Broth

I used to just go out and buy vegetable broth whenever I needed it, but then I started reading labels. (Reading labels does make life more complicated, doesn't it?) Every broth I checked had MSG in it. Usually in the form of "Yeast Extract".

Now I make my own broth. It is very easy. While preparing a meal, I keep a bowl handy to put all my scraps - wilting greens, the outer leaves, onion peels, garlic skins, the skins and stems, the parts we cut off of vegetables that we don't eat. They are all filled with nutrients and flavor. I keep a gallon sized ziplock baggie in the freezer and keep adding to it until it is full. A baggie full will fit into an Instant Pot or slow cooker.  Cover them with water, season, if desired, and cook them down for a few hours. When it is cooled, strain off the broth and put it into smaller bags (I use 4 cups in the quart size bags) and freeze. Now you have vegetable broth on hand whenever you need it - WITHOUT THE MSG! You can even toss the cooked vegetables into your compost pile. Nothing wasted!

You can do the same thing with chicken broth. Don't throw away the carcass of that poor bird (organic, range free, hopefully), throw it into a pot of water and cook it to death. The meat will fall off the bones. Cool.
Strain the broth off into quart baggies and you have chicken broth without the MSG. Be sure to mark the bags because you won't remember what is in it!

Since I hate to give you a recipe without the solutions, I hope this helps. Go ahead and make it up because next week I will give you a recipe calling for vegetable broth.

Be sure to label your bags because I promise you, you will forget what is in there!