Cheap Chicken and Vegetable Soup

The hardest part about this tasty recipe is eating all of it.

This soup is for chicken and vegetable lovers. And I mean lovveeerrrrs. Because even if you don’t double the batch as I so courageously did, you will still end up eating soup twice a day, every day for over a week.

However, it’s persistence in the face of consumption makes it a highly economical soup. A real bang for your buck.*see economic breakdown at end*

The link pretty much spells out the soup instructions, and I won’t be redundant. However, it doesn’t suggest the best method for seasoning and cooking the chicken or explore alternative ingredients for those who like to break rules and/or are too lazy to care about the specifics, so I will provide that along with some sad attempts at humour.

First, chicken. 

Sara (recipe lady) calls for an absurdly small amount of chicken – 3 cups. In my “doubled” (see “accidentally quadrupled”) attempt, I went with 5 lbs. In retrospect, maybe this was a bit too zealous… but protein, right?

Per pound of chicken, here’s what I suggest:

*suggest (V) /sə(ɡ)ˈjest/ : meaning, “I don’t really measure but if I did this is what it might be, but don’t take my word for it because I always failed estimation in school”

• Preheat oven to 350°

For chicken on the bone:

Remove any skin and follow instructions below. Chicken on the bone will be juicer but will always take longer than chicken off the bone.

For chicken off the bone:

• Create a seasoning paste:

1/4 Cup melted butter (melt in short increments to avoid an exploding bowl. been there done that. neat science experiment. not so neat to eat glass)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp fresh parsley

1 tsp Italian seasoning

• Place chicken on a lightly oiled broiler pan (or baking sheet if you don’t have one)
• Baste the chicken with the paste
• Cover the pan/sheet with tinfoil. This traps moisture and prevents the chicken from drying out.
• Cook until the internal chicken temp is 165°. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, I highly suggest investing one. Not that I have one, just that I suggest it. Mostly, I cook it until I don’t feel like waiting and hope for the best. DO NOT TRY AT HOME.

Second, vegetables. 

If you want to save time and money, it’s totally fine to go with frozen veg. I know I wrote a whole article on getting stuff fresh and local, but sometimes it’s worth it to grab a bag of frozen mixed veg and move along. It also works great in the winter or rural areas when quality fresh produce isn’t available.

For my attempts, I used home-frozen carrots, store-bought mixed veg (peas, lima beans, green beans, corn and more carrots), and nixed the celery. BOO GROSS GREEN STICK WATER. The potatoes, onions, parsley and garlic were all fresh.

Add in the veg as the recipe suggests, but remember that frozen veg needs to heat up, not cook, so if you’re using it, wait until the end.

Really, you can add whatever vegetables you’d like to the pot and subtract any you’d like (though I suggest keeping the onions and potatoes).

Also, TOMATO SAUCE IS NOT PASTA SAUCE. The grocery store will confuse you. Do not be mislead. Seek the truth.

Third, cash. 

The really win with this is not only how delicious it is. How easy it is is to keep (plastic container in freezer for a few weeks). Or even how simply it is to make. It’s that it’s all that and cheap. Plus, you won’t use all the ingredients you by (example, 5lbs of potatoes will last a long time), so it’s even cheaper than it looks.

Also, check out the nutrition facts on the original page. This is packed with carbs, fats and proteins for so cheap!

Here’s the breakdown of my mega batch:

5lbs quality chicken – $10.00

5lb bag of  potatoes – $2.50

3lbs yellow onions – $3.00

3 bags of frozen mixed vegetables – $6.00 total

2 boxes of chicken broth – $4.00 total

16oz tomato sauce – $1.50

30oz canned diced tomatoes – $3.00

+$2.00 for small amount of seasonings and butter from my pantry/garden

= $32.00 at the MAX

$32/21meals = $1.50/meal. 

and i still have some in my fridge…pls take it away from me. i cannot eat more soup.

The End.