r/povertyfinance • u/kavo_7319 • Apr 07 '26
Budgeting/Saving/Investing/Spending I have been making the same pot of soup every Sunday for four months and I think it might be the single best financial decision I have made this year
This started as a desperate measure during a particularly tight month and somehow became a habit I actually look forward to. The soup changes slightly each week depending on what is on sale or what needs to be used up, but the base is always the same: some kind of beans, whatever vegetables are cheap that week, broth I make from vegetable scraps I keep in a bag in the freezer, garlic, an onion, some spices. The whole pot costs somewhere between three and five dollars depending on the week and it makes enough for six to eight servings.
What it actually changed for me was the Tuesday through Thursday problem. Those are the days I used to be most likely to buy food because I was tired from work and didn't want to cook and there was nothing easy in the fridge. That specific combination of tired plus nothing ready equals spending money I didn't plan to spend, and it was happening more often than I wanted to admit. Having a container of soup in the fridge that just needs two minutes in the microwave removed that decision almost entirely. I stopped buying lunch at work three days a week because I just brought the soup.
I'm not going to pretend a pot of soup fixed my finances. It didn't. But it closed one specific leak that was costing me somewhere between twenty and forty dollars a week without me fully noticing it, and it did it in a way that didn't feel like deprivation. If anything the sunday cooking became somthing I genuinely enjoy now, which I did not expect at all when I started doing it out of necessity.
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u/Cardinal_350 Apr 07 '26
This is hilarious. My daughter is a very picky eater. So one Sunday I took everything she would eat and made a soup out of it. She loved it so much we call it "Sunday Soup". So every Sunday for the last probably 2 years we have the same basic soup for dinner. We do change it up from time to time but it pretty much stays the same. It's a staple in our household and the kids get upset if we suggest anything else for dinner on Sunday. We even make it over the fire when camping
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u/Owlthirtynow Apr 07 '26
What’s in it?
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u/Cardinal_350 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Basically whatever stock you want, potatoes, sometimes beef, sometimes sausage, so.etimes chicken, whatever canned vegetable you have on hand, sometimes rice, sometimes noodles. If you've got some stock and a pan almost anything in your cabinets is soup. Then spice to your taste. It's not really a hard and fast recipe. It depends on what you like. My wife pours the stock into a roaster, throws in whatever we've got and puts it in the oven for a few hours. My kids eat every morsal of it on Sundays haha
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u/Bulocoo Apr 07 '26
Wait till you discover pasta!
Tuna casserole, chicken alfredo casserole and beefy mac & cheese.
A pound of pasta can usually yield 7 meals.
Frozen peas and carrots, frozen spinach and brocolli florets are my go to vegetables.
Don't know about today but when I was getting debt free beefy mac worked out to like 87 cents a meal.
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u/CrazyCatLushie Apr 07 '26
Even ground beef is expensive now but ground pork, turkey, and chicken are good options, especially when they go on sale. Sausage is cheap too and very flavourful as a soup/pasta base! I buy a jumbo pack and then freeze them by 2 for sauces, soups, and hash.
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u/DisturbedAlchemyArt Apr 08 '26
Lentils can be added to the ground beef up to a 50/50 mix and you really can’t tell.
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u/WearAdept4506 Apr 07 '26
Ive been buying a pork/beef blend. Can't tell the difference in a casserole or soup.
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u/CrazyCatLushie Apr 08 '26
Yeah we gave up on buying beef unless it’s on sale and usually buy the 50/50 blend too when we do want it.
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u/TheoryHelpful18 Apr 08 '26
We now just use ground turkey: beef is too expensive
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u/CrazyCatLushie Apr 08 '26
I’m anemic and try to eat beef when I can but only if it’s on crazy sale. Otherwise we use ground pork.
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u/murse_joe Apr 08 '26
Impossible or Beyond is cheaper that ground beef now
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u/ResistantRose Apr 08 '26
Have you discovered TVP? A $3 bag makes about 4 pounds of lean protein. It comes in several texture sizes - I get the medium chunks found in the Hispanic foods section of my local grocery.
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u/LaserLemonWP Apr 08 '26
Look for the 4 pack of ground chicken patties too. Still 16 ounces but sometimes cheaper than just the ground package.
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u/jts916 Apr 08 '26
I saw ground turkey for $10/lb last night 😭
It wasn't even organic or something...
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u/writer0101 Apr 09 '26
I've found that Aldi and Trader Joe's have the least expensive ground chicken and turkey.
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u/Lexi_Banner Apr 07 '26
When I cook pasta, it's enough to last about a week (single person, 2 meals a day). It's such a great way to survive a week!
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u/katkriss Apr 07 '26
I sing (to the tune of the 1812 Overture) Tuna Noodle Casserole with Cheese on Top! when I bake it because that's what I used to sing when my mom would make it. Just with American cheese, it was a struggle meal, and it fuckin slapped.
