Home made frugal tomato soup recipe (includes vegan version)

Making soup satisfies the criteria for one of the simplest ways to begin your self sufficient journey. It is a frugal meal once you have a few favourite recipes up your sleeve; especially if you make a habit of using left overs or using up odd bits of vegetable that might otherwise be thrown out.

There is no waste packaging, as all vegetable peelings can be composted. Making soup uses minimal resources (most soups cook in less than half an hour)  so is good for your carbon emissions and sticking to seasonal recipes dramatically reduces your carbon footprint and air miles.Today, Little Miss Green had a friend over to play. After a busy morning making dens in the field, getting covered head to foot in mud and playing with the visiting ponies I was asked for tomato soup for lunch. Our little guest loves my soup!

I wanted to share the recipe here because it is so easy to make.

It’s delicious, a great way of putting vegetables into something that kids will devour and it’s easily made into a vegan version. You can adapt it to any ingredients you have to hand.
For example, omit the carrot and add a couple of sticks of celery instead. For something more substantial you could add red lentils. The possibilities are endless………..

Fry 1 large, chopped onion, 1 large chopped red pepper (optional) and 1 large, chopped carrot in some butter or oil with a clove of smashed garlic and your favourite herbs (I used thyme today).

Gently fry until the vegetables are softened.

Add 1 tin chopped tomatoes (as you might imagine, this dish is even more scrummy in the summer with tomatoes that are fresh from the garden) and 1/2 pint chicken or vegetable stock.

You can add soya sauce or salt and a good pinch of brown sugar at this stage if you wish.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add a handful of watercress or spinach if you like and warm through for a few minutes.

Cool slightly, pour the lot into a blender and blitz up with a little cream (use soya cream for a vegan version or omit altogether).

Serve hot with home made fresh bread and enjoy!