Don't toss out your peelings and bones!
I took a very valuable class in high school that has taught me all about living on a budget. In addition to learning about managing money and learning about insurance and whatever else (I remember less about those portions), we spent a good chunk of the class cooking. My favorite part of the class was when we learned to make homemade stock. In the class, we worked primarily with turkey carcasses, since it was about Thanksgiving when I took the class. Most people forget how much meat a carcass still carries, including the neck - which most people don't eat optionally because of the number of bones. We spent a good portion of the class sifting through the last of the bones and pulling away the fork-tender meat once we'd boiled the broth down from a gallon to a quart and intensified the stock. This doesn't just apply to a turkey carcass, though; almost any bones will do. Dry roasting the bare bones in a 450°F oven for 90 minutes will help bring out the flavors. This ...