6-8 meals for under $12 (Recession food)! - MOROCCAN LENTIL SOUP

OMG, I have all of those ingredients! thanks to GLP, I have never ever had all those on hand in my life, but I'm now prepared for ANYTHING!

Would those beans be can/jar or dry or both?
I've got a jar of Great Northern but only dry Lentils.

Not that I need to know, just curious what you use, I can adapt.

Damn nice recipe! That's the way I love to cook, lots of good ingredients, smell the house up great for the day then freeze portions to pull out whenever... makes life way easier and cheaper too!

Did the price include all those condiments? They're pretty expensive these days aren't they? Still, it'd be cheap once you got those. Thanks for the recipe,this is startin' to look like a depression, maybe soup kitchens are next.

We could have stimulated small business of course and all this wouldn't have required us to live on soup, but then we wouldn't have gotten all that Change we all Hoped for, Obama's business friends and execs and Acorn types got the money that would have allowed you to be eating more than soup while they are eating real high on the hog at your expense. Almost $800 Billion of just one of those bills passed, it could have produced a lot of jobs and food.

Oh well, I'll eat my soup and shut up now, and be a good little downtrodden American.

Last Edited by DoUCDem2? on 01/09/2010 12:25 AM

BTW Trin, thanks for the pin. I believe this is the first recipe pin that I've seen on GLP. :)

Recipes that I post are meant for nothing other than to give you all a path to a happy belly someday, on a budget. Nothing more, nothing less. So don't flame me. :)

From my experience you would be able to add the canned great northern beans at the same time as the lentils, as they would not take the same soaking/cooking as dried beans.

Thats the advantage of lentils or split peas. They are ready in a fraction of the time of other dried beans.

Yep, canned beans just need to be heated but are more expensive.

Similar to the dog food I make for my doggies.

Not are canned beans more expensive, but there is no substitute for a chili or soup made from dried beans vs canned beans. Maybe its because of the time and love put into the chili, but also certainly tastes better!

That's some secret. I have the exact same recipe in an old Gourmet magazine from November 1997. In that same magazine is a recipe for baked french bread, yum.

Lentils salad: cooked drained lentils, garlic, lemon juice, handfuls of shredded fresh parsley, cumin and salt, and some oil for sheen. Mix it up to your liking and serve it hot or cold. A pound of lentils decorated with these ingredients fed me for a week once. Make some homemade flour and water flatbread on your George Foreman grill, with hummus and spiced honey dips.

Take heed of OP's recipe..Moroccans (notably Berbers) know how to survive on minamalistic resources. Saharan desert life will do that to you.

Last Edited by Trench on 01/09/2010 12:49 AM

:) I'm not going to waste keystrokes defending this recipe. If you wanna cook it, do so. If not, no problem. If it was the exact same, then Gourmet Magazine came to the same conclusion that I did 12 years ago. A happy stomach.

How 'bout sharing that recipe for the french bread, eh?

It would be a good accompaniment.

I sawe all my bones from any meat meal and then make soup stock with them. Throw into a pot with loads of water, half an onion, a carrot, celery stick, S&P, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour, then strain and you have a big pot of stock. Also, if there are leftover veggies from any meal, I bag 'em up and put them in the freezer and use them to make stock as well.
Also, canned tomatoes are so much much cheaper than fresh ones, my "supply cupboard" has about 24 big cans of tomatoes....you don't have to cook as long (fresh is great, but if you can't afford or you can't find them, canned is good). Lentils are great. For variety, throw in some curry powder or tumeric for that exotic flavour. I have an Indian recipe for lentils that cooks them slow for 24 hours (I've only ever done it twice cuz you have to watch it), but the taste is DIVINE!!

You all have very interesting recipes.

For real! The genius isn't that the OP had the recipe, the genius is in sharing a delicious, nutritious, and very inexpensive recipe. Goodness gracious ya'll.

