Store It Foods

A stock pot can be one of the most versatile items you have in your kitchen.　 As the name implies, it is perfect for producing soup stocks, but it can also be used for preparing soups and stews, cooking pasta, boiling corn on the cob, braising meats, making marinara sauces and much more.　 Larger than your customary pots and pans, it is this larger size that lends it its versatility.

Since soup stock is generally prepared for use in future meals, many recipes suggest separating the large batch that results into smaller portions.　 Some of these could be refrigerated for more immediate use, and others frozen for use at more distant meal times.　 One home chef recommends that the freezing take place in ice cube trays with the frozen cubes being taken out and stored in plastic freezer bags for space saving convenience.　 Freezing, however, need not be the only option.　 Canning is also a possibility.

Of course, canning, if chosen, needs to be done properly.　 Water bath and steam canners work, but they may not work safely.　 The best choice, when it comes to the canning of　such non-acidic foods as meats and many vegetables, is pressure canning.　 This effectively destroys those organisms which cannot be totally eliminated when relying solely upon boiling water methods.