Homemade stock

Whenever you are cooking with vegetables, there is usually a little heap of peelings and odd ends created and you will probably have some wilting herbs in the back of the fridge that didn't get used up. And if you are a meat or fish eater and eat things on the bone, you will have a pile of bones left over.

Rather than putting these in your compost bin (or worse, rubbish bin), turn them into magical stock! Keep a bag in the freezer (separate ones for veg, meat bones and fish bones) and keep adding to it. When you have a full bag it's stock time. making stock on a miserable day when you don't plan on going out for a couple of hours is actually quite nice - and makes the kitchen smell amazing!

Veg stock:
Tip the veg bits into a large saucepan and cover with water (about 2 inches higher than the veg). Add a few peppercorns, some bay leaves, herb stalks or whatever you want. Boil it and then let it simmer for about 2 hours on a low heat. Strain it into another vessel (don't do what I often o by mistake and strain into the sink, forgetting that its the water I want to keep, not the veg!). Then freeze portions of this is takeaway containers or freezer bags - about 500ml each but nothing's exact.

Fish stock:
As above but particularly good with dill, aniseed or tarragon. Add some veg scraps too. Fennel and lemon rinds are particularly good.

Meat stock:
As with the fish but even better if you roast the bones off in the oven first as it intensifies the flavour.

Now you never need a stock cube again and you can make endless soups and stews. Cooking rice in stock is great too.