What is your cheapest vegetarian/vegan evening meal for four? Here's a 50 pence pot of soup!

[MinimalistMommi]

Mine is Split pea soup at about 50 pence for a pot of soup that will feed two adults and two children:

8oz dried yellow split peas
100 g frozen chopped onion
2 pints water
1 Kallo organic veg stock cube

Fry off onions inti, soft, chuck in everything else, cook until Split peas are soft. Wizz with stick blender. Yum!

We serve with warm bread and cheese for dipping. This is our cheapest meal of the week.

very nice - but why buy frozen chopped onion when the real thing is so much cheaper?

and those 'organic' stock cubes are also twice the price of own brand, with EXACTLY the same ingredients.

so I reckon you can save even more on your excellent soup.

frozen food is real food...

Nothing wrong with frozen veg. They even use real veg.

I'm really fussy about stock cubes and I've been using this brand for the past ten years and like the flavour. It's just what I use. Frozen onions, again just what I use, I'm in remission from cancer so try and cut down on food prep as much as possible as I still get very tired.

There's a lentil soup on here somewhere which is absolutely gorgeous (lentil soup with a tin of tomatoes added).

It freezes really well and gets thicker overnight so you have more the next day as you have to add water to thin it down!

My tomato lentil soup is:

100 g onions fried gently in olive oil.
Add tin tomatoes
5 Oz red lentils (rinsed)
Pint of water
1 Kallo veg stock cube ( or any veg stock cube)
Squirt of tomayoes purée.

Bring to boil, keep loud on and simmer for 30 mins and use stick blender to blend. Been making this for last ten years on a week!

....sorry for mixing g and oz in my recipes

*lid not loud

That's the one... Was of your recipe? I freeze it in batches and take it to the office when its cold.

Possibly, I've put it on MN a few times over the years. I'm glad you like it! It's a real staple here. The split pea soup is lovely btw incase you want to try it, really savoury in flavour if that makes sense. You might need to skim the surface a bit when it's cooking though with a slotted spoon.

Not as cheap as your soup, but lentil dhal with rice is cheap. We usually have it with minty yoghurt and with a salad of red onion, cucumber, coriander and lemon juice.

This is v cheap -

saute an onion and a couple of sliced leeks.
Make mashed potato.
Stir the vege into potato, with a load of cheese.
Put into oven proof dish and top with more cheese.
Bake.
Eat it with frozen peas, or salad. It would probably work with baked beans too, for anybody who likes the squishy little blobs of Satan.

At the risk of lowering the tone... Rice and baked beans (no really, don't knock it before you try it!)

MM If you like the Kallo stock cubes, the green pots of Kallo veg stock powder are cheaper and more flexible than the cubes (ie you can make as much or as little up as you need).

Our best soup at the moment is leek & potato.

2 x leeks (or equivalent frozen), chopped
2 medium-sized potatoes, cubed
500ml or so veg stock
tbsp sunflower/veg oil or knob of butter
tbsp horseraddish sauce

Sweat leeks in oil, add cubed potato and stir for a minute. Add stock and leave to cook (5-10 mins in pressure cooker, 25 mins in saucepan, 4-6 hours in slow cooker). Blend and stir in horseraddish sauce before serving.

My own inventions:

Stir fry up to half onion and pepper (depending on what you have), maybe add a little frozen sweetcorn before adding two cans baked bins, tomato puree pepper, chilli to taste. Serve with rice. All ingredients (except onion) are Tesco value and pepper came from Lidl as three are slightly cheaper there. I reckon it costs me approx 55-60p a portion.

Not really soup, more a stew..

Fry onion (sausages too if you want), add a sliced pepper then a tin of baked beans and 2 quartered fresh tomatoes. Simmer for ten mins and its lovely on its own or as a side dish.

Frozen onions are excellent as are frozen peppers and garlic. Less chopping and less waste.

Frozen onion are cheaper than fresh

intrigued: so just had a look on the Tesco site and frozen onions there are more than double the price of fresh. Even accounting for the peelings that is still a massive price hike. Same at Sainsbury's.

I reckon I'll keep spending two minutes with a knife.

Do you not.need to soak the.lentils.overnight?

Veg risotto. Usual risotto recipe.

Alpaca not according to LoveLife Waitrose pack of yellow split peas. Boil briskly for first ten mins and then simmer fo remaining time. If you like a slinky thicker soup then use less than two pints of water.

Veg spaghetti, basically this recipie here One Pot Primavera

I just use cheaper ingredients.