09/03/2026
Don’t toss those scraps — turn them into stock.
Every time you trim a vegetable, you’re probably throwing away flavor. Pepper cores, onion skins, carrot ends, celery tops, the woody stems you cut off before cooking — all of it can go straight into a freezer bag instead of the trash.
Here’s how it works: keep a gallon freezer bag in your freezer and toss in vegetable scraps as you cook throughout the week. Ends, peels, stems, cores — all fair game. Once the bag is full, dump it into a pot, cover with water, add a bay leaf and some peppercorns if you’ve got them, and let it simmer for an hour or two. Strain it out and you’ve got a rich, homemade veggie stock ready for soups, rice, or braising.
Zero cost. Zero waste. And there’s something genuinely satisfying about turning what would’ve been garbage into something you’d normally pay $4 a carton for at the store.
This is the kind of small habit that adds up — less waste in your kitchen, more value out of every box from your local farms. Small business supporting small business starts with using every last bit of what you’ve got.
Try it this week and let us know what you simmered up.