>>451897To make a big pot of stew you would need a decent amount of beef bouillon cubes to flavor all the water into a stock, if that's what you plan on using. I find it easier to use two 32oz (1 quart) boxes of ready made beef stock. Not as much effort having to make measurements and melt down the bouillon cubes into boiling water. Of-course it may cost a bit more for the boxes.
>>451877I've made homemade stock before too, typically using bones and leftover scrap meat, celery, carrots, onion, tomato, the end pieces of cabbage, whole parsley, bay leaf, liquorice root, juniper berries, all boiled up in plain water, then allowed to cool before filtering it. That is an old fashion method of making stock from scratch.