Stock and gravy cubes are sold in their millions, but it’s pretty easy to make your own, and often from leftover veggies, so zero waste too. This homemade vegetable broth (Heartful Table) is a simple mix of onion, garlic, carrot, celery stick, fresh herbs, peppercorns and optional parsnip, miso and seaweed (not for thyroid issues).
Keep stocks and gravy away from pets, due to toxic ingredients like salt, onion and garlic. Learn more on food safety for people & pets.
This homemade Bouillon Powder (Shane & Simple) is simple to make to add flavour to soups and stews. Or try his 1-ingredient veggie broth.
where to buy good veggie stock
If you prefer ready-made, 9 Meals from Anarchy makes good veg stocks, founded by three guys in Cheshire who ran an organic veg box scheme, and locals kept asking to recommend a good stock. So they made one instead. This is available in various flavours and packed with veggies.
Why some top chefs recommend the best-selling stock cubes is anyone’s guess, because the ingredients don’t sound up to much. One major brand includes ‘vegetable fat, chicken meat and fat, hydrolysed vegetable protein (if you don’t know what it is, you shouldn’t be eating it), sodium insoinate and guanylate and permitted flavourings (eggs – and what?)
the myth that ‘bone broth’ is good
This is just another influencer-type myth. You can get all the same nutrients from plants. Amy at Wallflower Kitchen has created a good ‘vegan bone broth’ and has an excellent article on why her broth is just as good. Or try these 3 simple recipes.
Just like beauty gurus selling collagen for skin, we make our own collagen, so don’t need to eat it or put it on our faces from cows. If you want to heal your stomach, eat proper food and include healthy fats. Her recipe uses shiitake mushrooms (good for inflammation) and wakame seaweed (not for thyroid issues or certain medical conditions) plus turmeric (an anti-inflammatory spice).
