A few days ago, a financial blogger named Mike Shedlock wrote a post based on the Business Week story on new frugality that featured my family and me. In response to that, tons of people commented on his blog, and many found there way over to this blog–giving my traffic another nice spike. (Thanks, Mish!)

One kind readers shared her DIY recipe for chicken broth and gave me permission to post it here. It sounds delicious, and I’m sure it will save me so much money from buying the canned stuff. I thought you guys would find it helpful, too. So, here is Linda Dahl’s way of making DIY chicken broth:

“I read a number of your posts and found myself reading about frugal dinner plans. You mentioned having bought chicken broth on sale and I wanted to share with you how I’ve been making my own chicken broth for many years now. The recipe/plan I use is not unique to me. I heard a cook book author (cannot remember her name) discussing how to make homemade chicken broth on the radio at least 15 years ago. I followed her ideas and have been making my own chicken broth ever since. My children LOVE it and sometimes ask me to just heat some up in a cup so they can drink it.

“Basically this is it…I save the bones, skin, fat, drippings and even scrapings from the pan that I roasted a whole chicken in. (I usually bake whole chickens, breasts, or leg quarters instead of boneless pieces although not exclusively.) Once I’ve removed the chicken from the pan I add a little boiling water to soften the crunchy bits stuck on the pan. After dinner I collect eveyone’s chicken bones, skin, and/or chicken left-overs on their plates, the scrapings and water from the pan, and put them in a freezer bag. I’m sure you know that once everything is cooked again it’s sterilized. If someone is sick though I usually dispose of what’s left on their plate.

“When I have 2 bags of chicken bones I put them in my 2 quart pressure cooker along with a carrot or two, 1-2 celery stalks, an onion (sometimes I leave the skin on the onion), pepper, garlic powder, and a little salt. I chop the vegetables into small pieces. I add only enough water to just barely cover the contents, put the lid on, and cook for about 1 hour at medium pressure. When the pressure drops on its own, I remove the bones and other solids and strain the liquid through a cheese cloth lined colander. The broth goes into the frig for at least 24 hours, all the fat floats to the top, it gets skimmed off and you are left with rich, tasty chicken broth. It is so full of minerals that it gels like jello and has to be scooped out instead of poured.

“I freeze the broth in 4-6 cup containers, use in place of canned chicken broth, and in place of water when making rice. It’s great as the base for chicken soup. You can also refreeze whatever broth you didn’t need for your recipe as long as you bring it to a boil before putting it back in the freezer.”

My only question for Linda–and maybe others might know the answer, too: I don’t have a pressure cooker. Is there another piece of equipment that I can use in my kitchen in lieu of a pressure cooker?

Thanks so much to Linda for sharing this awesome information. I can’t wait to go make broth!