Seeing my aunt's habit of saving veggie scraps for stock

Kim Mitchell · 2026-03-04T13:06:35.263666+00:00

She always keeps onion skins, carrot tops, and celery ends in a freezer bag. When it's full, she boils them into a broth for soups and stews. It turns what would be trash into a base for so many family meals. Kinda makes you think about how little needs to go to waste, right?

paige_moore6mo ago

Calling it "turning trash into a base" sounds good, but those scraps often make broth taste bitter, like onion skins can. It takes freezer space and time to boil them, which not everyone has. You might end up with a bag of frozen bits you never use, so it just moves waste around. Honestly, buying a cheap box of broth is easier and tastes more consistent.

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harper2546mo ago

Ever wonder if that freezer bag trick is too good to be true? My friend Jess was totally into it, saving every potato peel and broccoli stem. She ended up with this weird, cloudy broth that made her whole pot of lentils taste like dirt. She had to throw the whole thing out, so her freezer was just full of old kale ribs for months. Guess it doesn't always work out like the nice idea.

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victor8636mo ago

My freezer's basically a veggie scrap graveyard at this point, totally get what @paige_moore means about it just moving waste around. I tried making broth from my collection of sad carrot nubs and it tasted like boiled lawn clippings. Guess my cooking skills aren't quite at my aunt's level yet.

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