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Bone broth has become one of the newest, latest and greatist, trendy health food crazes to sweep through the wellness circles. Scroll through Pinterest, Facebook, or the big ol’ web for a few minutes and surely you’ll come across advertisements for bone broth powder, pre-made bone broth, or the newest Collagen or Gelatin supplement. Bone broth is definitely not a new discovery. People have been making a version of bone broth, soup stock, or beef tea for hundreds of years. The fact is, you don’t need any fancy powders, spendy drinks at wellness bars, or expensive cartons to enjoy your daily broth! In fact, with just a little bit of (mostly) hands off time, a few vegies/herbs, and some good quality bones, you can make your own homemade, nourishing bone broth (and save money while you do it!)

Broth through the ages

In doing research for this post, I came across some interesting info on the history of bone broth. For a whole host of great info, check out this blog by Kettle and Fire.

Likely born of our ancestors thriftiness of using the whole animal from “snout to tail”, bone broth is a great way to extract out every last bit of nourishment from the animal.

Many different ancient cultures have used some form of broth in their diet. In Ancient Greece, Hippocrates was reported to recommend bone broth for those with digestive issues. Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Middle East, North and South American and even Caribbean cultures all have some version of bone broth in their culinary history. Most of us have probably heard chicken soup called “Jewish Penicillin.”

In Victorian England, bone broth or “Beef Tea” was given to seemingly un-treatable patients, or patients who could take in no other food, then reportedly improved from their ailment. (Note: Beef tea was likely made from meat rather than bones.)

Bone Broth Ingredients

At its ultra-simplest, bone broth is easily made with good quality bones, and fresh, clean water. Most reputable sources recommend using a little acid (typically Apple Cider Vinegar) to help leach all the goodness out of the bones. Others say that the ACV doesn’t matter. Some people use vegetables and herbs in their broth, while others prefer to stick to just bones.

Personally, I prefer to use herbs and vegetables in my bone broth as well as the ACV. My rationale for using herbs and vegies in broth is very self serving:

Herbs and Vegies make Bone Broth tastier! Simply put, if I’m going to drink broth or use it in dishes like soups, casseroles, etc. then I want it to be tasty!
Herbs and Vegies add additional nutrition to the bone broth. I haven’t been tolerating raw vegies for a while now and getting in my daily servings of cooked vegetables has been hard, so I take every opportunity that I can to add additional nutrition into my diet.

Tastier and more nutritious-Yes Please!

As far as the apple cider vinegar question is concerned, the amount is super small (1-2 tablespoons per BIG batch), and you can’t taste it in the finished broth. So, my philosophy is, why not put it in? If there is a chance that we can get a few more minerals and vitamins out of the bones, why wouldn’t we use some ACV?

Quality Matters

Although, I always try to use organic produce and soy free meats (from animals not fed soy), bone broth is one of those instances where you really want to make sure you are sourcing the best possible ingredients. We are especially talking about the quality of the bones that you use. Certain toxins are stored in the bones when the body isn’t able to break down and dispose of them. As we make bone broth, we are specifically trying to break down and get to all the good vitamins, minerals, and gelatin in the bones, so we need to take care to source good quality bones for our broth.

Bones – A variety of different bones can be used for bone broth.
- Saved bones: We save the bones from our dinners to make bone broth. Just toss them into a gallon bag and store in the freezer until you are ready to make your next batch of broth. We regularly cook a whole chicken (weekly) and now that I’m cooking Stewing Hens on a regular basis, we usually have “scrap” bones on hand (check out this post, How to cook a Stewing Hens for more info on working with Stewing Hens).
- Backs or Soup Bones: Our local farm sells chicken “backs”, they are actually the whole torso carcass without breast, thigh, wings, or legs. These “backs” are raw, with quite a bit of meat on them so when I use backs, I roast them for an hour before starting my bone broth. When I first started making broth, I used the backs, but now that we cook whole chickens regularly we usually have enough “scrap” bones in the freezer that I don’t have to buy the backs. Frugal win!
- Grass-fed beef bones: Just like with chicken, you can save and use beef bones when you make ribs, roast, etc. Since we don’t typically cook bone in beef, I find its easier and more cost effective for us to purchase grass-fed beef bones.
- Pork, Chicken, Lamb, etc: Any of these bones from can all be used to make bone broth
Water
- Good, clean, filtered water is best for making bone broth. Water is the predominant ingredient in broth and is the medium for dissolving and then carrying all the vital goodness into our own bodies, so it is important to use good filtered water for bone broth.
Organic Produce
- Lastly, while organic produce isn’t always in our budget or available, I think it is so important to minimize our exposure to toxins and do strongly encourage you to use organic produce. That said, you can (and I do) use scraps of vegies for most of the veg for your bone broth! (See Frugal tips below)

