This $10 Lentil Soup Made Me Lunch For Almost A Week

Welcome to Cooking on the Cheap, a recurring series where one of our editors cooks a tasty Chatelaine recipe—and breaks down the cost.

Red lentils will always be my go-to in a pinch: they don't require soaking, cook up quickly and—just like their bean counterparts—are good sources of protein, iron and fibre. What's not to love? When I'm feeling sneaky I'll throw a couple of handfuls into whatever pasta sauce I'm making for my kids, or keep some mushy, overcooked lentils on hand as a binding agent for meatballs.

When I want to keep things simple, though, nothing beats a good red lentil soup. Here's a popular Chatelaine favourite that ticks off all the boxes: a cheap and tasty Mexican-inspired red lentil soup that's ready in just over half an hour. When I made it for lunch on Sunday, I found myself packing a couple of days' worth of leftovers after feeding my family of four.

A very quickly snapped photo of my lentil soup mid-cook. I like to cut carrots a little chunkier for this recipe.

Here's the cost breakdown

I costed this out according to this week's grocery prices at the Loblaws location I shopped at over the weekend. Minus the things I already had in my pantry, here's how it broke down:

On-hand pantry items: olive oil, chili powder, cumin, dried oregano, salt and pepper.

• 400-g bag red lentils
  $1.45 (Buying this ingredient in bulk can cut per-weight costs down by up to half!)
• 1 large onion
  $0.66
• 2 bell peppers
  $3.33 (I normally try to avoid using bell peppers out of season unless they're being eaten uncooked: their prices tend to skyrocket in winter)
• 4 carrots
  $0.90
• 2 celery stalks
  $1.00 (Note: celery is expensive this week!)
• 3 jalapenos
  $1.83 (I don't worry too much about jalapenos getting too spicy if they're added to the dish early and cooked down a lot.)
• 4 large garlic cloves
  $0.75
• 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth, or bouillon
  $0 (I had two mason jars of leftover chicken stock I made the week before that I needed to use up. I don't consider this cheating!)

Grand total: $9.92

Ready to cook it? Get this Mexican red lentil soup recipe.