As part of our annual New Year’s detox, Hubby and I eat a lot of soup for lunch. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate—we eat soup for lunch almost every day of the year. It’s yummy, fast, easy to make, incredibly healthy and crazy cheap. And I can make one large pot of it in the Instant Pot at the beginning of the week, ladle it into 16oz mason jars, and have convenient meals for the entire week. What’s not to love?
Lately, my favorite soup has been Vegetable and Black Lentil Soup. The best part? It takes only 5 minutes of prep time.
Vegetable and Black Lentil Soup
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Garlic Press
Ingredients
- 1 10-oz bag frozen chopped onions
- 1 16-oz bag frozen organic chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas and green beans)
- 1 stalk organic celery
- 3 14.5-oz cans organic salt-free diced tomatoes
- 1 cup organic dried black lentils
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4 cups filtered water
- 1 TB organic vegetable bouillon
- 1 spray avocado oil
Instructions
- Spray bottom of Instant Pot with avocado oil to keep onions from sticking.
- Turn on Instant Pot and set to "saute." Dump in onions.
- Rinse and chop the organic celery and toss into the Instant Pot.
- Add the three cans of salt-free diced tomatoes.
- Using the garlic press, crush and add the 3 cloves of garlic to the Instant Pot.
- Open the bag of frozen mixed veggies and add it to the Instant Pot.
- Rinse the lentils and add them to the Instant Pot.
- Add the water and vegetable bouillon.
- Seal Instant Pot and set to 15 minutes on High Pressure.
- After cooking, allow to depressurize naturally for 10 minutes, then finish depressurizing manually.
- Ladle into jars for lunches or serve.
Save Time
I realize this may be cheating a bit, but what makes this meal so easy is the fact that it utilizes a lot of pre-packaged frozen veggies, thereby eliminating the need to wash and chop so much. But honestly, I don’t care—it’s super yummy and it frees up a lot of my time so I can do important things like snuggle with my kids, help them with their homework, put away yet another load of laundry, or maybe, just maybe, go for a run on the treadmill or even wax my eyebrows! Do I feel guilty when I see the plastic packaging of said vegetables? Yes, absolutely. Is it enough to stop me? No. But, by all means, if you feel like chopping all the veggies yourself, go for it! Just because I’m lazy doesn’t mean you have to be.
Save Money
Another thing I love about this recipe is how much money it saves each week. According a recent survey by Visa, the average American spends roughly $50 a week eating lunch out. That amounts to $2,600 per year, per adult. That means that a household with 2 working adults could easily be spending $5,200 per year, just on lunch. Although this sounds extreme, if you think about it, it makes sense—that’s $10/day per person for a 5-day work week. Go through any drive-through and it’s easy to spend that much or even more; and likely, it may not be a particularly healthy meal.
I looked at my most recent grocery bill, and here’s a breakdown of roughly how much this soup costs. (And keep in mind that the prices listed are for organic products.)
- Black Lentils=$1 (it’s about $3 for a 16-oz bag on Amazon, and that contains enough lentils to make 3 batches of this soup)
- Frozen Mixed Vegetables=$2.70
- Salt-Free Diced Tomatoes=$5.10 for 3 cans ($1.70/can)
- Celery=$1.75
- Garlic=$.25 for 3 cloves
- Better Than Bouillon=$.60/TB
- Frozen Chopped Onions=$1.20
TOTAL=$12.60 for 16 servings
That means that it costs about $.79 per serving. So…for 5 days of lunches, it will cost you $3.95 as opposed to $50 per person. That’s a potential savings of $4,789.20 per year for a household with 2 working adults. What would YOU do with the extra cash?