Bone Broths and Packed Lunches

Thermos of bone broth in the sunshine.
I'll bet she never gets sick.
(Via the Library of Congress on Flickr.)

Bone broth is a cornerstone of any healthy ancestral diet - whether you identify as "just eat real food", Weston A. Price Foundation, paleo, primal, or any other diet based in nutrient-dense foods.

Broths and stock made from scratch using the bones of naturally-raised animals can offer up gelatin and trace minerals - like a warm, soothing multivitamin that you can sip. Broth made from scratch has been demonstrated to have anti inflammatory properties, and to aid in regulating the immune system. Who wouldn't want some immune system regulation, especially with the colder temps coming up?

However, there tend to be logistical complications with bringing bone broth to school or work. Though bone broth is a wonderful and nutritious addition to any meal, and considered an essential part of the GAPS diet, it's sometimes tough to figure out tidy and appetizing ways to consume bone broth away from home.

There are a few "outside the box" ways to get bone broth into your away-from-home lunch and snacks. One is to simply slurp down a few "cubes" of cold gelled broth. No smell, no worrying about heating the broth - it is a fast (if not that appetizing) way to get some broth in your belly.

For adults, there is often the option of using a smaller appliance discretely at work, to heat bone broth by itself or as part of a leftover soup or stew. One simple and inexpensive option is a coffee mug warmer to gently heat your broth in a ceramic coffee cup. You could also reheat broth in a mini 2-cup capacity crock pot if your office permitted it. I've even seen a handled thermos with a metal inner bowl that you can cradle on a warming dock at your office.

Microwaves, too, are an option, but a lot of ancestral health folks avoid those, especially if on GAPS, in a bid to preserve the structural/nutritional integrity of the broth. (The jury is out for me on how much microwaves actually change bone broth.)

A no-appliance method for warm broth consumption is to find yourself a high performance, reliable stainless steel or ceramic thermos. (I love my Nissan thermos - it's served me very well for years.) This way, you can transfer bone broth straight from your slow cooker into your thermos, and enjoy sips of warm broth at your leisure all day long. The thermos is definitely the friendliest option if you are in close, shared quarters with coworkers - because some people relish a long simmered broth, and others can do without the smell lingering. It is a great option, too, for picnics, or day trips and road trips, making travelling a little more flexible even for those who need bone broth every day, like GAPS patients.

When it comes to my 2.5 year old, who is on the GAPS diet, I've elected to keep bone broth a staple at home. Since she comes home from preschool less than an hour after her lunchtime with her teachers and classmates, it's easy for me to offer her bone broth before and after preschool to avoid having to figure out ways to get it in her tummy when she's at preschool.

What methods do you use to get more bone broth into your day? Do you have a bone broth ninja method to share?


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GAPS Diet Intro Week 1:

We are now officially 1 week into GAPS intro over here. While the whole household isn't doing GAPS, my fellow home cooks will understand when I say that it is a pain in the rear to create multiple separate menus. So, even those here who aren't officially doing GAPS are doing GAPS + stuff on the side just out of pure convenience.

I'm just one more bowl of bone broth away from
snapping and turning into a crazy cat lady.
It wouldn't be all bad, though.
Kittens are cuddly-wuddly!

Courtesy of the George Eastman House Collection,
Flickr Creative Commons

There are definitely a few learning curves. I enjoy bone broth and use it in my cooking all the time, but I've had to become accustomed to the prospect of always having it available to consume throughout the day. To that end I say horray for slow cookers! One big blessing is that my local Giant just switched its Nature's Promise chickens from "all natural" blah blah blah to Nature's Promise certified organic chickens. There's a big difference between the two! And while the organic chickens probably aren't pampered free range local chickens fed GMO free feed and allowed to forage for bugs, our family having regular, dependable access to certified organic chickens is a huge step up, especially when quality bones for broth are now a house staple. To get a certified organic chicken before that, I'd have had to drive at least 45 minutes away. I wrote a "customer comment" form at the customer service desk thanking Giant for carrying them! I know the folks at Giant probably don't get a lot of positive notes in the comment box, so a, "Way to go!" on their new inventory will probably catch their eye. I also mentioned that otherwise I'd have driven a ways to buy organic chickens from Trader Joe's, so that lets the staff know that they won a regular chunk of my money from a competitor by stocking certified organic chickens.

This is me stocking up on wholesome chickens,
with a slightly manic gleam in my eye.