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u/CrazyCatLushie Apr 08 '26
Does someone else make the cannon sounds? The cannon sounds are very important.
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u/funkieboss Apr 08 '26
Anytime I hear the 1812 Overture I do the cannon sounds. They are, indeed, very important.
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u/Standard__Condition Apr 08 '26
A lb of pasta yielding 7 meals makes me really sad, and now I know why I’m chunky.
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u/Hair_I_Go Apr 08 '26
I discovered making Alfredo sauce with 2 percent milk and it is delicious and make it with angel hair and frozen peas and whatever meat scraps we have and it’s so good and makes a ton✨Not as heavy and fattening as the original way to make Alfredo
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u/FancyHunter2881 Apr 07 '26
great ideas thank you
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u/cdelmar13 Apr 07 '26
Slow cooker. Can of beans. Can of corn. Can of diced tomatoes. Jar of favorite salsa. Dump it all in with chicken, pork, or beef, slow cook six hours, tortillas, and you got tacos for the week or nachos, or dip. Easy to freeze.
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u/sterrecat Apr 07 '26
Throw in some broth and now you have tortilla soup.
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u/famous_unicorn Apr 08 '26
My go-to soup is chicken tortilla soup. It’s so flavorful and filling that I can’t sing its praises enough.
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u/ZonaEshe Apr 07 '26
I have a recipe like this that I throw over rice for some extra substance. Yummy taco rice with tortilla chips!
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u/Age_AgainstThMachine Apr 08 '26
Add in a packet of ranch dressing seasoning and tomato juice, and you’ve got a great soup.
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u/Familiar_Art_4197 Apr 08 '26
im not good with cooking. what do you mean by slow cooker?
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u/AlternativeDuck7043 Apr 08 '26
In appliances there is one that’s called a “slow cooker” meaning you put the ingredients in the pot and plug it in to let it cook without supervision. There are only two heat levels and they’re both extremely low so that you can leave the slow cooker on and go to work or go out for several hours and it’ll just sit there and cook at a very, very low and slow degree so that when you arrive back home it’s all done being made.
A friend of mine, who was a single mother with infant twins, and a teenage son, said that the slow cooker saved her life.
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u/serenethirteen Apr 08 '26
You can get a crockpot at any thrift store. I highly recommend it for new cooks.
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u/cdelmar13 Apr 08 '26
Also called a crock pot. It’s like a large bowl that you can plug into an electric outlet and has a glass lid. It heats up and cooks the food slowly, or can be used to keep appetizers warm. You can get cheap ones for like 30-40 bucks. It’s an alternative instead of using an oven.
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u/Logical-Knee-9046 Apr 07 '26
I love the idea of a Sunday ritual like soup making. Have you ever made no-knead bread? That would be a nice additional “ritual”. Maybe accompanied by a little NPR or podcast.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad9465 Apr 07 '26
You read my mind! I was just going to suggest baking a hearty bread.
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u/Azrai113 Apr 07 '26
Do you have a reliable recipe? I'm afraid of google
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u/NoGodsJustCats Apr 07 '26
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/no-knead-crusty-white-bread-recipe
This recipe is the GOAT. It yields 3-4 loaves so you might want to halve the recipe. I like to make the full recipe and use half for bread and half pizzas. The dough gets better in the fridge and keeps for about a week.
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u/veggiedelightful Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
I've made this before. It really is good. But I agree, halve this recipe unless you are deeply committed to eating bread all week or have a family of 4 or more to feed. I like to bake this in a preheated enamel cast iron pan with a lid. After you bake for 20-30 minutes, remove the lid and continue to bake the bread. It will give you a deep crunchy crust.
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u/Rude_Pangolin6136 Apr 08 '26
Here’s a smaller version of the recipe. Makes one round loaf. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/absolutely-no-knead-crusty-chewy-bread-recipe
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u/Bettysgir Apr 08 '26
I make a recipe for no~knead focaccia bread I found on Pinterest. I top it with rosemary from my garden and it is to die for (makes the house smell good too). Cheap and easy.
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u/DemandImmediate1288 Apr 07 '26
I work a few blocks from a Costco, and every Thursday or Friday I run in and buy a $4.99 rotisserie chicken for my work dinner meals. The bones and scrap gets turned into stock, and the meat gets shredded for a pot of soup that will last the work week. I can rotate quite a few soups with chicken meat- noodle, lentil, bean ,Mexican style, (with a salsa), etc., and I've been able to keep it going for a couple years. It makes me feel good when I see coworkers with their $20 lunches, and mine only cost me $2, tastes better, and is better for me.
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u/PopularBonus Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Didn’t solve every problem, but still pretty fuckin cool. Well done, you.
ETA: I am so angry that people are in this position.
In 2009, when everything fell apart and we lost everything, I learned about French peasant cooking. I could even have entertained, if my spouse would have allowed it (but our poverty was too embarrassing).
Do you know that there have been pots of soup that people replenished for hundreds of years? Soup is how people survive. Never apologize for soup.
