Easy Soups to Make | Frugal Cheap Soup and Meal Ideas | Winter Soups

I've come up with a few different types of easy yummy Fall and Winter Soups to make that will appeal to many people and are relatively easy to prepare.


A lot people, me included at one time, are inclined to think that soup is rather a difficult dish to make. However I've discovered that this isn't the case, and that making soup can actually be really enjoyable and have a delicious result.

It's easy to make soup from leftovers - a favorite is Stuffed Peppers Soup, or Golumpki soup made from my leftover Lazy Golumpki stuffed cabbage casserole recipe. I've even turned leftover Pot Roast into a soup for lunch or dinner.

Easy Soups to Make

A Crockpot is my best friend for cooking Fall and Winter meals.

First, we have an old favorite of Crockpot Slow Cooker Leek and potato soup. There are two ways you can enjoy eating this, either cream, or not blended, and each way has its own distinct merits. If you blend it, you'll truly enjoy the soft texture that this technique creates and it looks wonderful as well, perfect for serving up at dinner parties, or even enjoying while chilling out sipping wine around the fireplace in winter or playing cribbage or your favorite family board games. 

The ingredients also go very well when prepared as a cream soup too, so if you blend it, add in some of this and you'll have a meal of pure indulgence.

However you can also leave the soup unblended, allowing you to enjoy the textures of the leeks and the potatoes, as well as the broth it produces. This can be perfect for those cold winter nights when all you want is a hearty, warm dinner. 

Homemade soups are always a great dish to bring for someone who's under the weather, has a new baby in the house, or loss of a family member.  Ready-to-Serve, and bring along a gift-basket of colorful Handmade Dish Cloths from Moomettes Shops for easy kitchen clean-up.

Fall and Winter Vegetable Soups

Butternut squash soup can also be blended or not. The wonderful thing about butternut squash is that it's unusual yet yummy, and you can combine it with most of the same ingredients that you use to make leek and potato soup.

The basic principles of soup making are to chop up all the ingredients, saute them for around ten minutes and then add the stock. I like to use my homemade Chicken Stock from a roaster, or homemade scrappy veggie stock.  When I don't make stock from scratch, I buy boxed Chicken Stock or Beef Stock from the grocery store, whatever is on sale.

Boil until the ingredients are cooked and semi-soft, season with salt and pepper, any of your favorite seasons to taste, and blend if you prefer. 

Roasted Red Pepper soup or Tomato Soup is easy and satisfying! Serve with croutons or crackers and a artisan grilled cheese sandwich for lunch or dinner.

Traditional Cabbage Sauerkraut Kapusta Soup

Kapusta soup is yummy for Fall Oktoberfest, Christmas, Easter, or any winter day! 

Search my blog for other soup favorite for all seasons! 

Artisan bread is the perfect accompaniment to this type of dish, and the combination will satisfy you up, while making you feel warm and contented. Add some chunky homemade Sourdough bread, Dill Seed Onion bread or Ciabatta and sweet cream butter from Cabot in Vermont, and you'll have a meal to be proud to serve.

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Crock Pot Potato Leek Corn Chowder | Soup Recipe

Stay on track to achieve your weight management goals with Crock Pot Potato Leek Corn Chowder Soup. If in season, use fresh corn or canned kernel corn to help you  They´re a terrific addition to any meal and a delicious way to achieve better health this year.

Crockpot Potato Leek Corn Chowder

Fresh corn in the summer is our favorite, especially when picked up at our local farmstand!  Butter and Sugar variety starting in July in Connecticut is our corn of choice, and later in the summer Silver Queen is available.

I will buy fresh corn in bulk when on sale, cook it, shave it off the cob, and freeze for the winter.  I will use the leftover cobs to make corn cob broth.

Winters can be especially hard on us here in New England and I've been putting my slow cooker crockpot to good use making crockpot freezer meals, soups, chowders and stews.

With the high cost of produce, I planted container garden vegetables and grew Leeks this summer.  Preparing for winter, I harvested the Leeks which are part of the onion family, and flash froze them.  Then I bagged using my FoodSaver, and froze them to use in skillet meal dishes, soups and stews.

A big part of enjoying healthier eating is buying healthier foods, and that means making smart choices where it matters most – at the supermarket. Choosing the freshest, healthiest foods is an important first step toward making healthy and delicious meals your whole family will love.

Be thrifty and frugal in the kitchen and stretch your food dollars by using leftovers for your family meals.  Chicken can be used in a variety of ways. Mix it with rice to create a chicken casserole dish. Stir fry it with frozen vegetables and pasta. Make chicken salad for a light dinner on a busy night.

Other meats are just as versatile as chicken. Leftover beef roast can be used for stews and soups. Combine with egg noodles and sauce to create beef stroganoff. Slice thin and stir fry with vegetables for beef fajitas.

Easy kitchen cleaning with these crochet Handmade Dishcloths in my Moomettes Crochet Shop !

Check out my other delicious soup recipes here! You might enjoy our favorite  Butternut Squash Soup recipe

Crockpot Leek, Potato and Corn Soup or Chowder

6 slices bacon, chopped
5 cups shredded frozen hash brown potatoes
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into 3/4 inch dice pieces
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
1 can (about 14 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 ribs celery, sliced
1 can (4 ounces) evaporated milk
1 package or can of corn, or a few cups of fresh corn from the cob (shaved)
1/2 cup sour cream

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp and browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel-lined plate. (I choose to microwave my bacon rather than saute in skillet)

Set aside 2 Tbl. bacon. Combine remaining bacon, potatoes, leeks, corn, soup, broth, celery and evaporated milk in crock pot slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 6 to 7 hours. Stir in sour cream and serve, sprinkling each serving with reserved bacon. 

