Monday, January 2, 2012

Monday's Lunch: Lipton Noodle Soup with Purees

My kids like Lipton noodle soup.  I like it because it is cheap - only 62 cents a package.  Our big(ish) family needs to cook 2 packages - but it still only works out to $1.24 for lunch for 6 eating people.  That works out to about 20 cents a person for lunch.  I can work with that!

BUT Lipton noodle soup is totally unhealthy!  White noodles in high sodium broth.  Hmm... how to fix this?   Each serving of soup has 70 calories, 2g of protein, 0 fiber and 0 calcium.  This does not bode well for my kids staying full and being healthy. 

Lets add some purees to it!  Here goes, I use 2 packages of soup and add:

1/4 cup of pureed zuchinni/cauliflower
1/4 cup of pureed carrot/sweet potato
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/peas/spinach
1/4 cup of pureed white beans (navy beans)

So that is adding 1 full cup of purees to the soup.  It still looks like soup.  It still tastes like soup.  So what are the nutritional benefits?

The zuchinni/cauliflower adds: 14 calories,  1.2g of fiber, 1.1g of protein and 27mg of calcium
The carrot/sweet potato adds: 25 calories, 1.2g of fiber, 0.5g of protein and 14mg of calcium
The broccoli/spinach/peas adds:  26 calories,  1.8g of fiber,  1.9g of protein and 23mg of calcium
The white beans adds: 124 calories, 5g of fiber, 7.5g of fiber and 77.75mg of calcium.  White beans also binds combines with the pasta to create a complete protein out of this normally no protein, high carb soup.

Total Calories per serving - 93.6 (was 70 - Lipton soup alone)
Total Fiber per serving - 1.2g (was 0 - Lipton soup alone)
Total Protein per serving - 3.4g (was 2 - Lipton soup alone)
Total Calcium per serving - 17.7mg (was 0 - Lipton soup alone)

The total cost for my soup works out to be this:
$1.24 for the Lipton Soup
$1 for the purees (approximate)
$0.25 for the extra noodles
_____________________
$2.50 for 8 servings = 31 cents per person

Still think you can't have healthy and quick meals for cheap???

So here is my recipe:

2 packages of Lipton Soup
1/2 cup extra soup noodles (optional)
1/4 cup of pureed zuchinni/cauliflower
1/4 cup of pureed carrot/sweet potato
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/peas/spinach
1/4 cup of pureed white beans (navy beans)
8 cups of water

Bring to a boil until noodles are tender.  Serve hot.


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