Mary and Beach, this ones for you!
I learned this little tip from Anika at the cooking class and since then it's become a standard practice in our home. Instead of throwing away the veggie ends, onion and garlic skins, the tomatoe or zucchini that didn't last long enough to get eaten I throw them all into a stock pot in the fridge. All week long it grows collecting the odds and ends that I would have normally thrown in the trash. This pot has carrots that went bendy, zucchini that got all pruny, a tomato that had seen better days, cilantro that was done, onion peels, the ends of garlic and garlic paper (there's great nutritional value in the bits and pieces we usually throw away).
At the end of the week pull it out, add enough water to cover all the veggies plus about two inches or more and bring it to a boil on the stove!
It will start smelling amazing right away! You will know it's ready when the water turns that beautiful broth color and the veggies have all gone soft.
When you are satisfied with your broth, strain and you are ready to go! Throw away the veggies or compost them. You just saved yourself money on buying broth at the store, you know exactly what is in your veggie broth and you've given veggies that would have normally been discarded a chance to be useful (it's kind of poetic don't you think)! Organic doesn't get any better than that! From here you can store your broth in the fridge for about a week, freeze it or use it now. Remember if you freeze in glass: never put something hot in the freezer in glass (it will crack) and leave enough room, several inches for the liquid to expand once frozen. This one grew up to become a lovely soup that we will be eating on all week.
Happy Cooking! This is a really effortless practice once you get in the habit of throwing the veggies into the pot instead of the trash.
Have a wonderful week!
Lacy