The kitchen habit that pays you back every single week

Here's a habit worth building: every time the bones arrive with your share, they go into a pot that afternoon, and by evening the freezer has another row of labelled stock waiting. That's it. That's the whole system. It costs you fifteen minutes of actual effort — the stove does the other three hours — and it means every soup, gravy, risotto and pot of rice you cook for the next couple of months starts from real lamb stock instead of a carton. Once you've run the routine twice, ticking the bones box becomes automatic.

3 hrs 15 mins About 2 litres (8 servings) Prep 15 minsCook 3 hrsSoupAustralian

Ingredients

  • 1kg Your Farmer lamb bones
  • 1 brown onion, quartered (skin on)
  • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • A few parsley stalks (optional)
  • 3 litres cold water

Instructions

Put the bones in your biggest pot, cover with the cold water and bring slowly up to a bare simmer over medium heat. Skim off the foam that rises in the first 10 minutes.

1kg lamb bones3L cold water

Add the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns and parsley stalks if you have them.

1 onion2 carrots2 sticks celery2 bay leaves

Adjust the heat so the surface barely moves — a bubble or two, no more — and simmer uncovered for 3 hours, topping up with a little water if the bones start poking out. No salt: stock stays unseasoned until you use it.

Strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl or jug and discard the solids.

Cool for about an hour, then portion into 1-cup and 2-cup containers, label with the date, and refrigerate or freeze. An ice-cube tray of stock is worth its weight for pan sauces.

Use it anywhere a carton would go — soups, gravies, braises, couscous, or a pot of rice cooked in stock instead of water.

Appears in

Lamb share add-on — Bones

Your Farmer CSA grass-fed lamb share — Pack B selection of pasture-raised lamb cuts, vacuum-sealed, NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Pastured Lamb Share
From $183.33

Stock, the Old Kitchen Insurance

Stock is the original make-ahead recipe — the thing farmhouse cooks kept going at the back of the stove because throwing bones away was unthinkable. The rules haven't changed in a century. Start with cold water so the flavour draws out gently. Keep the simmer barely alive, because a rolling boil churns the fat through the liquid and turns it cloudy. And leave the salt out entirely: you'll often reduce stock later in a sauce, and what tastes seasoned now turns salty then. Done right, a batch made from Your Farmer® lamb bones sets to a soft jelly in the fridge — the traditional sign of a stock with proper body.

Swaps and Variations

For a deeper, brown stock, roast the bones at 220°C for 40 minutes before they hit the pot — that single step turns pale gold into mahogany. Whatever's honest in the crisper can join the vegetables: leek tops, parsnip ends, a mushroom past its best. Skip anything from the cabbage family, which turns a long simmer bitter. The identical routine works with our beef bones, and if you cook from both shares it's worth keeping a lamb row and a beef row in the freezer — lamb stock for Irish stews, braises and couscous dishes, beef for gravies and noodle soups. You'll find the rest of the bones-and-broth thinking in our add-ons collection.

Storage and Leftovers

Stock keeps 4 days in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer. The system is the point: small containers mean you thaw exactly what dinner needs, and dating the lids means the oldest gets used first. Tight on freezer space? Simmer the strained stock down by half and freeze it double-strength — half the room, same flavour, just add water when you use it. And thawing is optional: a frozen block dropped straight into a hot pot sorts itself out in minutes.

The bones ride along with our lamb subscription whenever you tick the add-on — one tick, two litres of better cooking.

Frequently asked questions

Why don't you salt stock while it cooks?

Because stock gets reduced and concentrated in later recipes, and salt concentrates with it. Keep it unseasoned and salt the finished dish instead — you stay in control that way.

My stock came out cloudy. What went wrong?

Almost always the simmer was too hard, or the early foam didn't get skimmed. It's purely cosmetic — cloudy stock tastes fine — but next time keep the surface barely moving and skim in the first 10 minutes.

What's the best way to freeze it?

A mix of 1-cup and 2-cup containers covers most recipes, plus one ice-cube tray for pan sauces and gravies. Leave 2cm of headroom in rigid containers, since stock expands as it freezes.

Can I simmer the same bones twice?

Yes — the second batch is lighter but still useful. Old kitchens called it remouillage and used it for cooking rice, grains and vegetables rather than as a soup base.

Do I have to thaw stock before using it?

No. Run the container under warm water for a few seconds, tip the frozen block straight into the pot and let the heat do the rest.

0 commentson Easy Lamb Stock for the Freezer

Three Simple Steps

A whole table of real food.

Your Farmers grow grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured eggs and the best eco-grown veggies and produce — every item grown to the same ecological standard, every farmer one you can know by name. One subscription, your whole real-food shop.

01

Reserve your share — or try a pack

Subscribe to a share of the harvest, or start with a one-off fixed pack.

02

Make it your own

Pick your delivery rhythm and what's in the box. Skip or cancel anytime — no lock-in.

03

Cook, savour, know your farmer

We deliver in a reusable esky we collect next time. No couriers, no waste.

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Vendor:Your Farmer

CSA Grass Fed Beef Share

Price$176.67
Vendor:Your Farmer

CSA Pastured Lamb Share

Price$183.33
Vendor:Your Farmer

Grass-Fed Steak Box

Price$158.89
Vendor:Your Farmer

Grass-Fed Mince, Sausage and Diced Beef Pack

Price$264.44
Vendor:Your Farmer

Grass-Fed Beef and Lamb BBQ Box

Price$286.67
Vendor:Your Farmer

Pastured Lamb Roast and Slow-Cook Box

Price$155.56
Vendor:Your Farmer

Quarter, Half or Whole Cow: Grass-Fed Beef, Cut Your Way

Price$1,145.00
Vendor:Your Farmer

Whole Pastured Lamb, Cut Your Way

Price$525.00

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