photo: sporkist via flickr

With Summer officially here, I wanted to give you one of my favorite frugal produce tips so that you aren’t wasting even the tiniest bits of those delicious vegetables! This is one of my most popular homemade soups, and no one knows (until now) just how simple and inexpensive it is to make.

To start with, you will need a seal-able freezer container. Most often I use a large freezer bag and that seems to work just fine for me. Every time I use fresh produce, I chop up the extra bits and add them to my bag. This works well for produce that is about to go bad, too.

Depending on what I have available at any given time, my mix may include any or all of the following:

• Onion (chopped)
• Carrots (diced)
• Corn (whole kernel)
• Tomatoes (sliced, diced, chopped, pureed)
• Celery (chop the leafy parts and add them too!)
• Herbs (I use rosemary, basil & oregano)
• Green Beans
• Peppers (chopped)
• Potatoes (diced)

Once my container is nearly full, I dump the lot into my crock pot with a few cups of my homemade stock (look for tips on making stock tomorrow) and water. I set the crock on low heat and leave it to work its magic for a few hours.

This is a delicious soup as-is, or if you have leftover meat you can add that as well. Break up hamburgers or chop chicken, beef or ham. You can also add a cup or two of small pasta (I use shells, macaroni or egg noodles) to the mix.

At the very most, this soup costs me about two dollars to make and it fills my large crock pot full. I freeze leftovers in individual containers for a quick meal anytime.