Grass-fed and finished beef bones are probably the easiest for most people to find. In our area, I am so lucky to have access to a local farmer that raises all of their animals soy free. To find a local farmer near you, you could talk to farmers at your local farmers market, check with your local butcher, or look on EatWild. If you are not able to locate a farmer local to your area, consider US Wellness meats to order online.

Frugal Tips for homemade Bone Broth

Okay, so quality bones, clean filtered water, organic produce, I thought you said that making my own bone broth would be cheaper?

This is going to sound kinda funny, but most of the vegies and bones that go into my bone broth are scraps. In fact, we’ll go so far as to say some would call them trash, LOL! 😉

Scraps?!?

Seriously though, I save up any leftover bits of vegies in a gallon size bag in my freezer. Whenever I cut up vegetables, I put the extra bits into the freezer bag. Wilty parsley and herbs, Kale ribs, rough looking bits of celery, blemished carrots, parsnip cores (woody cores from larger parsnips) and broccoli stems all go into the freezer bag. When I’m ready to make bone broth, I just pull out the bag, dump some of the veg bits into the pan or crock pot and we are ready to go. Depending on what was in my freezer bag, I will usually throw in a couple extra carrots for the fresh and sweet flavor as well as fresh parsley. Not only does this reduce waste, and make the most of every bit of our produce, but using these frozen veg scraps also saves me time and energy!

Saved bones are my other big tip for frugal bone broth. We are regularly making stewing hens and cook a whole chicken at least 3-4 times a month so we regularly have chicken bones on hand. I save all these bones in the freezer then just pull them out to add them to the pot. I haven’t had to buy bones for several months now.

By saving veggie bits and leftover bones, we have been able to reduce the cost of making big batches of bone broth down to a few herbs, a couple carrots, a handful of parsley, and the electricity to run the crockpot! Definitely cheaper than buying ready made bone broth!!!

Bone Broth cooking methods

Bone broth can be made in a large stockpot on the stovetop, in a slow cooker, or in a pressure cooker (like an Instant Pot). I am still coveting (and saving for) an Instant Pot so I don’t have any first hand knowledge of making broth in an Instant Pot. Supposedly, bone broth cooked quickly in a pressure cooker would have the least amount of histamines, as histamines increase in foods as they age, so this is definitely on my list to try.

We have tried both the stove top and crock pot methods for making bone broth. In an informal taste testing (my family and friends), the slow cooker bone broth won unanimously. I was super surprised!

Slow Cooker Method

With the slow cooker method, just toss everything in the crock, turn it on, and let it cook for 48-72 hours. Just check on the bone broth a couple times each day to make sure there is enough water, but otherwise it’s totally low maintenance. I use the largest slow cooker that I could find (at the time) which is a 6 quart but this 7 quart crockpot is comparable.

Stovetop Method

The stovetop method is simple and straightforward as well, but requires more fuss and attention. With the stovetop method, bring everything to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then keep it at a simmer for 12-24 hours. This method requires keeping the broth at a low simmer which means keeping an eye on it more often, adding additional water, then adjusting temperature to maintain the simmer. So plan on making broth when you won’t have to leave the house. I really don’t like leaving my stove on overnight or unattended so this method is not my fave.

