Ina Garten Avoids Buying These 2 Store-Bought Staples (Here's Why)

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The Barefoot Contessa is famous for her "store-bought is fine" dogma. Home cooks of all creeds can appreciate her Everyman approach to good food made accessible. However, there are two exceptions to her rule: Ina Garten won't touch store-bought lime juice or chicken stock. In an interview with Stephen Colbert on "The Late Show," Garten shares that chicken stock should only be purchased from the grocery store "if you have to — but homemade chicken stock is really good." The chef's stance on store-bought lime juice, however, is less lenient. "Fresh lime juice only!" she tells Colbert. "You can't buy it anywhere!"

Pre-squeezed bottled lime juice isn't just an inferior product, flavor-wise. It also typically contains added preservatives and sugars that majorly stunt the ingredient's tart, acidic taste (not to mention excess exposure to microplastics in those kitschy, lime-shaped bottles). Considering how low-prep-work fresh limes are to juice, it's a corner not worth cutting. Word to the wise: On average, foodies can expect to get roughly 2 tablespoons of juice and 2 teaspoons of zest from a single lime. There's even a lime-cutting hack that helps ensure maximum juicing action, so epicures on a budget can feel good about shelling out for fresh limes over their less-flavorful, pre-squeezed counterparts. If you cook with lime juice fairly regularly, it might be worth investing in a dedicated citrus squeezer (like this one by Zulay Kitchen, currently $15.99 on Amazon with a lifetime warranty) to get the most out of your produce. 

Not only is whipping up homemade chicken stock a thrifty, sustainable way to reduce food waste in the kitchen, it's also the secret ingredient to achieving next-level flavors in your soups, sauces, and other dishes. All it takes is chicken and veggie scraps, water, and a little patience to create an ultra-dimensional cooking liquid — and avoid spending extra money on your weekly grocery run. That slow simmer helps extract maximum flavors and luscious collagen from the chicken bones for mouth-watering complexity. We've even assembled a step-by-step guide to making a deeply flavorful stock to help home cooks out. Pro tip: Keep a resealable gallon bag in your freezer for stashing chicken bones, skin, and trimmings as they come. When it's time to make another batch of stock, you'll have all the ingredients you need on hand. 

Still, admittedly, there are busy weeknights when dinner time sneaks up, and there simply isn't a spare hour to devote to building a homemade stock. In a pinch, Kettle & Fire is our go-to brand of store-bought chicken broth here at Tasting Table. We praise the offering for its slow-simmered bone broth base — and, to enhance that store-bought stock with homemade flavor, simply toss in a handful of fresh aromatics. Garlic, onions, shallots, and leeks all amplify chicken stock's existing savory tones.