Living in NOLA was one of my favorite parts of my life! What an amazing city. So glad you liked the recipe, and thanks for sharing that great muffin pan tip!

Hm, I have a few guesses as to why. First, are you adding any cruciferous veggies (like cauliflower, broccoli, or kale) or greens to the mix? Those may impart a bitter flavor. If not, I recommend seasoning it a bit more with salt and pepper, which might help. Stock needs quite a bit of seasoning (same with chicken stock and other kinds) otherwise it tends to taste pretty bad. You can also experiment with adding other flavors to it- you can try mushrooms, potatoes… even ginger/lemongrass for a more East Asian flavor base. Hope that helps!

I have made this a few times but it often comes out quite bitter. Any suggestions?

Ooo good question! Sorry that was confusing. No, don’t reuse the veggies. What I meant was one batch of the vegetable stock yields enough for 2-3 batches of soup. You can make about 8-12 cups of stock at once, and if each recipe uses 3-4 cups of stock, you have enough for lots of recipes. Hope that makes sense!

Hello there, you said “You can make 2-3 vegetable stock based soups from one batch!” Does these mean I can reuse the vegetables after my first batch? Just add 8-10 cups of water and do it again?

I agree that the food tastes better! It seems to last longer and get less freezer burn and ice crystals.

Yes, it does work. If you put hot food in the jar, cool it down first. I refrigerate it first then put the lid on more snugly, them I freeze it. Also do leave headspace of about an inch as Elizabeth said. Water expands when it freezes. So any water in the food will expand.

Sometimes, I will just put one jar in the freezer as a test, to be sure I have left enough head space.

I love freezing stuff glass canning jars. The food stays better than in most plastic, in my experience.

I don’t bother canning it with a hot water bath if it’s going in the freezer! I actually have never canned this (or anything… some food blogger I am, huh?). And lately I’ve just been storing it in regular tupperware so it’s a larger portion for when I want to make soups. Hope that helps!

I love the idea of adding mushroom stems! I bet it adds a much deeper flavor.

Ooo- thanks for the info! Good to know :-)

So glad you like it, Sherrie!

Yes, you can! I was surprised when I found out, too. Just make sure to leave a small gap (about 1 inch) from the top when you are filling up, to allow for expansion during freezing. In addition, you can buy mason jars that are labeled specifically for the freezer, but I have frozen with both those and the standard ones and have not had any explosions. This is GREAT also for individual servings of soup!