Frugal Soup Recipes

Comfort food in the winter often means something warm. Soup can be a cheap comfort food which is filling and loved by the family. Frugal soup recipes are easy on the grocery budget. Each of these recipes can be also be prepared and frozen in individual servings to take as comfort food lunches during the work day. A good frugal soup bowl, brought form home, is definitely easier on the wallet than eating out.

Frugal Soup Recipes #1 Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

4 cups tomato juice

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1/2 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

In a large pot brown the ground beef and the onions. Add the tomato juice, corn, beans, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Stir well and heat throughout, but do not boil. Serve with corn chips or Tostitos. To make this a more frugal soup recipe, you can reduce the amount of beef and increase the beans. If pintos are on sale as opposed to kidney beans, choose those instead. If you do not have tomato juice, you can add more tomato sauce diluted in water. Frugal soup recipes often hinge on being about to adapt the recipe based on what's on sale when you shop.

Frugal Soup Recipes #2 Beef and Cabbage Soup

Cabbage is a frugal but healthy vegetable. A good warm bowl of soup loaded in fiber is good for the mood as well as the body. You may not think of cabbage as a comfort food but in the very cold winter a good soup helps keep the body warm.

1 1/2 pounds of hamburger

Half a large onion, chopped

2 regular size cans of tomatoes, chopped with juice

2 cans of chicken broth

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoons salt

3/4 head of cabbage, chopped

Brown the hamburger and chopped onion together. If you need to make this more frugal, consider using ground turkey, or adding some beans in place of part of the beef. Add the remaining items and simmer until the cabbage is tender.

Frugal Soup Recipes #3 Spaghetti and Meatball Soup

4 cups water

1 cup uncooked spaghetti

20 pre-cooked meatballs

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Bring water to a boil. Add pasta and meatballs. Cook about 10 minutes until pasta is tender. Do not drain. Stir in pasta sauce and cook until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese to serve.

An even more frugal version of this soup could be made by using tomato sauce instead of premade spaghetti sauce, and adding your own seasonings. However, if you watch the grocery ads, you should be able to stock up on loss leader items and get the sauce and noodles on sale at various times of the year. A good substitute for the meatballs is chunks of left over meatloaf.

Frugal Soup Recipes #4 Parmesan Egg Drop Soup

Any egg drop soup recipe is relatively frugal as eggs are not as expensive an item as many soup bases are. Eggs provide proteins and are a low carb way of having a frugal soup meal.

4 cups chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

4 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley

Heat broth to a boil over high heat. Add salt and pepper. Beat the eggs with the Parmesan and parsley. Slowly stir the egg mixture into the boiling soup and stir until the eggs float to the top and form strips of the egg. Serve as soon as you have finished cooling for the best results

Frugal Soup Recipes #5 Crockpot Potato Soup

8 Large Potatoes cut in cubes

2 Medium Onions Chopped

2 Tbsp Margarine

2 Chicken boullion cubes

2 Tbsp Parsley

6 Cups Water

2 Cups Milk

1/2 Cup Flour -- mix with cold water

Place first six ingredients in the Crockpot and cook all day on low. About 1/2 hour before serving; add milk and flour mixture. After the soup starts to thicken, it is ready to serve.