It’s the week following your holiday celebration and you are surrounded with leftovers. What do you do with these festive holiday leftovers? There is only one answer—don’t throw them out!

Food waste increases by 25% during the holiday season between Thanksgiving to New Year’s. The week after Thanksgiving is especially harmful with 200 million pounds of turkey going into the landfills along with 30 million pounds of gravy and 14 million pounds of dinner rolls.

What You Can Do

One easy way to cut down food waste in your home during the holiday season is to save your extra vegetables and meats used in your favorite dishes and make a batch of chicken or vegetable stock.

Making your own broth and repurposing your holiday leftovers reduces waste in the environment and provides a more nutritious and hearty stock than what you buy in the grocery store. Win-win!

Use the bones from your chicken, turkey, or ham, along with all leftover parts of the vegetables you used - whatever was uneaten plus the scraps.

Some common holiday leftovers used in vegetable, chicken (or turkey) stock are:

Bones from the carcasses
Carrots (even the top leafy green part!)
Onions
Leeks or Parsnips
Celery
Garlic
Thyme
Parsley
Mushrooms

But you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand that sound like they would be delicious together!

Assembling Your Holiday Leftover Stock

Once you have gathered your leftover veggies and bones, you can start to cook your broth. First, put all your ingredients in a large stockpot and cover with cold water. Make sure the water is covering everything by an inch or two. This could be anywhere from 12-20 cups of water depending on the size pot you are using and amount of food.

The bones do not have to be completely clean—in fact, the meat left on will add some nice extra flavor and protein. The vegetables also do not have to be prepped in any shape or form. Add them in as they are with skins, tops, and ends. You might want to cut bigger vegetables in smaller pieces to release their flavor from the inside.

Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for about 1.5 up to 3 hours. After this time, your home should smell amazing! There is nothing more inviting than the aroma of homemade stock in your kitchen during the holidays. Next, drain the vegetables and stock using a collider to catch any veggies or bones that might fall out. Once you are left with just the liquid, strain it again to remove any remaining solid ingredients.

After your stock is complete, you can store it away in a tightly sealed container and make many different things with it, or freeze it for a rainy day! Some recipe ideas are: Tortilla Soup, Lentil and Sausage Soup, or even a Short Rib Curry! The options are endless.

Bone Broth

Bone broth is another way to utilize leftover bones of meat. The process is fairly similar to stock, but to make bone broth, which is higher in vitamins and minerals, let the bones boil for even longer—up to 24 hours. The longer they boil, the more the water can break down the tissue and structure of the bones, where a lot of the nutrients are packed in an animal.

Start by roasting the bones first to release some of the fat on them. Fill your stockpot with cold water just enough to cover the bones. One thing that differentiates bone broth with stock is there is less water used so the bone broth can produce a high protein and gel content. Next, take a spoon and remove any foam or scum that rises to the top of the stockpot.

After bringing the pot to a boil, let it simmer at a low temperature for up to 24 hours. Lastly, strain the broth and store in glass containers to drink or use in recipes.

Some vitamins you could potentially get in just one cup of bone broth are:

Calcium
Iron
Magnesium
Potassium
Zinc
Protein

Bone broth has great benefits to it because of the vitamins and minerals that are released when boiled. Gelatin, for example, is produced from the collagen in bone broth, which is broken down from tissues and bones to provide several amino acids and minerals. Amino acids help us build protein and synthesize hormones, which is why bone broth is also great for joint support.

The glutamine in bone broth also helps strengthen and maintain intestinal walls to keep the digestive system healthy and efficient.

So, What Will You Do With Your Holiday Leftovers?

After reading this article, I hope you feel inspired to make a broth or stock out of your leftover bones and vegetables from Thanksgiving or a holiday in the future. It is such an easy and delicious way to do our individual parts in reducing some of the food waste that is a product of the holiday season.

Repurposing Holiday Leftovers: Broth & Stock