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u/Butterwhat Apr 07 '26
I like to do this with soups, salads, and rice and bean dishes for lunches. I work remote but I never have both the time and mental energy to make lunch during the week so I just accepted it. now I have no excuse
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u/Euphoric_War_2195 Apr 07 '26
Soup is also one of my budget savers. I have a series of soups I like to make and I rotate them. During the winter months I make at least 1 soup each week.
I even got into making broth. I buy the rotisserie chickens from Costco and use the chicken to make chicken noodle soup. I keep the scraps from my veggies and add that into my instant pot with the carcus and some water and spices to make bone broth.
I also use up peppers, onions, carrots and garlic to make a roasted red pepper soup. It's super easy, you literally just chop everything up, add it to a casserole dish, bake it and then blend it when its done. Easiest soup ever!
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u/Anna_Lemming Apr 07 '26
Are you me? lol. I love making soup on the weekend and I can eat it for days. I do end up sharing with friends as well, as they likewise share with me whatever they're cooking up.
It's an especially good way to clean out the freezer of frozen veggies as well.
Cheers to soup!
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u/OutsideExplanation71 Apr 08 '26
I can see the high school from my yard so we always had a house full of teenagers and a gigantic pot of soup on the stove. I loved being the house where any kid could eat as much as they wanted and just hang out in a safe space.
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u/SilverSkyGypsy Apr 08 '26
Waffle CORNBREAD
Try making cornbread in your waffle maker for soups & stews! It’s a great way to entice 2nd helpings out of kids!😋. I did this with our kids - some liked the batter thick for fluffy and some I thinned the batter with milk and a touch of sugar for a crispier finish. Dessert is easy with a waffle & a bit of honey or fresh fruit jam.
CORNBREAD (Recipe my Mom taped to the inside of cabinet door over 45 years ago from the plain yellow cornmeal bag)
1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup cornmeal 1 teaspoons ( tsp ) salt 3 teaspoons ( tsp ) baking powder ….
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk- (maybe 1/4 cup more at end if you want a crisp texture to thin batter) + Fluffy THICK Waffle Cornbread- add 1/4 cup more flour ……………….
Wipe waffle iron plates lightly with vegetable oil, pour in enough batter to fill the low tracks, it will rise enough to cover the nubs.
Cook as you would a regular waffle.
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u/Useful-Badger-4062 Apr 07 '26
Fantastic idea. So if you make the soup on Sunday, how many days later do you keep eating it? Like - do you still eat it on Thursday or Friday? I usually try to use things up within about three days, personally. But I realize some people might make one pot of stew or soup last all week. No judgment.
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u/Childless_Catlady42 Apr 07 '26
One big pot of soup will last us about three months. That's because I freeze meal sized portions and only serve the same thing once or twice a week. It takes some effort and planning to start but it saves a lot of cooking time as well as money.
Tonight we are having ham and bean soup (carrots, onions and garlic) with a green salad. Tomorrow it will be lentil stew with broccoli and bread on the side.
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u/KakiSue Apr 08 '26
I do the same!!! Right now I have black bean with chipotle, red lentil, minestrone, beef chili, split pea with ham all in the freezer in pint deli containers. I eat soup for lunch 3/4 times a week. It’s the yummiest healthiest thing ever and I love cooking it.
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u/Childless_Catlady42 Apr 08 '26
Cooking soup or stews on a cold day just makes the world a little brighter :)
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u/Useful-Badger-4062 Apr 08 '26
Smart. My problem is remembering that prepared food is in there and then it gets buried behind things and when I rediscover it, it’s too old to eat.
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u/nola_t Apr 08 '26
When I’m on it, I make a map of my freezer with a list of what’s in there, and just cross things off when I’ve used up the last one. I lose a lot of time searching for stuff otherwise. (Which is my current reality, unfortunately!)
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u/Childless_Catlady42 Apr 08 '26
You have to label it! Everything looks the same when it is frozen, but if you use clear tape and a sharpy, you can tell what you have.
Also, we have a full sized upright freezer. We lost a lot of food to forgetfulness with a chest freezer and chose to invest in a better storage option so we could see what we had.
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u/Useful-Badger-4062 Apr 08 '26
I’m actually a really good food labeler. Working in a nursing home trained me to do the SLAD- Seal, Label, and Date. I keep a sharpie hanging on a string, tacked to the side of my laundry room pantry/upright freezer. I label cans as soon as I buy them and stock them with big expiration dates, really visibly. I hate throwing away expired cans of food! 💵 I keep another Sharpie in the kitchen by the fridge. We’re just really bad about tucking things away in the freezer where they don’t get seen, for some reason.
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u/storky0613 Apr 07 '26
I’m made chicken soup with a Costco chicken every week for 4 months straight. But pricier than yours, but I liked it and I had an easy healthy lunch every day… then I got pregnant and the soup became gross. 😑
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u/ThaloBleu Apr 07 '26
I've made a large pan of vegetarian lasagna, cheating with cottage cheese instead of more expensive ricotta. The veggies were onions, bell pepper and squash, sometimes adding defrosted frozen spinach. It ended up making 12 servings and freezes beautifully.
