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Do you remember that first little batch of bone broth you made? Chances are that it was gone before it had time to cool all the way down. Delicious isn’t it? Since then you’ve invested in a much larger stock pot and you’re buying soup knuckle bones and ham hocks by the pound. The end result is a lot more broth then you can use up immediately. Making big batches is a lot easier and more time efficient. Now let’s find out how to store bone broth when cooking in bulk.
How To Store Bone Broth In The Fridge
After you have done the painstakingly hard job of boiling water and bones, allow your bone broth to cool completely. (What is Bone Broth?) Then carry on with whatever wonderful concoction you were planning. Anything you haven’t used up after that point should be strained into clean jars and stored in the fridge. You can keep it in there for up to a week.
You can use the collagen filled bone broth straight from the fridge in your favorite soups or stews. If you want a cup to drink, pour some in a small pot and warm over the stove. You can add a few herbs and spices to taste. This will come in particularly handy after the broth has set for a few day and doesn’t taste quite as good as the first day.
How to Freeze Bone Broth For Long Term Storage
Once a month I try to plan a bulk cooking weekend. It often leaves me with more broth than I can use over the course of a few days. That’s when I plan to freeze the majority of it. So once your pot of broth and bones has cooled enough to be safe to handle, you can begin. First you must strain the liquid into a large bowl or pitcher, them store it in containers to freeze it.
Get your freezer containers ready and stir up your broth to make sure all the nutrients are equally distributed. Pour the broth in the freezer containers and allow them to stay on the counter until they have cooled down to room temperature.
Storing Your Broth Properly
Depending on how you plan to use the broth later on will dictate how to store bone broth and the type of containers you use for storage. When freezing, you can either use glass jars or plastic containers. Or you can pour it into ice cube trays for smaller portions of broths that you can add to veggies as you cook them, think like mashed potatoes etc. Or use a combination of all of them.
When using ice cube trays, set them in the freezer for a few hours or until the broth is frozen solid, then pop them out and transfer them to a freezer bag. Label the bag and put it back in the freezer. You can grab individual bone broth cubes as you need them.
Glass mason jars work well if you want glass. They store and stack well, are reusable (yay environment!) and are good at preventing freezer burn. There is a nifty tool to seal the mason jars if you want to store the broth for more than a month. I use this along with my food saver for salads, freezing, and anything else that comes up. (Other keto kitchen gadgets)
If you want to use disposable storage bags, I recommend the freezer ones in gallon size. Use a large measuring glass or small bowl to hold the bag while filling it, then lay flat on cookie sheets in the freezer to freeze. Once frozen solid, you can stack them saving precious freezer room. I use something like this.
Don’t Forget to Label Everything
If using storage bags, it’s best to label the bags before you fill them. Label your containers with the contents of the bag and the date and move them to the freezer. If using glass jars or tupperware of some sort, my favorite thing to use is masking tape. This colored masking tape would be so perfect! It doesn’t wash off or smear, peels off easily, and keeps things organized. I buy the wide roll specifically for labeling freezer foods.