Research enough and you'll likely find an answer or several for just about any survival problem:

The Dakota Fire Pit
[link to www.survivaltopics.com]

This can keep your fire below ground and unobserved. You will however still need to watch smoke discipline. This can be helped by building the Dakota Fire Pit under a large broad tree to break up the smoke column, and building the fire only at night. Keep a mess kit over the hole or you'll illuminate the branches above you!

To minimize flame time, use the Thermos Cooking method to do the real cooking for your soup after the water has come to a boil:

Thermos Cooking Method
[link to www.ehow.com]

Once you have the food in your themos, put it on it's side inside your rolled sleeping bag or other insulation, and let it cook for 4-6 hours. Use multiple thermoses to cook different foods or to feed multiple people.

Need to go "out & about" for awhile? Just throw the thermos into your pack and eat it later after it has finished cooking. Very efficient.

Tuna has a lot of mercury in it. Vegetarianism is where it is at regarding health.

OP, this looks delicious. I've been looking for additional recipes that don't require meat, and this looks yummy! Also, I can see changing it out using my own stored legumes and freeze-dried carrots and onions.

Beyond recession food, I would imagine vegetarianism would be very difficult to maintain in a TSHTF situation where all food would likely become extremely scarce.

Would you or a die-hard vegan eat meat if you had to in order to survive? I as a carnivore could eat grains & veggies if they were all I had to survive on. I think most people would eat Bermuda grass and Chinese leather belts if they were starving bad enough.

Spices are not expensive, if you look around at good bulk shops. I just got a container of garlic powder, 750 grams for $3.99, that's 2-3/4 lbs! That's really cheap. Some places will sell a little jar of garlic powder for $5. I went to a restaurant supplier outlet and got it so cheap, that I got an extra for my "emergency" cupboard. Of course, fresh garlic is always better, but in an emergency with no stores open, those two containers would last me a good year. When I see stuff like that at a great price, then I buy it then, if it's on the "list" for emerg supplies. And you know those bigs tins of ground coffee? When the coffee is done, I use the tins to store my spices, just wrap a little duct tape around to seal them, if you get the heavy plastic coffee things (like Folger's) even better because if it gets wet (who knows what conditions will be?), keeps your spices dry. Store my flour that way too. Lucky for me, I happen to like Folger's and I've been saving the containers for about a year, have a dozen or so - and since I already paid for it, I don't have to buy containers (though I have some of those too). Great for storage! But restaurant supply places are the place to get spices in bulk. If there isn't one in your neighborhood, you can probably find one on line. Just think about eating the same supplies over and over always tasting the same. For a relatively tiny investment, you can make 10 different tastes with the same ingredients by using different spices - this could really come in handy in hard times........
And thanks for sharing the recipes! Good cheap food that still tastes great and is nutritious. Can't go wrong.

I searched to find your fried rice recipe (I love fried rice), but I couldn't find it.

Do you by chance have a link to that thread ?

TIA

Moroccan? That sounds Muslim... why are you promoting terrorist islamic food to Americans? You sick son of a bitch, go take that allah shit somewhere else, you fucking sandbye bye!

Don't make this recipe, this asshole prolly makes this soup while selling arms to Hamas!

Where do you your grocery : Guatemala or Haiti ??

2 Tablespoons of salt?? Holy Balls!
Is 2 tablespoons of salt correct, OP?

will stick to dryed navy beans cooked with left over ham bone. ready to cook hams have been well priced here at 89 cents a pound. we can eat for a week on a 8 dollar ham, 18 eggs, a bag of beans, a pan of cornbread and a few pots of coffee.

Tomato, Vegetable and Chick Pea Soup

1 400g tin chick peas (drained)

1 400g tin lentils (drained)

2 bay leaves

2 cloves crushed garlic

1.5 litres stock

100g chopped bacon

2 onions chopped

2 celery sticks chopped

2 carrots chopped

2 400g tins tomatoes

salt and pepper

chopped parsley

1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Heat oil and the sweat the onion, garlic, bacon and vegetables for 10 minutes.
You can add a pinch of sugar. Add tomatoes and stock.
Cover and cook gently for 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Add chick peas and lentils and simmer for 10 minutes. Add parsley.