Considering that the slow cooker broth tastes better, requires less hands on attention (and no unattended stoves overnight) you can guess which method I use, LOL! 😉

Storing Bone Broth

Bone broth can be stored in the fridge, freezer, or canned. I try to freeze all left overs right away as histamine increases as food ages. This same principle holds true for bone broth as well. I prefer to store bone broth in the freezer, then defrost as needed.

For all the methods listed below, after straining bone broth, allow broth to cool thoroughly in the fridge, skim fat off the top (optional), then freeze.

Some ideas for freezing broth:

Freezing Bone broth in ice cube trays

Ice Cube Trays

(My fave) After cubes have frozen, transfer to a large freezer safe bag.
- Pro-Reusable, less waste, small size of cubes makes it easier to use in recipes like sauces that just need a little broth
- Con-Kind of a pain to wash the trays after use. Need lots of ice cube trays for big double batches. Harder to determine portion.
Freezer Bags

Fill thicker freezer safe ziploc bags 3/4 full with broth, seal well, and freeze flat. Once frozen, bags stack nicely in freezer for storage. This method works great for freezing soup broth for cooking. Just pull out frozen broth, cut off bag, put in pot at medium to defrost.
- Pro– Disposable and holds larger quantity (quart size freezer bag will yield about 3 cups defrosted broth.
- Con– During freezing and defrosting bags can leak. Disposable bags = more waste. Larger quantity, would have to store any extra once defrosted.
Disposable Paper Cups

Fill paper cups, then place in freezer. Once frozen, tear off paper cups and store in large freezer safe bag.
- Pro-Already preportioned into one cup servings. Cups are disposable so no need to wash ice trays! (woot)
- Con-Waste of paper cups. Due to size/shape, freezer bag will not hold as much as with ice cubes. But, if you stack them evenly in the bag, they store flat in the freezer quite nicely.
Freezable Mason Jars

Fill jar 3/4 full leaving lots of room for expansion. I do NOT use this option because I’ve had too many jar “accidents”. Even with following all the tricks and using freezer safe jars, we’ve had many jars crack thereby ruining the broth and wasting the jar. But, I’ll include this option because lots of people like and have good luck freezing in jars.
- Pro– Reusable, can store more quantity in each jar, and defrost a couple portions at a time.
- Con– Risk of jars cracking in freezer and not convenient for stacking in freezer

Personally, I use the ice cube tray method for bone broth for drinking and freezer bags (quart size) for for making soup, rice, sauces, etc.

Uses for bone broth

Some folks like to have their bone broth first thing in the morning instead of or before their coffee. Since I usually eat soup for breakfast, I prefer to have my broth with lunch or dinner. In the beginning, it took a little getting used to, but now I really love how a mug of hot bone broth totally rounds out my meal.

Of course, the most mainstream way to consume broth is hot, out of a mug with a sprinkle of Himalayan or Sea Salt. But there are many other ways of using bone broth in your daily meals.

Options:

Soup
Sauces/gravies-broth lends a slow cooked, rich flavor to sauces and quick cooking foods
Casseroles
Mashed Potatoes or “Fo-tatoes”-mashed cauliflower, mashed parsnip or other root vegies
Rice-Substitute broth for water when cooking rice to greatly increase the flavor and nutrition of your rice. Works wonderfully with cauliflower rice as well.

Quick Leftover Soup is a wonderful use of bone broth. When you have multiple food allergies, it can be hard to find something to eat on the fly. For a quick “convenience” meal, I like to take leftover meat and vegies (or even quickly cook frozen vegies), a carb like frozen rice or left over potatoes, then combine them all in a bowl with bone broth. Garnish with some green onion and you have a quick filling soup to stave off the hunger monster.

Why is bone broth part of my health routine?

When I drink bone broth, I feel comforted, healthier, calmer, and can just “feel” the nourishment. My tummy feels soothed.

Totally non-scientific answer, but broth just feels good and healthful for me. So I’m going to keep drinking it. Just like everything else in this life, you have to make your own decisions on what is good & bad for you.

I hope you enjoy making your own homemade, nourishing bone broth. Please let me know if you have any questions, or tips of your own. 😉

~Naturally yours~

Liz