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Thanks Michelle, you answered the question I had, quickly and efficiently, without going into a lot of information I did not need to know.

And while I can and do make my own stock, doing so for a simple last minute recipe for dinner, that calls for a small amount, to me, is a waste of time. While I am no Barefoot Contessa cook, I am quite good at it, but I have quite a full and busy life, a job and a family that don't always allow for hours in the kitchen babysitting my stock pot.....so try to remember before you tell someone they shouldn't be cooking that maybe you don't have all the information before you just give them advise on it.

Thanks again Michelle, you saved me from picking up the wrong stock at the store! Have a great day!

Hope I'm not repeating someone, but re: space in freezer. I put some stock in bowls, but freeze a lot of it in my ice cube trays, then once frozen, put the cubes in freezer bags. You can shove them into smaller spaces in your freezer, in the door shelf, and control how much you unfreeze, especially if you just need a small amount. Just thaw a few cubes.

Yay Michelle! Thank you for taking on this rather overwhelming task for the rest of us. The only other review of store-bought chicken stocks I've seen was done by America's Test Kitchen and they are ALL ABOUT the Swanson's. It's nice to have a second - and different - opinion.

As for the store-bought-stock haters, I'm so sorry I don't make my own. I'll be hanging up my apron and making nothing but frozen dinners from now on. Sheesh.

Has anyone tried the Penzey's brand soup bases? I like them in a pinch, especially the seafood, pork and chicken. They are lower in salt than some others, and out here in rural areas where we don't have the variety that you do in the city, they come in handy. If you don't get a Penzey's spices catalog, get one. They are out of Wisconsin. I do like to make my own stocks but can't always do that. If I have to use the boxed kind, I use Swanson's lower salt.

i would also recommend trying cento's chicken broth. it tastes fairly similar to homemade broth and doesn't cake your tongue in sodium. it is my packaged broth of choice when making a quick orzo or egg noodle soup.

I took Bittman's advice on the "quick veggie stock" thing because I have a vegetarian around I needed to modify a risotto recipe for - basically, add a handful of dried mushrooms (rinsed) and double-to-triple the simmer time. It has great flavor.

Maybe this will help. I 'm no purist but every chance I get I will make stock of some sort. Having clams/ mussels?( simmer the water that they were steamed in. This takes none of your time, we are talking reduction here), freeze.
Left over veggies? look like some of your herbs are going to need to be garbaged? Chop, add water simmer, strain, freeze. Is that a lot of work? And of course, the minute I have a chicken/ turkey carcass, add water, simmer, strain. Youe will always be ready to make a healthy soup/ gravy/ sauce. Save all your tasty cheese rinds too to pop into soup. There is no end to this.
Nana H

College Inn and Swanson's Organic rely on wheat gluten for their mouthfeel, a problem for many.

Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen did a taste test of chicken broths that mentioned some of the same brands here. Better Than Bouillon was recommended along with Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth, Swanson Natural Goodness Chicken Broth, and Imagine Organic Free Range Chicken Broth. Conversely, they did not recommend Kitchen Basics. It was unclear whether they also tasted some of the brands mentioned in your test; part of the field was narrowed by eliminating those with high sodium content. Either way, it's an interesting comparison.

I live in Texas where we have a "gourmet" grocery chain called Central Market; they produce their own chicken stock and the prices are comparable to Swanson varieties. I've used it for countless soups and stews and they always taste great!

Better than Bullion...yep....that's the way to go. I hardly ever make homemade stock..and I'm not afraid to say it..."I'm Lazy"....there I said it! Mostly at Christmas/Thanksgiving cause the turkey carcas and all the vegetable snippets I just can't waste! I always freeze it in ice cube trays and then transfer them to Freezer bags. They take up less room that way, and I can throw them in the saute pan to 'deglaze' it and it makes a great sauce base. My problem is, I usually end up throwing some out, just because I can't use it all up before it passes it's 'freshness' date? (How long can you keep frozen stock anyway?) I live in a VERY warm climate, and we don't do homemade soup very often. I wish I had a Trader Joes or a Whole Foods around here. *sigh* I feel like I'm missing out on some great food experience. We used to have a Wild Oats, but they got bought out by some other 'natural foods' place and they ended up just shutting them down *wah*....I always 'doctor' up my stock anyway..but the great thing about BTB is that I can use the smallest bit on the tip of a spoon to add to sauces, etc. to give them a boost of flavor and no waste of a half can or pack of stock in the fridge! Keeps forever, and tastes fabulous! The Better than Bullion Beef Stock is great too...as well as the Ham Bullion and Lobster Bullion too! Whenever I cook a beef roast in the Crock pot I sprinkle with a pack of onion soup mix and a cut up a stick of butter and place on top - the resulting juices (that aren't used that night for Au Jus) are strained, chilled, fat skimmed, thinned with some water and frozen in cubes - mmmm good!

In my opinion, this review is not broad enough. College Inn is way down on my list as are most that have been reviewed here. Swanson is horrible and I actually returned Pacific (mentioned by someone on this blog). Maybe I'm a stock snob. But, chicken flavor is what I'm looking for. I almost never use boxes but I have run into times where I needed to because I hadn't realized I'd run out of my reserves. Most recently I bought Whole Foods 360 stock. I was surprised. It had some body to it and it had actual chicken flavor without all the salt.

I also disagree that it takes four hours to make a half way decent stock.
Grab a three to five pound free range organic chicken, break it down, cover with water and add aromatics and spices. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Go longer if you want, but you don't have to. You will have a decent chicken stock. I think that part of the problem is that people really miss the huge amounts of salt added both in by restaurants and in most of these can/box stocks. Yes, you can get low salt stock, but then note how the little bit of chicken flavor you might find is put off by a little less salt. You will never get an authentic chicken stock (as everyone knows), or even close to it, out of any box or can. In fact, I think cans are the worst because you get a "tinny" essence with the supposed chicken flavor. And hey, if you've worked at a restaurant as I do, even some of the five stars believe it or not, use concentrated paste for stocks and broths, way loaded with salt!
I also think that in order to be happy with a true stock, one needs to retrain their palette without all the salt and artificial stuff.

It's the equivalent of eating fast food burgers, which don't taste like beef, and then having a taste bud tantrum with an honest to goodness, homemade burger. It doesn't have to be sirloin to be a good burger...but if you want to taste beef, make it yourself!

Regarding Bittman's stock tasting of vegetable tea: did you salt the stock before you tasted it? Most of my stocks are pretty bland until they get seasoned, but that's only once they've arrived in their final destination.