Lovely with crusty bread (or toast)
You can sprinkle it with a little grated cheese.

Serves Six.

[link to www.abc.net.au]

Aussie recipe !
which could be adapted to make a cheap family meal
by using soaked dry chick peas and lentils.
children dont normally like very spicy food.

This sounded like a great recipe until I got to two tablespoons of salt. TWO TABLESPOONS OF SALT?!? What the? And then sugar to counteract the salt?

I had to read it again to make sure. And then I read the thread and no one commented. So, I did...

I'll make the recipe, have all the ingredients in my pantry, but wow, I don't think I've ever put a tablespoon of salt in anything except playdough and I don't intend to start now.

Pulses like lentils need salt (like potatoes, but you can put some in the water when you boil them - a couple of pinches.

And use sea salt or natural lake salt, not that table salt shit.

Too much salt will kill you. But, I guess you'll be a well-preserved corpse.

crock pots are where it's at..

i can live off crock pot action for a week for under 20$

crock pot action will be taxed..

the lentils and beans create carbon dioxide.


the fermentation of yeast also creates global warming..by generating co2



your food will be taxed..

[quote

I searched to find your fried rice recipe (I love fried rice), but I couldn't find it.

Do you by chance have a link to that thread ?

TIA


I think this is it:


Chinese chicken fried rice

3 large chicken breasts - $5
4 carrots - $.50
4 cloves of garlic $.10
1 large onion - $.35
1/2 bag of frozen peas - $1
1 crown of broccoli - $.75
4 eggs - $1
1/2 bunch green onions - $1
3 cups of uncooked rice - $.75
2 tsp sesame oil - almost free
4 tablespoons of black soy sauce (Koon Choon brand) - maybe 5 cents?
Several turns of black pepper - almost free

Excellent source of carbs, and excellent source of protein.

Recipe:

Make sure you have a proper wok. If you don't have one, a large pot will work, but nothing compares to a good seasoned wok.

Chop the carrots into very small pieces. Smash garlic with the face of a large knife and mince. Dice onion. chop broccoli into small pieces (smaller, the better, but don't chop da sheet outta it). Slice green onions thinly. Beat eggs with a small splash of soy sauce and a drip or two of sesame oil.

Heat wok (or big pot of your choice) to medium to medium high heat. Add peanut oil or light olive oil. When heated, add chicken, garlic and black pepper. Saute until done, then remove from pan and set aside. Return to heat, add a splash or two of more oil and add the onion, carrots and broccoli. Saute for about 3 more minutes, until the onions get translucent. Add chicken back to the wok/pot. Saute for 2 more minutes. Make a "hole" in the contents by pushing it to the edges of the wok/pot. Add the egg. Allow it to partially cook, then stir fry it with all the rest. Once the egg is cooked, add the rice. Mix thoroughly. Add soy sauce gradually, stir frying as you go. Once the rice has a uniform brown color, reduce the heat to low. Add green onions and frozen peas. Drizzle sesame oil, stirring the massive amount of food as you go.

Serve in a bowl, with a drizzle of additional Kikkoman on it when you eat it.

My contribution to GLP. Flame away, or take note. 10 bucks can go a long way.

- AC

OP here. This makes quite a bit of soup (almost fills a stew pot). Like I said I do not measure, I just pinch and throw. It is an estimate, but as the recipe says, to taste. Add some, taste. Then add some more if needed. If you cook, you know what I mean. For this recipe, I salted it just until it tasted like it had slightly too much salt, then added the sugar. The sugar does counter the salt and helps the round out the flavor of this recipe tremendously.

Enjoy!