This continuous soup-making method allows you to have a”ready-cooked” meal at any time of the day. Also, the regular replenishment of varied soup ingredients makes it taste fresh and different everyday. Soup ingredients are entirely up to you; if you can make it hearty with beans, vegetables and greens, it can be eaten as a main meal without any other additions.
DAY 1.
Take a 2 gallon soup pot. An earthenware pot is preferred but a stainless steel stockpot will do.
Add the following:
4 cups of pre-soaked red kidney beans.
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup of diced carrot
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
2 cups of chopped kale
2-3 crushed bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
4 quarts of water
Bring to boil and simmer until beans are soft (about 1 hour and 30 minutes).
This soup can now be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now, in order to keep the soup preserved, you need to sterilise it by boiling it at least 3 times a day (bring soup to boil and then keep at a rolling boil for 3 minutes) and you can coincide this with your eating times. Also, soup making is usually a winter event so the cool weather will make it less likely for the soup to go bad.
We usually eat about a cup (250mls) of soup each for a meal. So, at the end of the day, if we have eaten 6 cups of the soup, 6 more cups of ingredients need to be added to top it up. Here is an example of what I would add to the soup pot at the end of Day 1:
2 cups of pre-soaked black-eyed beans,
1 cup of celery, chopped
1 cup of shiitake mushrooms, hydrated and sliced
2 cups of water
a bit of thyme and a sprig of parsley
salt and pepper to taste
The above ingredients are added to the pot after the last meal and simmered for one hour.
And, so the next morning, you have a whole pot of soup for the day again. Again, boil it 3 x a day and at the end of the day, count the number of cups which have been eaten. Replenish the number of cups used with new ingredients and make sure that 1/3 of the volume returned is water (otherwise, it will turn into a stew). It is up to you to be inventive at this point and you can be as imaginative as you want to be. Just to start you off, here are a list of possible ingredients:
Beef Jerky, Bacon Bits, Cubed Pork Pieces, Chicken Pieces, Split Peas, Black Beans, White Beans, Potatoes, Cassava, Parsnips, Beetroot, Peas, Fresh Tomatoes, Oyster Mushrooms, Green Peppers, etc.
Also, to vary the flavour each day, different spices and herbs can be added. Examples include:
Garlic, Ginger, Paprika, Cilantro, Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Cumin, Dried Orange Peels, Chilli Pepper, etc.
From my experience, the regular boiling times throughout the day macerates the herbs well enough so that the soup gets a smooth rounded flavour. So, do not be afraid of “flavours clashing” in this method.
I recommend this soup diet for two weeks. I find that after this time, the body feels adequately replenished and I don’t feel like eating anymore soup. It is a good way to de-toxify your body and it is a great diet for getting over an acute illness. It is a good meal replacement for those trying to lose weight and those trying to cut back on carbohydrates.
When you are ready to finish the soup, stop adding anything and just finish it up.