Do you make your own stock?
Chicken stock (or bone broth) is an extremely useful ingredient to keep on hand. We use it for so many things: as a substitute for water when making rice, soups, and stews, of course for gravy and sauces...really it can be a substitute for water in almost any savory dish!
Good broth provides wonderful flavor and is packed with goodies like collagen.
Collagen provides your body with amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.
Collagen is wonderful for protecting healthy joints, and a 2016 study in the Nutrition Journal demonstrated that consuming collagen from the connective tissue of chickens also helped people who already suffer from osteoarthritis symptoms in their knees. Its results show that collagen can improve knee joint symptoms, such as pain, stiffness, and poorer physical function, for people already suffering from osteoarthritis.
Quality broth also contains:
Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Iron
vitamins A and K
Fatty acids
Selenium
Zinc
Manganese
The amino acids in good bone broth can help with digestive issues such as leaky gut and inflammatory bowel disease and can help promote more restful sleep.
So when we talk about all of the benefits of good broth, we aren't talking about that shelf-stable tetra pack you can buy at the grocery store!
Those are typically loaded with salt and other preservatives, and probably not much collagen!
We are talking about a broth that you make yourself, simmered slowly on the stove, from the bones of a chicken raised with good nutrition.
Making your own broth is SUPER easy, will save you LOTS of money, tastes WONDERFUL and is good for you!
If you have never done it before, Brian and I made a very quick video tutorial for you!
A quick how-to on making bone broth
Cheers,
Jennifer and Brian
P.S. We still have lots of stock starters in the freezer if you want to give making your own broth a try!