Save Money Tip

Here is a tip for when you are totally broke, and need to make a cheap and easy meal. It involves one simple word, but is so versatile that the options are unlimited.

SOUP

Soup is the most basic form of cooking. I don't care who you are, you can always make soup. You can blend up some refried beans with vegetable broth either in a food processor or blender, toss the mixture in a pot to heat it up and serve. You can blend up tomatoes with a grapefruit and spices, for a neat twist. Throw in any vegetables that need used up. Potatoes are easy to add density, either cut up or blended as well.

Today I decided to make soup for lunch. Here is what I did:

Ingredients

Water

4 Small Potatoes, cut into hash brown sized pieces

2 Large Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced

1 Bouillon Cube (gluten-free, vegan for us)

1/2 Small Onion, minced

1 TSP GMO-Free Miso Paste (fermented soy paste found in most grocery stores)

1 Carrot, finely chopped

1 1/2 Cups Left Over/Cooked Rice

1. Fill up a pot about 3/4 of the way with water, toss in the bouillon cube and miso paste. Boil.

2. Add the potatoes and carrots, turn the burner down to low and cover (simmer).

3. Toss in the onions and simmer until the potatoes are half cooked.

4. Add the garlic, simmer for a few minutes.

5. Put the rice in the pot and simmer until all ingredients are cooked through.

You may need to add or remove broth as the soup is cooking. I found that the left over rice we had in the fridge (about 2 cups after removing some for soup) was quite dry. Rather than toss the broth I removed from the pot, I added some to the container of rice and stuck it back in the fridge for later use.

Another idea if you find you have too much broth for your pot is to scoop it into ice cube trays and freeze it. The next time you are cooking something that needs a little more flavor such as rice or a stir fry, just pop a cube or two into the dish.