Several years ago when I could barely afford to eat, I found myself desperately looking for a way I could make something cheap, nutritious, tasty, and that would last. I invented a bean soup recipe.
I buy a bag of mixed beans in the grocery store. I get a package of ham hocks or shanks. I sautee lots of onions, celery and carrots in olive oil with minced garlic. I add the beans, ham hocks or shanks, water, and 2 or three cans of diced tomatoes. I usually use the kind with Italian seasoning. Sometimes I used the stuff with chilli seasoning.
I cook it all day until the meat is falling off of the ham hocks. I take the hocks out of the pot, cut the meat off the bone, and get the marrow out of the cavities, and put all of the meat back into the pot. I never use the fat from the ham hocks. If you are worried about the fat, use shanks.
For under $5.00, I would make a dutch oven full, and could eat off of that for over a week. I often adjusted the seasonings by adding Mrs. Dash, but it is a pretty full proof recipe.
By Susan
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thank you for the recipe. do you end up freezing it or just eat off of it for the week. i make large batches of food but have to freeze it cause it comes to the end of the week and i still have alot left-for just me.
I have done both; sometimes I would keep half of it out, and freeze the rest. Having it on hand was great! There were times when I didn't feel like cooking for just myself, so having stuff that I only had to heat up was great!
Don't worry about staining containers, just soak them in soapy water with a couple drops of bleach and no more stains.
I've started leaving the celery out of what I am making. It's too expensive ($2.99 a bunch) where we live. I add extra onions or canned tomatoes. I buy the restaurant sized can of diced tomatoes 6lbs 5 ozs. for $3.49 in the grocery store. You can use it for a lot of things.
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