I started making my own chicken stock a couple of months ago. I had been using Herb Ox Sodium Free Chicken Granules (No MSG added). Yeah that doesn't sound like real food.
Ingredients in those granules:
Sugar, Potassium Chloride, Onion Powder, Maltodextrin, Monoammonium Glutamate (basically MSG), Gelatin, Dextrose, Chicken Fat, Turmeric Color, Dehydrated Parsley, Flavoring, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking Agent).
The point is, I can do better than this, and I can do it using stuff I was throwing away (so for nearly free). Chicken stock (bone broth) has all kinds of goodness in it, including easy to absorb minerals and gelatin.
It's super easy to make, too. Here's what I do:
1) Roast a chicken. I use this recipe to keep my chicken nice and moist (chicken is in a covered container). Save all the juices that collect in the container.
2) Pick off all the meat. Shred and freeze what you don't need right away (in a freezer bag). It will still be fine for any recipe except eating it just as is). We just did this yesterday and used the chicken to make white chili and chicken and bean sauce for the kids (they devour it).
3) Unless your chicken is organic/pastured (as in, you trust your source) discard the chicken skin as well as the organs. If it's from a trusted source, toss this stuff in your crockpot.
4) Put the bones/tendons/scraps in your crockpot. (Alternatively, you could freeze them in a plastic bag til you've collected even more bones or have time to deal with them.)
5) Add any juices from the roast chicken, then cover bones with cold, filtered water.
6) Add a couple tablespoons apple cider vinegar and let sit for an hour or so to draw the minerals out of the bones.
7) Toss in scraps of vegetables (I keep a freezer bag of celery tops, carrots, and old veggies that would have gone bad before we got to them, etc. except for broccoli). I quarter an onion and add a bunch of crushed garlic (usually cloves that are older just to use them up). Add more water if necessary to keep stuff submerged.
8) Simmer broth in crockpot on low for up to 24 hours. I usually go about 14-18 hours. Skim anything off the top in the first hour if you see stuff there.
9) At this point you can set your crockpot to warm if you are busy. Otherwise, get a big bowl and put a strainer over it. Scoop the bones and veggies into the strainer and press a ladle against them to squeeze the liquid into the bowl. Toss bones/veggies. Strain the rest of the broth.
10) Let cool down a little bit if your ice cube trays are plastic, then pour into ice cube trays. You could save some for chicken soup, too.
11) Let freeze. Pop out cubes and store in a plastic bag in freezer.
12) I have found that 2-3 cubes (plus 1 cup cold, filtered water) = 1 cup of broth in a recipe. Add salt to recipes as needed.
So yummy!