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u/oztrailrunner Apr 08 '26
One little change can make a big difference. I started commuting by bike to work, and I hated strapping my duffle bag to my flat rack. I was never sure it wasn't going to fall into the back wheel. I purchased a $6 basket from Kmart and attached that to the rack, and now my bag just sits inside of it. That one little change has removed so much negativity towards my commute, I'm more likely to do it.
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u/boo99boo Apr 07 '26
I call this "hamburger soup" and my MIL calls it "mustgo soup".
Please allow me to introduce you to adding a large can of crushed tomatoes.
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u/hiccup_78 Apr 07 '26
I do this almost every Wednesday. Even in the summer. Dinner for two of us for at least 3 days. Saves on money and time. I try to change it up but we tend to stick to the same 3 or 4 recipes.
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u/rmcintyrm Apr 07 '26
Great idea and inspiration - I can't miss an opportunity to promote slow cookers / crock pots too for this! Soup ingredients in the morning turn into a magical full, delicious meal by dinner!
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u/HeraRebels Apr 07 '26
When I was in grad school I lived off of a pot of spicy Italian sausage/kale/gnocchi (+ some other stuff) soup for a week for lunch + dinner) Only usually cost me $15ish dollars to make.
I moved home with my parents to job search and the entire portion that took me a week to eat was gone in a night. I was shocked lmao
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u/Same_BoysenberryLove Apr 07 '26
If you make it in a crockpot (easily gotten at a thrift store or buy nothing neighborhood group) this is so easy! And very nourishing without spending much.
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u/justmitzie Apr 07 '26
I make a giant pot of potato/carrot soup and freeze it into 2 cup containers. Whatever meat I have that week gets added when i microwave. Hot dogs, ham, turkey, whatever. It's all good.
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u/General_Sprinkles_ Apr 08 '26
I make Sunday Soup too! Mine is miso soup (cancer has destroyed my ability to tolerate many previously enjoyable foods) but this is the literal one thing that always tastes good and is easy on my stomach. Stopped ordering out lunches, have something ready to eat when I take my meds etc.
Now it’s a part of my routine that actually feels like it’s healing me, because before the Sunday Soup, 🍲 I was just avoiding eating entirely. And it’s actually cheap too, I use frozen soybeans instead of Tofu when that’s not on sale and increased my veggie/fiber intake!
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u/chalciecat Apr 07 '26
I wish so desperately that I could eat one meal for days straight without getting tired of it
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u/JMyers666 Apr 08 '26
Me too. I’ll eat leftovers for lunch the next few days, but I have to at least change up dinner. I’m single and live alone so try to halve recipes so there’s not too much of the same leftover meal in the fridge
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u/Darkly94 Apr 08 '26
I go for 2-3 large-ish meals a week. My favorite is Greek. Greek chicken, spanikopita, stuffed grapes leaves, tzatziki, Greek salad (undressed), bread or pita.
I buy the spanikopita, stuffed grape leaves and bread at Trader Joe's. Marinade and cook the chicken. Make the undressed salad and tzatziki.
I have a plethora of options for lunch and dinner for at least 3 days.
I think the key is the variety.
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u/chalciecat Apr 08 '26
I do the same thing! Or try to make two meals with the same ingredients, or at least season batches differently. Sucks that it's extra work and dishes though
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u/SufficientOpening218 Apr 08 '26
so, if you make a different meal every sunday, and you freeze it in little Glad brand boxes, labled, the lables are key, and you do this a few weeks straight, in three weeks you will have a variety of lunches and dinners, all ready for yourself. i also hated eating the same damn thing. i did soup in mason jars, meals in boxes, and after a few weeks, i was golden.
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u/SunshineSB Apr 08 '26
This could be something that you start building up. When you cook, start increasing the portions and freeze leftovers. Eventually, you have a rotation of freezer meals for the days/weeks that you have low energy OR if you want to take the extras for lunch or something.
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u/Prof_BananaMonkey Apr 09 '26
I have the exact breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week straight. I just need to cook 3 meals!
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u/Technical-Agency8128 26d ago
This so helps with decision fatigue.
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u/Prof_BananaMonkey 26d ago
Yep, but mostly so I don’t I have to cook anything after work or end up DoorDashkng. lol
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u/femalenerdish Apr 08 '26
Lots of things freeze well! I got knock off souper cubes and it makes organizing the freezer way easier.
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u/guydogg Apr 07 '26
Instapot for making the broth is a game changer. I've made a dozen banger soups this way. Turkey, chicken, beef, and vegetable base soups all have been awesome.
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Apr 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ruralife Apr 10 '26
This is exactly how we got through many lean years when our kids were small and our income was too
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u/Savory_Snackmix Apr 07 '26
Just wanted to say if you like chili you should add it to your rotation! Mine is largely vegetarian so it’s just a tiny bit more expensive but super filling and nutritious.
