A Few Frugal Living Tips + Green Machine Soup Recipe!

Jan 17, 2014 | Dinners + Lunch, Life, Recipes

Green machine soup)

This is just the month for soups! Last week I gave you a delicious butternut and coconut wonder and this week green is the theme! 

I will not apologise for my soup tastic recipes. They are brilliant because of all the reasons I mentioned last week (quick, easy, high in vitamins etc) but they are also excellent for a bit of frugal living.

Take this soup for example. Made from leftover bones from a roast chicken, using simple ingredients that needed eating and the result is delicious.  Making you own soup is a great way to WASTE LESS food. I hate throwing out food . Not only does it cost you money, it is a bit of a kick in the face to those who struggle to have enough food in a day. So I endeavour to rarely waste a thing. I may make juice from ‘past there best’ vegetables, smoothies from overly ripe bananas or stewed puddings from battered soft apples (and yes I have mildly poisoned myself on several occasions before I had a wise husband to tell me that some mould is harmful…) 

Often when you are eating in a naturally healthy way and eating lots of fresh foods, you will find that you fridge may start to contain more foods that are going to go off and bin/compost bound. That, my friend in where soup fits in. Shove all you nearly rotten veg into a slow cooker with some stock and spices and  BOOM food waste averted (and you have a weeks worth of lunch!) 

Plus even if we weren’t considering the food waste matter, soups really are the way forward for super cheap meals. This vat of soup probably cost 80p -£1 to make and will give us about about 3 days of lunches/snacks. When I was a student I would often have loads of people back for sunday lunch and the cheapest way to feed them was always soup. Feeding 20-25 people was easy with two large pans of the good stuff and some fresh bread. Shop bought shop is often very expensive, filled with load of processed salt, bulking agents and weird things. You can get some decent soups from the shops (the ‘Glorious Soup’ range taste lovely), but often you pay £3 for 500ml which is soup-er expensive for every day consumption (sorry the soup puns will stop now!) 

If you have a tight food budget with lots of mouths to feed, soup is for you. And if you hate wasting food  with every fibre of your body, then yes, soup is for you. I am a soup evangelist – I will stop now!

Frugal living is a wonderous art  I have learnt over the years, as charity work and being artist hasn’t always paid the big bucks (large amounts of happiness though). Yet I have always been passionate and determined to eat healthily whatever my budget so here are my:

Naturally Frugal Tips

  •  Waste not and want not. Like I said above, even you you have only 2 tbsp of Bolognese left KEEP IT. Put is on rice/toast/salad the next day or have it as a snack.
  • Be a wise buyer. I spend quite a while researching the best place to get healthy foods  and yes it make takes time but it means you get most for you money.*
  • Bulk out your food. This principle basically means use cheap ingredients to bulk out more expensive ones. For example when I make chilli I only use organic mince (read about why meat is good for you here) but that is often expensive and one meals worth. So to make it cheaper I use it to create 2 or 3 meals worth by adding some of my favourite bulking ingredients: onions, carrots, any kind of lentil, swede, celeriac, chickpeas/ or pulse (cheapest is you buy them dry and cook them yourself), sweet potato or any vegetable that is in season as then tend to be cheaper. Make your meals bulky!
  • Meal Plan. This is by far the easiest and most efficient way of saving you money. Spend half a hour a week to plan you meals and shopping list and you will find yourself with extra pennies in you purse. Click here to get your own  meal plan and get saving those pennies!

*(As a side note that is always why I have decided to have an Amazon store on this site. After much research I found that I was buying most of my supplements or bulk food orders on amazon due to it ease and cheapness.  So I wanted to share all the cheap deals and bulk bargins you can get. Plus keeping this blog and website full of recipes, info, tips and naturally healthy goodness takes a heck of a lot of time and unfortunately my mortgage company won’t accept brownies as payment! Weirdos!)

So if you are wanting to get healthy but not skint then follow some of these tips and let me know below what your favourite money saving tips are!

Recipe

(Read this to learn how to make homemade broth/stock)

Green Machine Soup

Kezia Hall
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 900 g courgette half peeled , leave some of the skin on
  • 3 Onions chopped roughly
  • 1 tbsp Cumin
  • Seasoning
  • 1.3 litres Stock
  • Handful Fresh Coriander
  • 2 handfuls Spinach
  • 3 Garlic Cloves

Instructions
 

  • Place all the ingredients in a pan and bring to simmer.
  • Simmer for 20 mins and then blend until smooth.

Notes

This would be very tasty with natural yogurt, grated cheese or with Carrot 'croutons'.
Want smooth soups or smoothies? I have a blender like this and I use it every single day! 

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1 Comment

  1. I always put left over herbs in an ice cube tray with oil!

    Reply

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