MYO Nutritious Turkey Broth Inexpensively

by Texas Homesteader ~ 

After the turkey has been roasted and enjoyed, there’s still lots of food waiting to be enjoyed just by using the bones. I’ll make cheap, delicious and healthy broth with them. A money saver for sure. 

My method takes the leftovers after you enjoy your meal (the bones) and turns them into inexpensive nutritious turkey broth. Win/Win! #TexasHomesteader

Homemade Turkey Broth A Frugal Win

By far one of the easiest frugal things I do on the Homestead is make my own broth.

Think about it: Making broth takes the leftovers after you enjoy your meal (the bones) and turns them into delicious, nutritious broth.  Win/Win!

Of course I can purchase broth in the store. But a quart container around here runs about $3 each. And it’s filled with sodium.

My homemade broth doesn’t have the additives or the salt that commercial broth does. Plus with my homemade broth there’s no disposable container to throw away. The eco-warrior in me loves that too!

During the cold winter months I make endless soup that keeps RancherMan & me in hot soup for lunch for about a week. And of course the base of that soup is broth.

But since I make my own broth this week-long menu of soup lunches is incredibly cheap yet gives us several nutritious and bone-warming meals.

And it’s so easy. Really, you’re NOT gonna believe how easy this is!

What To Do With Leftover Turkey

When making broth I reserve the bones and trimmings from whatever meat we’ve enjoyed – sometimes beef, sometimes pork, sometimes chicken. But today it’s turkey.

After we enjoyed our turkey supper RancherMan & I removed the remaining meat from the bones. The turkey is carved and meat arranged on a platter. #TexasHomesteader

We portioned leftover turkey into single-meal sizes and put those packets of meat in a freezer bag, properly labeled of course.

This is the ‘Cook Once, Eat Twice’ method of cooking that I pretty much exclusively utilize here on the homestead.

Using this method means the pans used to cook this meat were only dirtied once and cleaned once, and the oven heated once. But we have six additional servings of turkey that’s as close as our freezer to enjoy.

This is my secret to having a delicious Homemade Meal Every Day!  (shhhh….)

Cheap Homemade Turkey Broth

I will use turkey broth the same as I use chicken broth (or even beef broth!) It’s added flavor for so many recipes:

Since broth is so inexpensive & healthy I’m not stingy with it & use it often.

Making Homemade Broth – Slow Cooker Option

After the meat is removed I take the turkey bones that remain and chunk them all into my mammoth slow cooker and top it off with water.

Finally I add just a splash of vinegar. That’s the secret ingredient to draw more calcium from the bones.

Then I cover the slow cooker and put the temp on low and let it slowly cook all night. The next morning our house smells amazing. Hey, it puts me in the Thanksgiving mood all over again!

Homemade Broth – Instant Pot Option

Sometimes I make my bone broth in my Instant Pot instead. It really doesn’t get any easier than this.

Making broth in my Instant Pot is easy. The result is lots of healthy broth for cheap! #TexasHomesteader

Into my Instant Pot I chuck in the bones I’ve reserved for my broth. Then I cover the bones to the fill line with water and splash in a little white vinegar.

Then I replace the IP lid, twist to lock, set the vent to ‘SEALING’ and then press the +/- button to set the cook time to 2 hours.

Feel free to tweak the time if you like, but this is the time that works best for me.

Remove Bones & Chill The Broth

Whichever method I use, when the broth is cooked I’ll strain the bones from the turkey broth. After it cools just a bit I’ll place the pot containing the broth in the fridge to cool completely.

In the meantime I tackle those bones that I strained out. There’s always an amazing amount of meat left on those bones even though RancherMan & I were pretty ruthless in removing all we could.

I’ll pick the remaining meat from the bones and put it into a refrigerator container and set it in the fridge. There’s plenty of meat leftover for a very meaty pot of turkey soup.

How To Reduce The Fat From Homemade Broth

As the turkey broth cools the fat will separate & float to the top. Removing it makes for a lower-fat broth. I usually let my broth stay in the fridge overnight to make sure as much fat as possible has floated to the top.

By the next morning the turkey broth itself is semi gelatinous – the sign of a successful and nutritious broth. I take a straight-edged server and drag it lightly over the top of the broth to remove the fat layer leaving only healthy lower-fat broth.

My method takes the leftovers after you enjoy your meal (the bones) and turns them into inexpensive nutritious broth. Win/Win! #TexasHomesteader

How To Freeze Turkey Broth 

When I’ve removed all the fat I can, I’ll bring out my repurposed peanut butter jars. 

I’ve not yet been successful freezing anything in glass so I resort to using these plastic jars in our freezer. But RancherMan loves his peanut butter so I always have a steady supply.

