Vessel for an Offering

Back in the early 90’s, I was on a rather tight budget. I kept my weekly expenses for dinners to $15.00 a week with the following recipe.

$15./week soup:

Go to the produce section of the local grocery store. Buy as many different vegetables as you can. My typical grocery bag would include all of the following:

1 lb dried lintels
1+ lb dried beans (black or red work well)
6-8 medium sized potatoes
1 medium sized acorn squash
3 good-sized rutabagas
1-2 turnips
1 med diakon radish
10 medium sized onions
1 large bunch celery
1 large bunch broccoli
1 small head cauliflower (if reasonably priced)
2 ears corn
1 medium eggplant
1 red/green pepper
1 large hand-full green beans
1 hand-full snap peas
4 large zucchini
2 crock neck squash
2 lbs white mushrooms
1 bunch kale (Red Kale if available)
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch chard or mustard greens
3 lbs tomatoes


Bring water to a boil in a very large soup pot/ stockpot
Add lintels and beans.
While those cook, chop and add to the pot the vegetables in the order they appear on this list.
Stir frequently.
By the time you finish chopping and adding the last of the vegetables, the beans will be tender.
After everything is added, let the pot come to a boil, then let it cool a bit.
Refrigerate the whole pot, or place the soup into smaller containers and refrigerate them.
As the week goes by, you can take a bit of this soup, put it into a small pot with some water and a bit of crumbled tofu and some crumbled noodles. Reheat, salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Now that it’s a few years later, the cost of these ingredients may have gone up somewhat. But it’s still an inexpensive wholesome meal.