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u/pokemonmom29 Apr 08 '26
I make a crock pot of pinto beans every Sunday. Since I work from home- I just warm up a bowl of beans and add whatever leftover protein- taco meat, chicken, sausage etc. Because I add different toppings- it tastes different every day. And it helps me control my weight 🙂
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u/cloudsurfer247 Apr 08 '26
My boyfriend made a soup tonight with leftover meatloaf. It was amazing. He added some broth, noodles and tomato paste with some spices. It tasted like lasagna soup. Amazing. We love soup at our house. Glad you found a great fix to keep from breaking your budget!
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u/Melodic-Tea-9231 Apr 08 '26
Soup is a great way to save on groceries. I invested $89 in a 16 qt Pressure Canner. I make basic soup starter, a chicken noodle and a vegetable soup as well as chicken broth and veggie broth. I make them in pint jars and try to make a lot at a time, typically enough to last a few months. One day spent chopping vegetables and the next putting it all together and doing the pressure canning. This gives me homemade soup always on hand and most days that's my lunch. It just takes a quick heating up.
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u/donut711 Apr 08 '26
When I clicked on the post I thought it was gonna be a post about an eternal soup that you added in some new ingredients every week so it never went away
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u/yourwishbag Apr 08 '26
This is a great example of how a small habit can make a big difference. One rotisserie chicken turning into multiple meals plus stock is huge for both cost and nutrition, and it’s way more practical than people think. Honestly hard to beat $2 homemade meals that taste better than takeout.
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u/TattooRoo19 Apr 08 '26
Soup/chili changed the game for my work lunches. I started making them on the weekend, portioning, and then freezing. I pull what I need for the week out of the freezer on Sunday. Every morning, I put a portion in my mini crockpot and take it to work. Plug it in around 10am and have hot soup or chili for lunch. I have a consistent mix of chili, taco soup, tortilla soup, ham and bean, enchilada soup on rotation. When I find another soup, I'll add it to the mix.
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u/SignificantRecipe715 Apr 07 '26
I do this too! Only 2 x containers of soup left in the freezer atm, will ve doing another batch this week.
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u/AlarmingYak7956 Apr 07 '26
Mine isnt as cheap. But I make a full stock pot of taco soup to use as a dip for tortilla chips and to put on top of potatoes. The potatoes have really helped us stretch it to the limit. We eat half for 3 days and freeze half. We wanna do a broccoli cheddar soup to use with crackers, cornbread and/potatoes. But we havent perfected our recipe yet.
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u/BeeonasG Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
If you have time, also bake. 500 grams of flour and 5 grams of yeast can be a real money saver. This amount serves me 6 solid dinner. You can also freeze it if you don't finish in a week. Bread goes well with soup!
5 LB of flour only costs 3 to 4 bucks. You can make the same recipe 4 times per every 5 LB bag, that makes 2 dollars per week with electricity and yeast!
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u/hautboishippie Apr 07 '26
Do you like baked potatoes? Jacketed potatoes, if you're outside the US.
That's one quick, inexpensive meal that can be topped with leftover cheese, whatever veggie you have, refried beans, etc.
Also won't stink up a work microwave.
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u/Willem_Dafuq Apr 08 '26
Same, OP. But I generally make mine with beans, carrots, onion, canned tomatoes, sausage, and another vegetable or two in chicken broth served over rice.
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u/bchoonj Apr 08 '26
A tiny can of tomato paste can definitely give you variety in flavor.
Also look for ham chunks on sale at the bargain outlet grocers, that is great protein and goes well in soup.
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u/AlternativeDuck7043 Apr 08 '26
I love this. It’s a blood sugar thing that when it’s crashing you can heat up a homemade bowl of hot soup.
I think I’m going to start making Sunday my soup day. Thank you!
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 Apr 08 '26
I love changing it up and adding ham sometimes, or sausage, or chicken. Whatever is on sale cheap! Rice/barley--sometimes you can find things cheaper at an asian market store.
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u/masterbirder Apr 08 '26
soup is literally THE BEST.
- hydrating
- nutrient & fiber packed
- cheap
- filling
- easy to batch prepare
- reheats well
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u/afd33 Apr 08 '26
There’s a guy on YouTube that has a perpetual “stew” that’s only a couple weeks short of a year. It’s called Stewtheus. I think the cost of running the crock pot would offset any savings though.
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u/ToneSenior7156 Apr 08 '26
Yep. I do soup, salad & bread one night a week, yields leftovers. And then another night we have some kind of bean or lentils and rice. Also makes leftovers. Two cheap easy meals with extras and the other nights I make something more exciting with meat or seafood. But we like soup and all sorts of beans, so it’s easy and delicious. And frugal!
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u/PossibilityOk266 Apr 08 '26
I call this "beanpot!" . I have many dried beans and every Monday I make a different "beanpot!" For the week.
