.wikipedia.org by clicking on the ingredient.  Please feel free to reference the ingredients on other reputable sites for further information.)

Wild Harvest Organic Vegetable Broth

1 Cup = 570 mg sodium

Ingredients:

• filtered water
• cooked organic vegetables
  • organic carrots
  • organic onion
  • organic celery
• organic cane juice solids
• sea salt
• organic tomato paste
• organic molasses
• yeast extract*
• organic carrot powder
• organic onion powder
• organic potato flour
• natural flavor
• organic flavor
• organic canola oil

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Wolfgang Puck Organic Broth – Vegetable

1 Cup = 720 mg sodium

Ingredients:

• water
• contains less than 2% of:
  • organic vegetables
    • carrots
    • celery
    • onions
    • tomato
  • salt
  • organic cane juice solids
  • organic maltodextrin*
  • natural flavoring*
  • organic vegetable concentrate
    • celery
    • carrots

  **All listed product ingredients are taken from product’s package label.  Though Out of the Box Food makes every effort to provide complete ingredient information, please check the package for the most current information.

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Out of the Box Food’s Clean-Out-The-Fridge Vegetable Broth ^SM

*Don’t forget to save your vegetable scraps and peels to add while making this delicious stock.

Special Equipment: large stock pot, quart freezer bags, fine mesh strainer/colander, medium bowl

Ingredients:

• any old (not moldy) vegetables such as carrots, celery, onions, leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes
• any vegetable scraps, tops and peels from onions, leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes
• 1 tbsp whole peppercorns
• 16 C water (approximately)

Directions:

• Place all vegetables and scraps in pot.  Top with water.
• Bring stock to a boil over medium high heat.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-4 hours (minimum).  The longer the stock simmers, the richer the stock.
• Using a small mesh colander/strainer and bowl, strain out liquid.  Discard vegetables.
• Measure stock into four cup servings and pour into quart freezer bags.  Seal, label and lay flat in freezer to freeze.

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Making your own stock and broth is such an easy way to use up leftovers that would otherwise go to waste.  Check out last week’s post, Chicken Broth: What’s in a Can? for another easy broth recipe. It’s as simple as throwing leftovers or old veggies into a pot, adding water, and simmering while you go about your evening.  Making broth is even doable for working parents.  Just throw the leftovers and veggies into a pot when you’re making the kids dinner, and let it simmer until bedtime.  It’s really a hands off recipe that takes time, but little-to-no effort.  Plus, think of all the sodium you’re keeping out of your family’s bodies.  Until next week…