Soup's On!

One of the blessings of having six kids growing up in our house is that we are constantly learning how to strategize with our grocery money.  The apostle Paul said, “I have learned to be abased . . .”  The truth is, whether we’re dealing with physical, emotional, or financial hardships—there really is a learning curve!  Maybe you are wondering how to save money in an economy where prices seem to climb and wages seem to diminish.  Have you ever tried making soup from scratch?  Let me encourage you to explore the world of SOUP! 

If you are used to buying canned soups (a costly investment, and not always as healthy as Cambells would have us believe), here is just a little tutorial on soups.   It’s easier than you think, and you will come to appreciate the taste of healthy  food.   

Soup is basically made up of 4 parts, plus seasonings.  You can mix-and-match based on your preferences and the availability of certain foods. 

1.  Stock.  The broth, or the watery part of the soup, makes up most of the soup and creates the flavor you and I love on a cold, winter day.  So what do you feel like having today?  You can make your own stock in several ways.  Do you have any bones leftover from meat?  We aren’t accustomed to buying large cuts of meat very often at our house, but since we just finished Christmas, I happen to have a ham bone in my fridge.  You can also use chicken bones, beef bones—really anything you have on hand.   If you don’t have bones (and I often don’t), and you want to “cheat” a little, you can use powdered seasoning.  The nutritional purists will be alarmed at this point, but seasonings  do make vegetables very yummy.  Orrington Farms, Kitchen Bouquet, and Mrs. Jamisons are all nice brands of broth base that come in little jars.  Just a few tablespoons go a long way.   (I’ll leave it to the food blogs to educate us on how to make homemade broth out of chicken feet. )  Vegetable stock is also very common.  Tomato juice is handy for me, since I have oodles of tomato juice on hand from last summer. 

2.  Protein.  Meat is the obvious choice, but of course—we often don’t have meat on hand.  God gave us a much healthier, less expensive product for protein:  Beans.  If your family can handle beans, have at it!  J  One bag of dry pinto beans runs between $1.19 -1.50, depending on where you shop, and it easily feeds a family of 8 (usually with leftovers).  Here’s the key:  ALWAYS SOAK DRY BEANS THE DAY BEFORE YOU WANT TO COOK THEM.  Just dump them into a bowl with water covering them, and leave them alone.  The next day, cook them in a pot for about 3 hours (or less—just test them for softness).   The price difference between dry beans and canned beans is amazing.  Don’t be afraid to soak and cook your own beans.  Another overlooked protein source is dairy.  Creamy soups have protein because of the milk—just not as much protein as bean soups.  Remember: it’s the protein that keeps us from getting hungry.  The higher the protein content of your soup, the longer it will last. 

3.  Starch.  You can skip this step—especially if you’re dieting-- but if you want a thicker soup, starch will stretch a recipe.  Rice, barley (*pre-soak, just like beans), diced potatoes,  corn,  noodles, and even flour (in cream soups) are all fillers for soups.  Just add the starch about an hour before you want to eat the soup.  Beans can double  here as a starch as well. 

 4.  Vegetables.  In soup, vegetables don’t taste like vegetables; they taste like stock.  When our son, Nathan, was a baby, he LOVED carrots that had stewed in a pot with roasted chicken.  He used to cry when the carrots were gone.  At least one hour before you want to serve the soup, chop up any vegetables you have on hand:   carrots, celery, an onion, a bag of peas, tomatoes, slivers of sweet potato, bell peppers, cauliflower, spinach, kale—the list really is endless.  And of course, all varieties of  beans make an appearance on this list as well!  They really are a gift to the thrifty economist!

 The longer the soup simmers on medium/low heat, the more tender the vegetables, and the more likely the veggies will taste like your broth.   *Add water if your soup starts to cook down.

5.  Extra seasonings—salt, pepper, thyme, etc.  Everything is optional, per your taste and special needs.   Some broth bases are already seasoned, so don’t over-salt.   Many soups come with interesting variations for “toppers” to serve with them—sour cream, corn chips, grated cheese, croutons, etc.

 

So now you can see how some familiar American soups were “built.”  This list is not exhaustive, but I hope that it inspires you to try some new soups in 2014—a healthy, frugal choice that will save you money in the check-out line as well as in the doctor’s office!

 

Stock    +       Protein         +          Starch    +                 Vegetables    =       Soup   

Ham bone         pinto beans                  pinto beans                      variety                  Ham & Bean

Tomato             Venison                        kidney or pinto beans   tomatoes                            Chili

Chicken            chicken                        noodles or rice                   variety                      Chic. Noodle

Beef broth          beef                                 barley                            variety                     Beef & Barley

Chicken             milk, cheese                      flour                        broccoli, onion, celery         Broccoli

Tomato          Beef or venison                 noodles                             variety                         Veg.  Beef

Tomato         Beef or vensison              black beans, corn               variety                                 Taco

Chicken                milk, cheese                      potatoes                     carrots, onions                   Potato

Chicken             chicken or rabbit              northern beans                    variety                      White Chili

Chick. or ham        split peas                            split peas                         carrots, onions                  Split Pea

tomato             lentils                               lentils                               variety                                 Lentil