Freezing Stock
My wife made a nice big pot of chicken soup for dinner, there is nothing quite like a bowl of homemade soup after a cold damp day at work. The soup gave us a few meals and we still had a ton of broth left. I decided to save it for stock in the freezer. We use a lot of stocks when we cook these days and it is getting a bit pricey. The good stock at our local supermarket runs $3.49 for a quart. For a fraction of that cost I put up 3 quarts of good homemade chicken stock. We know exactly what went into it and it costs less, to boot! That is a win-win in my mind.
I got a good deal on some of the Ball Plastic Freezer Jars
I cut a bit of cheese cloth to strain my soup into stock through (I just couldn’t resist sneaking in a shot of my favorite pocket knife, my Spyderco Manix 2 
I strained the soup through a colander lined with 2 layers of cheese cloth. I wanted to get all the little bits that made the soup so good out. Besides they had already done there job and made a tasty stock.
I brought the strained stock back up to a good roiling boil (and, yes, I know my kitchen is pink!).
I ladled the stock into my Freezer Jar scores. I ran them through the dishwasher before using them. I left about a 1/2″ of head space.
Into the freezer they went. The stock will keep for up to a year, it has no chance of lasting that long at our house!
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Why did you bring the stock to a boil before freezing?
I bring it back to a boil to get the fat to distribute evenly. I skim as much as I can off but some does remain and I want to spread it around a bit.
oh, ok. Do you let it cool before freezing?
I let it cool for an hour or so before putting it in the freezer.
You know, this is something that I have not done, but really should. We are big soup eaters at our house and you are right.. might as well be saving it for future use (and mine will never last a year either!) Thanks for a great article!
It is super easy, saves a few bucks, and tastes better than the store bought stock. That is a home run in my book.
We make broth in small quantities all the time such as when cooking the chicken to make chicken and dumplings, but I’ve never purposely made a big batch to freeze. I have two whole chickens in the freezer right now that I plan to do that with. I was thinking can the broth, but putting it in the freezer would be so much easier. I’ve never seen the Ball freezer jars, but I am going to go out and find some. This is a great money saving and healthy idea.
I’m glad you liked it.
I enjoy making stocks, and have two kinds in the freezer–chicken and mushroom. They come in handy for soup and these chard tacos that I make. (Now to find duck carcasses so I can’t make my fave stock, duck.)
I agree, the boxed stocks, even the organic stuff, can’t touch homemade in flavor.
Homemade wins hands down. We just used some tonight to make Chicken and Dumplings…so good!