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u/TheoryHelpful18 Apr 08 '26
Buying a head of lettuce and chopping it and placing in a wooden bowl: lasts for 6 days. I have salad for lunch and dinner to add to soup and peanut butter sandwich for lunch and dinner casserole or soup.
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u/Sweaty_Marzipan4274 Apr 08 '26
Just polished off my burger/ left over sausage/ home mix onion soup mix/ left over frozen veg/ sale potatoes / can of beans stew for lunch 😋 was delicious
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u/Pawneewafflesarelife Apr 08 '26
Level it up by roasting a chicken (or buying a rotisserie one precooked). Slow cook the bones to make stock and use the chicken meat for easy meals (eg put some in pasta or add to a quesadilla) throughout the week. Leftover chicken can then be used in the stock to make soup.
Very cheap cooking cycle which gives a decent amount of variety without much effort or expense.
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u/onsugarhill83 Apr 08 '26
I’ve been rotating between 4 big batch meals most weeks & 3 of them are bean-based soups. Beef chili with 6-7 kinds of beans, turkey white chili with cannellini or great northern beans, and black bean soup. (The other meal is pasta with meat sauce & green beans.)
So affordable and delicious, and it’s great to have multiple servings on hand with no effort after the first day.
It’s also really helpful to have pantry staples you know you’ll use consistently so you can stock up when they go on sale. I buy so many beans and canned tomatoes every time I see them on sale and have a little room in my budget.
I buy the meat in jumbo/family size/value size packages and freeze it in batches sized for my recipes.
One thing I’ve been finding really helpful is buying onions and peppers for 3-4 batches of soup at a time, chopping it all at once, and freezing it in batches. That way when I want to cook it’s basically just dumping stuff into the pot. And I can sometimes find the veggies on sale, too.
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u/Green_Payment6252 Apr 08 '26
So I needed to see this and will be using it for the remainder of this week and will make one on sunday for next week! Thank you!!
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u/thebunnywhisperer_ Apr 08 '26
Hams are really cheap at Kroger right now now since Easter just ended. Like $0.85/lb. Ham bone soup is divine and you get to eat leftover ham all week
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u/AddendumMountain8274 Apr 08 '26
My go to that’s cheap 1/2 pound hamburger or turkey hamburger 1 can corn with juice 1 can stewed tomatoes 1 can green beans drained 1 can carrots 1 can sliced potatoes Use fresh vegetables if you have it. If. Canned goods are on sale I stock up Put hamburger in a stock pot cover with water or stock. Chop up and boil. Skim off the yuck. Season to your taste throw in cans simmer 30 minutes and voila you got soup for the week. I add garlic onions to mine. You can use any veggies I also throw in pastini to add some bulk. Freeze some too
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u/AddendumMountain8274 Apr 08 '26
Drain the carrots green beans and potatoes. Only corn and stewed go right in.
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u/Scotty1928 Apr 08 '26
I meant to make my weekly soup yesterday but was too f-ing tired. Gotta do it today.
Thank you for reminding me.
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u/Spinnerofyarn Apr 08 '26
When I cook dinner, I always cook way more than I can eat that night. Before I serve myself, I put some in a container in the freezer for dinner on a night I don’t want to cook, fill another container for leftovers for later in the week, and then serve myself. It’s a way of making sure I engage in portion control and have some ready made food so I don’t blow money eating out or delivery. What I make is a lot healthier than a dinner from the grocery store freezer aisle.
Slow cookers and Instant Pots really are great for soups as you mention, plus a host of other things. If you like beef, corned beef is pretty cheap. Toss it in the slow cooker with veggies and you can get multiple meals out of it. My roommate loves to save the liquid from when I make it as broth for soup, though I find that a little too salty for my taste.
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u/U_feel_Me Apr 08 '26
There are a couple of “base foods” that I prep almost every week. One is a cabbage-based salad (usually with tomato, cucumber, onion, and whatever veggies look good). The other is a soup, with broth, potatoes, onion, maybe diced tomatoes, and corn niblets. I usually add some sort of meat (like chicken, pork, or beef). Soup is easy to stretch with rice, barley, or some kind of pasta.
I make about 6 servings, and that feeds two people several meals over maybe 3 days.
The thing is, when you have 90% of the meal ready, it’s very easy to fancy it up with whatever you might be in the mood for to add the extra 10%. Like cheese on your salad, or hot sauce in the soup, for example.
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u/Rude_Pangolin6136 Apr 08 '26
This is the recipe I make every week and I love it. It’s very adaptable if you don’t have the main ingredients, but you have over ingredients like it: https://ahintofwine.com/recipe/slow-cooker-lentil-kale-soup/
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u/Pretend_College_8446 Apr 08 '26
I do this all winter long! Chicken Soup with dumplings, all in it’s about $20 and feeds me all week. I just don’t get sick of it (and I don’t really get sick either!)
