broth, the magical thing you make from scraps

after reading this article from beingfrugal.net, i feel like i've been wasting money my whole life buying broth and stock from grocery stores. basically, every time you have left over bits of veggies or chicken or beef, just save it all up in a baggie in the freezer until you have a sufficient supply and then pour water over it and slow boil it, then once it has all the flavor of whatever you're using, just pour it into muffin tins and freeze it, then once it's frozen, put all the frozen sections into ziplock baggies in the freezer for when you need them.

How to make soup stock:

Vegetable Stock:

The best way to make a vegetable stock is to save scraps. Peels, from onions, husks from garlic (my garlic press leaves little “skins” inside, so I always save those.) Ends of celery, extra mushrooms and any produce nearing the end of its life in the refrigerator. Shells from peas, stems and even apple cores go great in vegetable stock. (Never use spoiled/moldy produce).

If you have a few cups of vegetable bits, just cover them with water, simmer for 45 minutes, strain and freeze. However, if you’ve only got an onion skin here and a stalk of celery there, just throw it all in a big bag in the freezer until you have enough vegetable bits and time to boil it all at once. Strain and store.

Meat stock:

Bones, ends, and drippings! Use pan drippings, or bones to create a fantastic stock. The easiest way it to start with the brown bits from the bottom of a pan. First, pour off any grease/oils and then heat the pan quickly on the stove. Add a small amount of cold liquid to the hot pan (water, beer, wine, fruit juice, brandy, or even water that you cooked pasta or vegetables in), and as the liquid rapidly comes to a boil, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or heat-safe spatula. This will free up the flavorful bits from the bottom of the pan, and allow you to use them again. As an added benefit, the pan will be much easier to clean.

If you have bones or tough meat scraps to use, add the bones and enough water to cover them, and simmer for 45 minutes (fish is the exception—heads and bones go in the water, with the gills removed, but remove as soon as the bones become opaque). Large bones such as hamhocks or entire turkey carcasses may take longer—cook covered in water until the bones come out free of meat scraps.  Strain and store. 

since i plan to live by myself, i really plan to buy a whole chick every two weeks or so and use the meat on it for dinners. i like food, but one person can only eat so much, so a whole chicken should really last me quite some time if i get creative and they're usually under $5. i got this idea from savvyhouskeeping.com in her article eat for a week for under 850 .