Spending huge amounts of our income on food became an annoyance to me. I'd rather go to Europe thank you very much!! We wanted four things, to eat well and enjoy our meals while keeping our weight and our expenses under control. Incentive was born and I started to do something about it. I hope to use this Blog to share what I've discovered.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Cutting expenses and eating well.

I've kept my grocery till tapes and broken down my expenses so I know exactly what different meals and recipes are costing us.

The soup recipe listed here costs 37 cents a meal (that's a meal, not each. Feeding two of us costs 18.5 cents each). I freeze, in zip lock bags, 2.5 cup measures from each batch of soup. Having a variety of soups in the freezer, ready to quickly thaw in the microwave, makes our lunches very easy and still delicious.

My Vegetarian Lentil Soup

canola or Olive oil
1 cup onions, diced small
4 medium carrots, diced/sliced to 1/2 inch
1/2 cup of red split lentils
1 1/2 cup veggie stock
pinch of ground mace
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
2 med or 1 large yam, diced to 1/2 inch
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (or dice a cup of fresh tomatoes with the seeds removed)
add water to thin to required consistancy as required

Saute the onions and carrots in the canola or Olive oil in a large heavy frying pan over medium heat for 5 minutes stirring occassionally.

Clean the lentils and rinse. Add the lentils, veggie stock and seasonings to the pan, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomatoes and yams, stir and cover. Bring back to a boil and reduce heat again to simmer another 20 minutes until the yams are soft and the soup has thickened stirring occassionally. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve immediately or freeze in med or small zip lock bags in meal sized batches.


I really enjoy this soup. I hope it's something you find filling and satisfying too. For 18.5 cents a bowl you can't do much better.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005