Courtesy of the
George Eastman House Collection,
Flickr Creative Commons

They average $11-12/chicken, which is definitely expensive, but I am glad to have organic chicken bones from each chicken to supply us with at least a couple of days' worth of bone broth - not to mention being able to feed my GAPS patient the organic chicken's organs - so there is more value to them than just in the meat. I'll be keeping my eye out for sale prices on those chickens and when the price drops, I'll be stocking up!

I've already used a few shortcuts - Bubbies sauerkraut and Sunja's kimchis have been my go-to for sugar-free lacto-fermented veggies. One day in a blissful fantasy future I will figure out home fermented veggies, but for now I'm grateful to have a ready-made option to provide lots of lactobacillus for our guts. (And special thanks to my friend A. who lives near stores that stock these! She's been a big help in keeping us supplied.) For now I'm using the juice for our GAPS patient, but I readily hork down the veggies themselves, so it's all good.

Another couple of shortcuts I'm using this month include organic pumpkin puree and organic butternut squash puree. There is one ingredient in each of these: organic pumpkin, and organic squash, respectively. Also, I was happy to discover that their maker is committed to using BPA-free cans. Is peeling and slow cooking the whole food in my own kitchen ideal? For sure. But, having these around ensures that I don't forget to add some to meals for an added dose of good carbs.

What are your favorite bone broth tips and tricks? Have you had any fun discoveries in your local supermarket this week?


~

Part Deux: Acquiring More Traditional Food Skills

Fall 2011 is apparently setting up to be the fall when I learn a zillion new-to-me traditional food methods. Though I had no real planned-well-in-advance agenda to do this some of these, impromptu tutorials are just falling into my path, sometimes so spontaneously that all I can use to capture the moments is my Droid. Cases in point:

• 

  You know it's good bone broth when it stays perfectly
  gelled, even when held upside down.
  All that collagen, wahoo!

  Homemade Bone Broth - from Chicken Feet! I received a HUGE zip bag of chicken feet from my farmer - for FREE. I couldn't believe my luck - there were probably at least 60 feet from recently slaughtered/scalded chickens. Having read A Slim Winter's chicken feet broth post just before this, I knew that I could possibly make some decent broth. After a couple of batches I really got the hang of it, even going so far the second round as to add apple cider vinegar to help extract more nutrients from the bones and cartilage - and I used my kitchen shears to trim off the talons so that more of the bone marrow could be exposed and thus extracted during the simmering. I was rewarded with a super rich broth that was thick and gelatinous when chilled, and comforting all the way down when warmed in a mug. If you find yourself on the receiving end of some inexpensive or free chicken feet, GO for it! You will love the broth that results.
  
  
• Mad kefir makin' skillz. I met another primal / paleo person IN THE FLESH. First nononline paleo person I've ever met! I was ridiculously excited; we happened to be buying the same creamline whole milk from our farmer when we ran into each other. It turns out that she has a couple of traditional foodie friends as well, one of whom has a way with homemade kefir. We are going to get a kefir making/storage tutorial from said expert later next week. Wahoo! (Meanwhile, this week I found out another superstrong gal at my Crossfit box eats paleo, too...so that makes two in-the-flesh folks I know. Maybe enough momentum for a pot luck at some point! ;-p )
  
  
  

  

  Zee half cow, deconstructed.

• Half cow freezin', with plans for tallow renderin'. Our household's first ever local, bulk bought beef purchase came home with us on Monday. We were totally bewildered by the quantity of meat from our order of half a cow. I was giddy because beside the usual offerings of ground beef, roasts, stew meat, and steaks, the butcher had made sure at my request that we received every possible scrap - soup bones, heart, liver, tongue, and (drumroll!) a huge pack of beef fat (note to self, look up tallow rendering, apparently my next on the skillz-to-learn docket...). Normally I avoid beef fat in conventionally raised animals, but the beef AND fat of a carefully raised pastured-only cow is super valuable nutritionally and a wonderfully healthy fuel.  I was keen on getting my money's worth and not letting go of any of that offal, bone, and fat nutrition (all of which, according to my farmer, is often left behind by his customers).
  
  



Homemade ranch dip. Delicious.
Make it in a jar to make mixing easy!

• Mark's Daily Apple's Creamy Ranch Dressing. We had assigned snack duty for my daughter's preschool last week, and the requested items were carrots and celery sticks and ranch dip. I was so glad to find out from Paleo Periodical on Twitter (thanks, Karen!!) that MDA had this dip - after tasting it I realized how much I had missed the flavor of ranch. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil can dress only so many salads, apparently. I'm looking forward to having this recipe in my regular rotation to drizzle on steak salads and scrambled eggs.

What new recipes and traditional food skills are you learning right now?