With the current astronomically high cost of groceries, everybody is looking for ways to cut costs, but still maintain the same high level of quality of their food and nutritional content for their meals.

Since time is a valuable commodity as well, a way to do save money and time is to purchase you food items in bulk.

But how do you make your own prepackaged meals and soups?

It’s simple.

Make your “Soup in a Bag,” add its fresh ingredients, and you’re good to go.

For fun, I used to teach a 5 week cooking course for high school students. One particular class was focused on how easy it was to make soup, and I amply showed the kids how to do this by making “Soup in a Bag.”

First, I laid out the necessary ingredients, measuring tools, bags, cutting boards, knives, on one table. Then, the students would put together their bags, with the directions attached. I arranged different stations on different tables where the students would prepare their ingredients. In another bag they would cut the vegetables and put them in a separate bag. At the end of class, the students took it home.

Parents called me with rave reviews. They absolutely loved this and wanted their kids to make more and more.

So what is “Soup in a Bag?”

Simply put, it’s all the ingredients you need for a big (or small) pot of soup.

Although summer is right around the corner, you might not want to have the stove on for hours and hours. For this reason, I’ve included some soup recipes that won’t take too long to cook.

Don’t forget the favorite part of most people’s dinner meals is indeed, soup.

The best part of this is that you don’t have to dig in all of your cabinets the next time you want to make soup; you’ll be able to just pull out a proportioned bag, add a few fresh vegetables, and you’re ready to go.

Voila!

Soup in a Bag!

How to make Soup in a Bag:

1. First download IA’s recipe cards; I’ve attached some cool recipes cards for each of these recipes. They are 100% printable and ready to go.

2. Next, purchase all of the dry ingredients you require. Here’s a list for the three recipes I’ve included on this post.

Bay leaf

Cumin

Turmeric

Salt

Black pepper

Thyme

Garlic (Of course you can use fresh, but I think, for soup, powdered is fine, too.)

Lentils

Pearl Barley

Split peas

Quinoa

3. Make sure to properly measure the amount of ingredients required and then put the ingredients into the proper bag. You’ll have a Lentil Soup Bag, a Split Peas Soup bag, and a Quinoa Soup bag. Or you can make multiple bags of each and then store it to have on hand. I prefer a zipper type bag, but, of course, the choice of bag is yours.

4. Each of the attached recipes has a similar vegetable base of onion, celery, and carrots, all of which are cooked with 1 or 2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil. For the most part, these basic ingredients are in your house all the time.

5. Purchase the additional ingredients, such as crushed tomatoes, frozen spinach, potatoes, or cabbage, and have them in your freezer or pantry.

BTW, it’s a great family project. Get your children involved so they can learn how to make nutritious meals and help you at the same time. An assembly line set-up works great. Learning by doing is great. In fact, we have a great discussion about this on our homepage.

Lastly, to spice up these recipes, you’re welcome to add more spices and herbs using fresh herbs like dill, cilantro, or thyme.

What type of time and money saving ideas do you use for your meals? Do you work to ensure that you have the proper nutrition and ingredients into your busy schedule?

Why don’t you share your ideas, because

After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!

© Iowa Avenue

Photo courtesy of colros