It’s official, winter is here following the first snow a few weeks ago. When the weather turns like this there is nothing better than to sit down with a delicious soup, and a homemade one at that. I’ve nothing against soup in a can and the cost is relatively cheap, but if I have time, I like to make a big batch of soup and have it for a few days. What’s more this budget leek & potato soup that I made contained around 6 servings coming in at £0.31 per serving. Here’s how I did it.

First of all here are the ingredients you will need along with rough costs of what I paid:

• 6 good size potatoes (50p – I bought a large bag for £2 and used about a quarter of the potatoes)
• 4 leeks (£1)
• 1 tablespoon of oil (I used sunflower as I’d run out of olive oil) (5p)
• 2 cloves of garlic (5p)
• 1 litre of veg stock (25p)
• salt & pepper (1p?)

And here’s the very simple method

1. Chop the leeks up however you like. If you like chunky soup cut them chunky if you prefer it smoother cut them smaller!
2. Heat the oil in the pan and add the leeks and garlic.
3. Boil 1 litre of water in the kettle.
4. Peel and chop your potatoes.
5. Once the leeks have softened, make your stock and add to the pan along with your potatoes.
6. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 mins.
7. If you have a blender, blend the soup until smooth otherwise leave chunky.
8. Season to your taste.

The total cost for this budget leek & potato soup works out at £1.86 and as I mentioned previously made around 6 portions. That’s £0.31 per portion! Even more satisfying than the price is the sense of achievement at making the soup yourself and the knowledge of exactly what is contained in it.

Please comment below if you made the soup and feel free to share any other soup recipes you may have.