Budgeting Tips to Get out of Debt and Build Wealth

A few weeks ago our local grocery store was having a sale on bacon, so I stocked up with a few packs.  Although bacon has not been a common ingredient in meals at our home, I knew my husband would appreciate having it once in a while.  So when I recently stocked up on bags of beans of many varieties, it occurred to me that many a carnivore likes eating Bean and Bacon Soup.  So I found a recipe and cooked it up.

I found the recipe on the All Recipes website.  Basically, you start with a bag of dried navy beans.  (You always have to wash and sort dried beans first.)  I followed the directions and brought them to a boil in some water, then let them sit for an hour.  In the meantime I fried the bacon to a crisp (maybe too much of a crisp), chopped up my veggies, and started cooking those in a little oil, adding spices as well.  The bacon was crumbled and added.  (I touched it with my bare hands!  This is a major step for me, and just goes to show, it must be love.)

I added water, chicken bouillon and a can of tomatoes per the directions, and let it cook for a long time.  When the bean and bacon soup was finished, it looked kind of like this:

It looked kind of like what I remembered Campbells Bean and Bacon Soup looking like (I used to really like that back when I still ate meat.)  It almost smelled like it too.  However, one of the spices called for was cloves, and I think maybe it was too much cloves.

My husband claims it was good. After that first meal, I froze the rest and he had it for lunch a couple days last week.  (It’s too bad the kids won’t eat something like this.)

As I do more frugal cooking, I post more pictures and tales of my adventures.  This soup wound up being only pennies per serving because of the deal I got on the bacon and all the inexpensive ingredients.  It just goes to show beans aren’t your only option when you’re living frugally.  You can have your bacon too!

Posted By: Frugal Cooking, Frugal Living - Reducing Spending by Darcy