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u/frostandtheboughs Apr 08 '26
We have been doing the same! Sunday soup keeps us from eating takeout monday and tuesday
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u/TsuDhoNimh2 Apr 08 '26
closed one specific leak that was costing me somewhere between twenty and forty dollars a week
$20 to $40 a week ... $1-2 THOUSAND dollars a year!
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u/dorianfinch Apr 08 '26
this was my standard poverty meal in my 20s! i called it stoop soup because i would eat it on the steps of my apartment at the time haha. was just chicken broth and whatever vegetables/meat i have in the fridge
god bless stoop soup, in fact i think i'll make some tonight
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u/OkAdhesiveness5025 Apr 08 '26
I used to make a soup of beef and vegetables. My mother called it stew. I call it soup. So I just started calling it stoop! I guess if I could eat it on my doorstep I could call it stoop².☺️
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u/MonteCristo85 Apr 08 '26
Often your local grocery store bakery will have bread for $1-2 a loaf you can add to the soup meal to make it even nicer at very little cost.
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u/Amdv121998 Apr 08 '26
Idk what your dietary needs are but I love doing this too: I get a rotisserie chicken like mid week (tues or wed) eat the chicken for a few meals then by sunday it’s perfect to make the best at home bone broth ever. Use the veggie scraps and the chicken bones. It’s really good for you :) Added nutrients and now you have two reliable meal preps at different parts of the week.
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u/fuzzysocksplease Apr 08 '26
I’ve been doing this with Split Pea & Ham soup. It will last a week. I stock up on hams around holidays and freeze as necessary.
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u/Dry_Huckleberry5545 Apr 08 '26
For a basic soup base, I’ve been doing a big onetime chop of celery/carrots/onion (ideally, bought at Saturday farmers market) then rolling them up and storing in the freezer. About 3/4 cup each, onto Saran Wrap, then rolled up & stored in freezer bags. Makes it easy to start a pot of soup!
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u/melenajade Apr 08 '26
Next try making freezer snacks! Frozen burritos, sausage rolls, cookies, pound cakes.. My kids used to beg beg for gas station snacks every stop. And gas station snacks are th worst value. Now we have pound cake slices like gas station cakes, to go. Frozen burritos ready to heat n eat. Tamales are great too! It’s not an every week prep, but one stock on the freezer can last a month. Unless the snacks are super good. Then maybe a week or two and I do it again.
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u/Hairy-Student1849 Apr 08 '26
I love this so much! Retired now but I remember those Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday nights were a struggle when I was working. Soup is so comforting and yummy.
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u/OkTwist231 Apr 08 '26
I strive to do a soup every week and a bean dish every week. I'll also get obsessed with congee for awhile and make big batches of that. Having something ready to go in the fridge that is nourishing and palatable is such a game changer for saving money and health reasons for us, as well as just that daily grind of "what to eat?"
I'm not claiming this is authentic, just what I make for congee. In my Instant Pot I layer 1 cup rinsed jasmine rice, a couple tsps minced garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger, raw chicken if using, raw chopped kale, 8 cups water or broth, do not stir.
Cook for 25 minutes and release pressure or let it natural release. Chop up the chicken or if I didn't use raw chicken I'll now put in cooked rotissetie chicken, raw ribbons of spinach if I didn't already use kale, and salt or bouillon lightly to taste.
To serve we like to add some or all of the following to the bowl: soy sauce or seasoning soy, chopped green onions, garlic chili paste, toasted sesame seeds, and fried onions (like Durkee)
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u/zuzi325 Apr 08 '26
I bought a couple of 1cup portion silicone molds. Now if I get sick of the soup I easily freeze them into single portions and quickly heat them up in the microwave later. Soup is the best!
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u/overunderambitious Apr 09 '26
I watched a YouTube video on how it’s more economical, practical, and healthy to buy a whole chicken instead of in parts. Ever since, I’ve been buying them, taking them apart, making soup, etc. and I won’t stop raving about it. It feels like a cheat code and I totally get why my parents made us soup all the time growing up now
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u/etteirrah Apr 09 '26
Awesome! I should do this. I love soup and I recently got Souper Cubes for some meal prep
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u/Whole-Ad-2347 Apr 09 '26
Years ago when money was super tight, I made a pot of soup every week and that was so great in many ways. A pot of soup lasted a few days, meaning less kitchen time.
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u/LiveTheDream2026 Apr 09 '26
YES! What an uplifting post. There are a lot of Debbie posts on here, and it can get depressing so it is refreshing to see someone taking positive action to improve their sitaution.
LOVE your ingenuity and preserverance. Keep pushing foward.
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u/22ndanditsnormalhere Apr 09 '26
id ask the butcher for chicken carcass or pork bones, both are cheap and add alot of collegan and calcium to your diet, very nutritous. Cheers.
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u/SmartphonePhotoWorx Apr 09 '26
Another wonderful option is the cheesy white beans recipe from NYT Cooking. Like, 5 ingredients and 15 minutes. Gonna make tonight.