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Easy Cheese Potato Soup | Winter Soup | Homemade Soup Recipe

On a cold winter day nothing warms a body like a fresh pot of soup, and, nothing warms the cook’s heart like an easy dish to prepare! This delicious homemade creamy Cheesy Potato Soup recipe makes everyone happy.

Easy Homemade Cheesy Potato Soup

Winter Soups

As a frugal easy supper, I often serve my family homemade soups for dinner.  Add a loaf of homemade bread from scratch, such as my Dilly Bread recipe, or a loaf of bread made in the breadmaker and you have a nice easy, quick meal.

You can put soup in a crockpot to simmer all day or wait until dinner time and whip it up in a hurry.

Change the toppings in each person’s bowl to make this recipe their own. You might try spinach and onions or tomatoes and croutons and the kids will like extra bacon.

Easy kitchen clean up with these Handmade Cotton Dishcloths from Moomettes Crochet Shop !




Enjoy!

Easy Homemade Cheesy Potato Soup

8 medium potatoes
1 large or 2 small Vidalia onions
1 package of John Morrell center cut bacon
1/8 cup of Pillsbury all-purpose flour
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
8oz Velveeta cheese
1 Tablespoon of Lawry’s seasoned salt
1 Tablespoon of black pepper

Heat a large pot on the stove over medium heat. As the pot is heating, cut the bacon into bite size pieces. Once the pot is hot, add the bacon pieces, stirring often until brown.
While the bacon is cooking, peel and chop the onion and potatoes. Make sure your potatoes are cut into bite size pieces. Set aside for later use.
Once the bacon is crispy, add the onions and stir. You want them to be semi-translucent and tender, not fried to a crisp.
When the onions are tender, add your flour and mix until the grease is absorbed; making a paste. This will help thicken the soup and ensure it has great flavor. If your bacon made a lot of grease, you may want to drain some of it off before adding the flour.
Pour the potatoes into the pot with the bacon, onion and flour.
Add just enough hot water to cover the potatoes.
Pour in the can of evaporated milk. This will help make your soup extra creamy. Add the seasoned salt and pepper and give it a good stir.
Depending on the size box of Velveeta Cheese you bought, you’ll want to cut about ¼ block of the large 32oz box of cheese or ½ of a small 16oz box into cubes. You can adjust the amount you use if you prefer a more or less cheesy taste.
Put cubes of Velveeta into a bowl with about 1 teaspoon of water. Microwave the cheese on high, stirring every 20 seconds, until it is creamy.
If you diced the cheese small enough, you could just add them directly to the soup, but I tend to use larger chunks so microwaving them first means they all melt completely.
Add melted Velveeta to the pot, and bring to a simmer. Let the soup simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over the top of each bowl before serving.

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Split Pea Soup with Ham | Hearty Soup Recipe

Here's my favorite Split Pea Soup with Ham recipe that I like to make once the snow starts to fly here in Connecticut. This hearty soup recipe is terrific as a quick lunch or served as a meal.

My Nana was French Canadian and always had a pot of pea soup cooking on the back burner when I went to visit. Most people think to make a green pea soup, however the French Canadians like to make their homemade soups using yellow split peas.

Nothing warms the belly on a chilly day like a bowl of old fashion Pea Soup!

When I want comfort food I think of my Nana's Pea Soup.  My Nana made it the old fashion French Canadian way, using a ham bone.  This is a great soup to use up leftover Easter ham, or a Sunday Dinner Ham or Ham Shoulder Bone for extra flavor.

Oftentimes you can find ham bones with enough meat on them at Honey Baked Hams.  

Since Nana never wrote any of her recipes down and cooked by adding a touch of this, and a tad of that, I've adapted this favorite Yankee recipe. Instead of the parsnips, I've added some par-boiled potatoes and turned it into a combination pea soup and easy potato soup.

Easy kitchen clean up with Handmade Dish Cloths from Moomettes Shops !

Serve this bowl of fresh soup with a slice of homemade dill bread to warm your family on a cold winter's night!

My Nana's French Canadian Split Pea Soup Recipe

1 pound green split peas
3 quarts water
1 meaty ham bone (or 1 pound ham steak, diced)
2 medium onions, sliced
1 clove garlic
parsley and thyme, 1 sprig each
2 teaspoons salt
peppercorns
bay leaf
1 carrot, sliced
1 parsnip, sliced
1 rib celery, sliced
1 cup white wine

Soak the split peas overnight and drain. (If you are in a hurry, the peas may be cooked in a pressure cooker in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes.)

Put the peas in a large pot with the water, the ham bone, and all other ingredients except the carrot, parsnip, celery, and white wine. Simmer on the back of the stove for 2 hours or so, stirring occasionally.

Remove the bone, cut off the meat and return meat to soup.

Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are done.
Sprinkle a pinch of mace atop each serving, and serve with common crackers, saltines, or baking powder biscuits.

If someone will give you a ham bone, return the favor with a pot of split pea soup!

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© Frugal New England Kitchen