Every now and then I get the urge to completely reorganize my kitchen.

This leads to emptying every cupboard, drawer and the pantry. I wipe down shelves and imagine I will put things back in a streamlined process that will make my kitchen a well-oiled machine.

In reality, though, I usually put everything back where it was.

It’s not a total waste of time, though. Usually I find multiples of a food item that launches a week of productive cooking to beat expiration dates. In past bouts of organization, I’ve found three boxes of Bisquick, several bags of powdered sugar and, two weeks before Thanksgiving, I discovered I had 12 cans of chicken broth. Twelve cans! I was able to use eight making our family’s Thanksgiving dinner, but that seemed a little extreme.

I blame my mother for my food hoarding habit. I grew up one of six children in the family. Going to the grocery store was an adventure. Some people buy two cans of green beans; we’d buy 10. It was easy to go through a gallon of milk a day and there was never enough cereal in the house. In fact, my hometown grocery stores love the holidays because they know all of my mother’s children are coming home, which means one huge grocery trip. My dad has left the store with flowers as a thank you from management on several occasions.

I no longer live in a house of eight and my family of four doesn’t need me to shop like that anymore. One of my resolutions for 2012 is to get a handle on our grocery bill. This means no more buying chicken stock when it is on sale or I have a coupon. I need to learn buy what I need — no more, no less. To help with this effort, I spent an afternoon making chicken broth from scratch. I now have several canisters in the freezer, ready to be used if it ever gets chilly enough for soup, and plenty of shredded chicken chicken salad and nachos.

Here’s to one resolution I may actually keep!

CHICKEN BROTH

Yield: About 2 quarts 

• 4 pounds chicken wings, necks and thighs
• 2 medium onions
• 10 to 12 sprigs fresh parsley
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks of celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• 10 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 to 8 whole cloves
• 6 quarts cold water

Place the chicken in a colander and rinse with cold water. Allow to drain as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Cut the onions in half without peeling them. Add to a pot large enough to hold all ingredients. Wash the parsley, shake and remove excess water, and dry by rolling in paper towels. Coarsely chop and add to the pot. Scrub the carrots, cut into large chunks, and add to the pot. Repeat with the celery. Add the garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves and cloves.

Place the pot on the stove. Add the chicken and water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Skim any foam or impurities that rise to the top.

Decrease the heat to a simmer and cook for two hours. Continue to skim the stock as it cooks, about every 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Drain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve or colander into a heatproof bowl or pan. After the contents have cooled, spate the chicken from the skin and bones, and reserve the meat for another recipe.

Cover and chill the stock in the refrigerator. Remove any fat that has hardened at the top and discard. The stock is now ready to use.

Note: Always thaw frozen chicken stock overnight in the refrigerator or on the stovetop over medium heat. Never thaw at room temperature.

Recipe: Teen Cuisine by Matthew Locricchio (2010; Marshall Cavendish Corporation)