Costco does frequently have low FODMAP stock. It’s ok stock but nothing to write home about. Certainly buying it is a lot easier than making it if you value your time. I don’t really find it challenging to make stock as It’s something I do while doing other things. Yet, another trip to Costco. We had a food processing day. We elected to make multiple loads of stock instead of freezing the ingredients and thawing them to make stock later. This resulted in trying to make 4 loads of stock at the same time.
(2 “loads” of stock per full size baking sheet.) It gave me an excellent perspective on stock making through the different methods that I could make them. (Insta pot, Slow Cooker, Stove Top.) The secret to making stock this way is to pick flavourful ingredients and assume that 1 tray will make ~8 servings(Double batch of stock). So pick your vegetables for 1 serving and you should be safe to multiply it by 8.(Stay in green according to Monash) Said another way, 1 batch of stock for me typically yields about 4 cups of stock. 1 cup of stock is usually a serving. It can be less of a serving in sauces but it’s a good rule of thumb to live by. I usually run my stock ingredients twice. That means I drain stock and refill the ingredients with water to get a second run out of the same ingredients. This gives me the 4th cup of stock and I usually incorporate this back into the first run of stock. After I have both batches finished I typically will reduce the volume of stock by 3/4. This give me a nice concentrated stock that stores compactly. I often will add water back to reconstitute the stock. (And this will help to thaw my Stock Cubes.)
My analysis of the different methods:
Stock pot vs Slow Cooker vs Insta pot
- Slow Cooker
- Positives:
- Set it and forget it. Throw everything in. Put in on for 12 hours.
- It reduces as it cooks.You do lose some water over the 12 hours which makes it better easier to reduce
- Cook anywhere there is a plug – This is something people don’t think about, but I have cooked stock in many rooms in my house.
- Negatives
- It’s Slow – 12 hours is just a long time.
- Can’t control heat – you pick low or high, if low still creates too much of a boil you can’t do anything about that. A boil will agitate the ingredients and cause your stock to be cloudy. Most times this isn’t an issue but it depends on your SlowCooker/CrockPot.
- Positives:
- Stock Pot
- Positives:
- It’s massive. I could put two batches of Stock one Stock Pot.
- It reduces as it cooks.You do lose some water over the 12 hours which makes it better easier to reduce
- You can control the heat to exactly where you want it. (You want it just simmering so that you don’t agitate it and make a cloudy stock.)
- Negatives
- It’s Slow – 12 hours is just a long time.
- Your stove is occupied for 12 hours or longer
- Positives:
- Instapot
- Positives:
- It’s Fast Throw everything in. It’s done the first round in ~ 2 hours
- Cook anywhere there is a plug – This is something people don’t think about, but I have cooked stock in many rooms in my house.
- Does not need a stove element
- Low Agitation: The increase pressure means that the stock doesn’t boil and hence doesn’t agitate the ingredients, and produces a very clean/clear stock. (Must use natural release for “No Boil”. If you quick release it will agitate your stock and produce a murky stock.)
- Negatives:
- Natural release: It’s better to use a natural release, when making stock and you need to actually turn off the pot after it’s done cooking so that it will cool enough to do a natural release. (The residual heat of the stock makes takes a long time to reduce especially with “Keep Warm” on.)
- Positives:
Over all, I find the Instapot the best option, as it’s the best use of my time and lease use of power to complete the same amount of work. There is nothing wrong with the other methods, I just like the speed of the insta pot.