I ladle the cold broth into the jars leaving about 1″ headroom and screw the lid onto the jars – only barely finger tight when they initially go into the freezer. After they’re frozen solidly I’ll go ahead & tighten the lids completely.

Now before these jars go into the freezer I’m sure to label the lid of the jars with a small piece of water-resistant duct tape & a sharpie noting the contents and the date.

‘Cause you know how it is when you dig through the freezer – every frozen chunk looks identical! 

I carefully label everything that goes into our freezer.

Pressure Canning Option For Homemade Broth

Freezing broth is of course easiest way to preserve it. But sometimes my freezer space is scarce.

And I sometimes don’t plan far enough ahead to bring broth from the freezer for it to thaw completely for my recipe.

Canning Broth solves both of those problems.

Canning homemade broth must be done in a pressure canner. But it's EASY! #TexasHomesteader

Now to safely preserve your broth, it really needs to be pressure canned. Water-bath canning won’t do here. And food safety is important.

But it’s simple:
Hot broth poured into clean hot jars, pressure canned at 10 lbs pressure for just 20 – 25 minutes.

See? I told you. Easy! And by canning broth I have those jars waiting in the pantry to be used at a moment’s notice.

Eat healthy, my friends.

~TxH~

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14 thoughts on “MYO Nutritious Turkey Broth Inexpensively

  1. Shirley Wood

    We enjoy cooking once and eating twice at our home. I always feel so frugal when we can accomplish that. I like to have leftovers for lunch too. A good broth is invaluable. So glad you share with us at Merry Monday. Thank you. Hope your winter is going well.

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      So versatile and so healthy Shirley. Add ‘so cheap’ and you’ve really got a winner! ~TxH~

      Reply
  2. Nicole

    We eat tons of both beef and chicken broth in our house, making it very similarly to how you do it. The healing properties during cold and flu season and just phenomenal, and the taste is delicious!! I have had issues freezing glass jars sometimes too, using old peanut butter jars would be perfect. Thanks so much for sharing. I hope you have a happy New Year’s!!

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      I think for us Nicole, it’s the old theory that ‘Once you find out how easy, cheap and DELICIOUS (not to mention healthier) it is, there’s no turning back’! I’m sure it’s the same for you. In my younger days I never stopped to give it a second thought I simply picked up my broth in the grocery store, never considering making it myself. I was assured by the marketing gurus that making such things for myself was too difficult or time consuming. Oh how far I’ve come! Happy New Year’s to you & yours as well! ~TxH~

      Reply
  3. Jelli

    This sounds delicious. In fact, I used to do this too before my slow cooker broke. I have to use my pressure cooker to get the job done now, and while that works, it also really heats up my house and takes more effort than a slow-cooker. Thanks so much for sharing. Visiting from the natural living Monday linky.

    Reply
  4. lisa

    LOVE your blog!! I love making my own broth!! I just made some chicken broth today and tried it in my pressure cooker; came out great in a little over an hour!

    Reply
  5. Matt

    Great idea with the old PB jars. My wife puts her broth into canning jars with recycled lids and freezes them. I like the idea of plastic better because of the risk of the glass jars breaking.

    We will also make a few ice cube trays of broth and throw them into containers in the freezer. We then use those when making rice, quinoa, etc, substituting for plain old water. It adds flavor and nutrients.

    Reply
  6. Lorrie Gunn

    Was curious as to the expiration date for frozen. I see you mentioned 1 week’s worth of meals, but I thought that referred to the fresh or thawed version. Thanks for the info- (ah! p’nut butter jars- I, too, go thru them like mad!) LG

    Reply
    1. Texas Homesteader Post author

      Lorrie, I put one jar in the fridge to make my endless soup for the week and the others I put in the freezer. Peanut butter jar lids are not necessarily an air-tight seal but I’ve not had a problem thawing and consuming my broth and having it taste absolutely fresh after being in the freezer 6 months or so. It may very well last longer, but by 6 months I’ve certainly gone through all my broth in the freezer. ~TxH~

      Reply
  7. Marla

    Love this idea of the homemade. I have made homemade but never thought about the vinegar part to bring out the calcium in bones. That is certainly something I need to remember. Thanks for sharing. Visiting from Happiness Is Homemade Link Up Blog Party. Have a wonderful healthy day!

    Reply
  8. Carolyn Michelle

    I love making homemade soup and broth!! I have never thought to use peanut butter jars to freeze it. Stroke of brilliance!! Thanks for sharing. c:
    -Carolyn

    Reply
  9. Kate

    I need to start making my own broth at home, thanks! Happy New Year!

    Reply
  10. Samantha (Florassippi Girl)

    I do make broth at home, but had never tried adding a splash of vinegar to draw the calcium out of the bones. Good to know! Thanks so much for posting!

    Reply

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