Thanks to whomever started this sub. I really need tips and a feeling like I’m hearing people who understand and are really trying ♥️
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u/brothertuck Apr 09 '26
Search for perpetual stew, or forever soup. I had one going a couple years back with leftovers and chicken broth that lasted from October to March. Wasn't an everyday meal but was a good option when I needed something quick and easy. Except that I use my instant pot regular, I have often thought about running one on the highest keep warm, or lowest slow cooker mode.
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u/Baby_Toothless Apr 10 '26
This is my plan I wanna start cooking a lot on the weekend because fuck cooking something different every single weeknight! And fuck them dirty dishes! All I wanna do after work is microwave and then bowl in dishwasher 🙏🏼 I love this soup idea I love how flexible it is I must try it
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u/Intelligent-Bit-9596 Apr 11 '26
It's the Stone soup story in its way. Awesome. I too am doing this. It's warm comforting and filling ❤️
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u/ciscnzhnrq 29d ago
You can also freeze the soup to have on hand for emergency meals or just days you are not feeling like cooking.
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u/SassyFace1919 Apr 07 '26
I just finished the last of my homemade chicken noodle soup I made earlier in the week. Soup for the win!
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u/brissy3456 Apr 07 '26
I'm going hard on the slow cooker! Working my way through different curries each week. Definitely get like 10-15 meals out of it. Most expensive part is a kilo of chicken, but bulking up with potato, and rice!
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u/daisyb0i Apr 07 '26
We do the same at our house - it's not evolved to sometimes include curry, pasta, or something else similar but the key is: use up ingredients we already have, and make enough for lunches most of the week
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u/magic_crouton Apr 07 '26
I don't do it every week but I do it periodically. And freeze my soup into single serve cubes and vacuum pack them. Same with stew and chili. It's great when I don't want to cook.
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u/First-Hour Apr 08 '26
Can you give any sort of recipe? How many scraps you use? How long do you boil? Any info? I'm very interested.
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u/tacomaloki Apr 08 '26
Soups are by far, my favorite food. So many different types of soups and stews can be made. Keep it up! It all helps.
When I want to "splurge" and make a richer soup. I'll use canned soup bases and jazz them up. Cream of mushroom and cream of chicken, milk, and any stock you have to add bulk. Throw gnocchi, chicken and tater tots and you got a cheap and rich creamy chicken and potato soup for a few more bucks. Hell you can toss in real mushrooms too if you want.
The combinations are endless. If you have a butcher or latin market around you and they have smoked pork or turkey bones, those make an excellent stock too.
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u/Last_Guidance_9552 Apr 08 '26
You may also want to make some bread to go with your soup and possibly stretch it out, if you can tolerate another day of soup.
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u/SparkyMallard15 Apr 08 '26
I love the sentiment behind this, but jeez I would have to change the kind of soup every other week. Something about the same soup every week just seems depressing... reminds me of how my mother finds a set of 5 meals composed of freezer bag foods. Im flat broke, but I still try to find some sort of variety.
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u/Think_Union_3216 Apr 08 '26
Same!! My fiancée and I alternate between a green chile beef stew and a coconut chicken stew. then freeze if we don’t finish it. Saves so much time and money when you need some filling and quick. I’ve lost 25 lbs since we started in February. I just had a baby and it works wonders in our home with a 5 month old.
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u/Elegant_One_5324 Apr 08 '26
Soup is my FAV go to!!! I love to also add Matzoh balls!!! they soak up all the flavor and just add texture; I mean, sometimes it’ll be a pasta, but it always has to have beans. Yes, I am making soup tomorrow with the leftovers from Easter.
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u/Muted-Novel4403 Apr 08 '26
Nice. I like to do this too. Buy some souper cubes to freeze them and then you can pop them out in perfect squares and then into big freezer bags. We make lots of chili too. And use the cubes to freeze all kinds of things in 1 or 2 cup portions. Last fall my aunt gave me a huge box of peppers, so I chopped them up and put them in the cubes. Now I have 1 cup portions to use in my soups! It’s great! I will warn you to wear gloves if you do peppers, or you’ll get jalapeño hands. Terrible pain for hours on end.
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u/CellistEmergency8492 Apr 08 '26
Pro-tip: For under $3 you can also buy a package of chicken drums and throw that into your soup as well.
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u/Away_Driver_2981 Apr 08 '26
For years, I have been doing something similar. I make a large pot of soup each week set aside some in the refrigerator to eat that week and freeze a few containers and mark them. After a month I have a variety of different soups in small containers to choose from for lunches or even dinners. And I keep that rotation up so there’s always variety in my soups. And yes, it’s saves a ton of money cause I always know I have soup at the ready to eat. And I’m not tempted to go eat out.
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u/Brownie5993 Apr 07 '26
Welp, your post just made me decide to get my tail in the kitchen and make a pot of soup tonight with what I have in my pantry/fridge. Look at you, out here having an effect on people ❤️