Do you know what is in the stock cube you buy?
Explore the art of crafting flavorful stocks from scratch at Meg's Scottish Kitchen. Elevate your dishes with rich, authentic flavors that only homemade stock paste can provide. Learn the benefits of using natural ingredients over shop-bought alternatives.
Do you want to avoid UPS - Ultra Processed Food?
Learning to make your own stock is a great step in the right direction.
Most supermarket stock cubes & stock pots contain a blend of the following -
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Salt – the biggest ingredient in most brands (sometimes up to 50%).
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Fat – often vegetable oil, palm oil, or sunflower oil.
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Flavour enhancers – like monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, or yeast extract.
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Sugar – often in the form of glucose syrup, dextrose, or caramelised sugar for colour.
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Dehydrated ingredients – powdered onion, garlic, tomato, carrot, leek, celery, herbs, spices.
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Meat extract or flavourings – tiny amounts of dehydrated chicken/beef/vegetable extract (usually less than 5%).
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Thickeners/starches – potato starch, maize starch.
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Colourings – like caramel colour.
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Preservatives – some brands use them to extend shelf life.
Stock pots (like Knorr Rich Beef/Chicken pots) often have a slightly “cleaner” ingredient list with more concentrated paste (gelatine, concentrated meat juice, and veg purée), but they still rely on salt, sugar, and flavour enhancers.
Pros & Cons of Shop Bought Stock
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Pros
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Convenient and inexpensive.
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Add quick flavour to soups, stews, sauces, and grains.
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Long shelf life, always on hand.
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Cons
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High in salt: one cube can contain around 40–60% of your recommended daily salt intake. Too much salt is linked to high blood pressure.
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Low in real nutrition: very little actual meat or vegetables.
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Ultra-processed: contain additives, stabilisers, flavour enhancers, and oils you wouldn’t normally cook with.
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Can mask fresh flavours: they can make everything taste the same “stock cube” way.
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Contain bulking agents & sugar - Starch, corn starch, corn syrup
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Ingredients in homemade stock
Traditionally, homemade stock is left unsalted so you can season later when cooking with it.
Base Ingredients for Homemade Stocks
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Bones or meat (not for vegetable stock):
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Chicken carcasses, wings, or thighs
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Beef or veal bones (often roasted first for depth)
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Fish bones and heads (non-oily fish only, like sole or cod)
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Cold water – helps extract flavour slowly.
Classic Aromatics – Onion with skin on for colour, Carrot, Celery
Additional Flavourings – , Leek tops, Parsnip or fennel, Mushrooms (especially dried porcini, for umami), Garlic
Herbs & Spices - Bay leaves, Fresh parsley stalks, Thyme sprigs, Black peppercorns, A few whole cloves or juniper berries (optional)
Meg's Stock Paste
I make my stock pastes in my thermomix. it speeds up the process from boiling stock for hours to under half an hour. If you don't want to use salt in your stock I recommend freezing in ice cube trays and once frozen store in bags. Be sure not to use the trays you use for freezing stock to make ice for your drinks, take it from me nobody wants a chicken flavoured Gin and Tonic!
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Meg’s vegetable stock paste – Celery, carrots, brown onion, tomato, courgette, garlic, bay leaf, parsley and thyme, salt, olive oil
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Meg’s chicken stock - Chicken thigh fillets, celeriac or celery, onions, garlic, leeks, thyme, parsley), salt, white wine, dried bay leaf, whole clove, coriander seeds
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Meg’s beef stock - Olive oil, celery, carrots, leek, garlic, brown onion, tomato puree, beef mince, mixed fresh herbs, salt, red wine, bay leaf
For me and my family homemade stock wins hands down!
Ingredients in popular brands of stock
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Oxo vegetable stock cubes(Greatest First): Salt, Potato Starch, Wheat Flour (with Added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Dried Glucose Syrup, Flavour Enhancers (Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium 5'-Ribonucleotides), Onion Extract, Flavourings, Palm Oil, Yeast Extract (contains Barley), Tomato Powder, Dried Herbs (Parsley, Thyme), Sugar, Black Pepper Extract
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Knorr vegetable stock pots - Concentrated vegetable stock (65%) (water, leek (1.2%)†, carrots (1% )†, CELERY†, red pepper †, onion†, CELERIAC†), salt, yeast extract, palm fat, sugar, potassium chloride, gelling agents (xanthan gum, locust bean gum), flavourings, spices (CELERY seeds†, lovage root†, nutmeg, pepper), parsley†, maltodextrin, caramel syrup. † Sustainably grown
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Knorr vegetable stock cubes - Salt, vegetable fats (palm, shea, sal), starch, yeast extract, sugar, onion powder †(2.3%), carrots † (1.5%), herbs (parsley †, tarragon), spices (CELERY seeds, garlic powder †, turmeric †, pepper, parsley root powder †), tomato puree powder †, red pepper †, flavourings (contain CELERY), caramel syrup, leek †, maltodextrin
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Oxo chicken cubes - Wheat Flour (with Added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Salt, Dried Glucose Syrup, Flavour Enhancer (Monosodium Glutamate), Yeast Extract, Flavourings, Chicken Fat (3%), Potato Starch, Sugar, Concentrated Chicken Extract (2%), Colour (Ammonia Caramel)
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Knorr chicken stock pots Concentrated chicken stock (63%) (water, chicken), salt, flavourings, sugar, yeast extract, chicken fat (2%), potassium chloride, palm fat, gelling agents (xanthan gum, locust bean gum), garlic, carrots†, leek†, caramel syrup, maltodextrin, parsley†, colour (carotenes), carrot juice powder†
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Knorr chicken stock cubes Salt, starch, vegetable fats (palm, shea, sal), yeast extract, sugar, chicken fat (3%)[chicken fat, antioxidant (extracts of rosemary)], flavourings, chicken (1%)[chicken, salt, antioxidant (extracts of rosemary)], spices (turmeric, pepper, CELERY seeds), lemon juice powder (maltodextrin, lemon juice), onion powder, parsley, caramel syrup, maltodextrin
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Oxo beef cubes - Salt, wheat flour, maize starch, flavour enhancers (621,627), colour (150c), Yeast Extract, vegetable oil, flavourings (including beef flavour), autolysed yeast extract, sugar, acidity regulator (270), onion powder, mineral salt (508).
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Knorr beef stock cubes - Salt, vegetable fats (palm, shea, sal), starch, flavourings, sugar, yeast extract, beef fat (3%) [beef fat, antioxidant (extracts of rosemary)], beef stock powder (2%), caramel syrup, onion powder, maltodextrin, parsley, carrots, spices (parsley root powder, CELERY seeds)
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Knorr beef stock pots - Water, salt, BARLEY malt extract, flavourings (MILK), beef fat (beef fat, antioxidant (extracts of rosemary)) (2.6%), beef stock powder (2.5%), yeast extract, caramel syrup, potassium chloride, maltodextrin, sugar, gelling agents (xanthan gum, locust bean gum), onion juice concentrate†, sunflower oil, beef powder (0.1%), lemon juice powder (lemon juice, maltodextrin), lovage roots†, thyme†
