Soup from Scraps

Once the weather gets colder I like to clean out the freezer and fridge to make a batch of soup.  It is in the mid-forties, dark, windy, with intermittent rain. Sounds like a good day for soup to me.  I buy two items as my base for vegetable beef soup; a can of beef broth and a can of diced tomatoes.  Most everything else is leftovers from the freezer and fridge.

I live in The Netherlands where the electric grid is 220 volt but my crock pot is 110v so I needed a step-down transformer to use my crock pot.  Recently I was given a 2,000 watt transformer so I can finally use the slow cooker to make soup.  I went through the freezer to see what I had and did end up buying a couple additional items, not needed but wanted for flavor and nutrition.

Here is what went into my soup today:

$0.89 - 1 x 14.5 oz can beef broth

$0.75 - 1 x 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes

$0.31 - 1 x  large potato

$0.27 - 2 x small parsnips

$0.25 - four inches of a large leek; diced

$0.35 - one cup of mixed dried beans ($1.89 a bag)

$2.29 - 0.89 lbs of diced beef (bought from the half-priced self)

$0.00 - two large plasticware containers of beef gravy and drippings from previous meals

$0.00 - three clusters of broccoli leftover from a garlic chicken stir fry

$0.00 - 3/4 cup of mixed vegetables leftover from previous meals

Seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon of Wrights Hickory Seasoning (Liquid Smoke), Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning.

This will stay in the crock pot for 6-8 hours and will make just a little less than one gallon of soup for $5.11.  I will eat this over the next couple days with a roll for a nutritious, satisfying meal for about $1.00-$1.25 a meal.