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Welcome back to my trouble shooting GAPS series! If you’ve found your way over here you probably already know that GAPS is a nourishing protocol for healing Gut Dysbiosis and you are either gathering additional information before taking your own GAPS journey, or you’ve started the journey and are finding yourself stuck.
Either way this series is for you!
In my first post Finding the Flavor, I shared six different ways you can add flavor to your meat stocks to help you go from blah to ahhh. In this post I would like to tackle the next hurdle often found with meat stock.
Keeping up with demand.
Once you’ve learned how to make your meat stock not only nutritious but also delicious you quickly discover that it goes fast! Between the 2-4 cups or more each family member is drinking to the endless number of soups you are creating (especially on stage one!) you quickly find yourself going through multiple gallons a week. Or at least we do.
Here is a break down of our weekly stock intake. (insert cute chart detailing our stock intake)
That is a lot of stock! Which is exactly what we want on GAPS. It is the nutrients found in the stock that are so nourishing and ultimately heal our leaky guts.
So how do we keep up with demand? Lets take a look.
I have seen multiple recommendations for making and freezing large batches of meat stock before beginning GAPS.
However, I am going to advise against this. The main reason being that GAPS is a long-term game. Intro itself can take anywhere from several weeks to a whole year, Full GAPS needs to be adhered to for at least a year past intro, and meat stock (and bone broth, click here to read the differences between them) should still be a foundational piece of your diet once you’re transitioned off of GAPS. Remember, Dr. Campbell-McBride recommends having soup at least once a day.
So rather than going over board and making several large batches of meat stock prior to starting and going through the hassle of having to package, freeze, and then unfreeze all of it as needed (only to run out!) I am going to recommend focusing on creating a new habit instead. After all the GAPS protocol is more than just a diet, it is in essence a life style change. Once small change at the beginning can make a world of difference.
And what is that one small change?
Fitting stock making into your weekly schedule. By taking a close look at your week you can quickly determine the best days and times to prep both stock and even your soups, without having to give up large chunks of your life. Here’s how:
First, take a look at your week and figure out the days when you will be at home for around four hours. These are the days and times you will be making your stocks and soups throughout the week.
As a freelancer I typically find myself home during the day and busier in the evenings, so I tend to start my stock first thing in the morning or shortly after my youngest goes down for a nap. This way it lines up with either lunch or dinner and I can kill two birds with one stone by serving one of the soups with our meal. If you have a more typical schedule you can always start it first thing when you get home and finish up before going to bed, which is just as effective.
Now as you’re planning your week don’t fall into the trap of needing to dedicate the whole four hours to stock making. The real beauty of this method is that you can still go about your day and accomplish everything you need to around the house (cleaning, writing, playing with the kids, grading papers, binge watching Netflix) as making the stock has very little active time. You can even go out and run errands while your stock simmers away. Just be sure to be back by the 3 ½ hour mark.
Once your stock finishes you will need to carve out a small amount of time for cooling and storing or a slightly larger amount of time if you’re planning to make your soups right away. Remember both stock and soup will keep in the fridge for at least seven days, so there is no need to add the extra steps needed for freezing. Instead, ladle all or about half, if you’re planning on making soup, of your stock into quart mason jars. For soup divide the remaining stock between two or more stockpots as needed, add your veggies and cook. Once your soups are finished transfer them into their designated containers (pop them in your blender if you want a puree), cool, and store.
I find it typically takes me about 10 minutes to strain, ladle, cool, and then store my stock in the fridge and closer to 45 minutes to prep vegetables and cook my soups, thirty minutes of which is simply letting them simmer, so again my hands are free to take care of other tasks). Which means I end up spending about a half hour (most of which lines up with designated food prep time anyway) a few times a week to ensure that my family and I have all of the nourishing meat stock we need.
It takes some time upfront to plan things out, but once you find your rhythm it becomes second nature. With a little thought and creativity there is no reason you cannot find a way to make creating your own stock fit into your schedule. The little bit of planning you put in at the beginning will really pay off. You won’t run out of stock, or skimp on drinking it because you need it to cook with, or worse yet, give up because it’s too hard. Making stock will simply be something you do every week to nourish your family, whether you’re on Intro, Full GAPS, or beyond.
Be sure to share you stock creations at #meatstockblahtoahhh and if you’re still struggling when it comes to meat stock feel free to leave a comment so we can all trouble shoot and send some extra encouragement your way!
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