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This week's budget recipe: Jane’s bacon and lentil soup

Jane says, ‘I'm a bit of a soup fiend so I love this. Lentils can be bought in the Asian aisle very cheaply so I keep a large bag at home. The cost per portion will be very low particularly if serving a crowd or freezing portions.’

Preparation time: 5 mins, cooking time: 30 – 40 mins, serves 4. Total cost = approx. £1.72*

Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
1onion diced 250g red lentils
4 rashers smoked bacon**
2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 1.25 litres of boiling water
**If serving vegetarians the recipe can be adapted using smoked paprika with onion instead of bacon

Method
1.   Rinse lentils until water runs clear to remove starch
2.   Gently fry off the onion and bacon to release flavour
3.   Add lentils, stir, then add stock
4.   Bring to the boil and simmer until cooked, approx. 30 -40 mins,  stirring frequently
5.   Allow to cool a little then blend

NB Lentils soak up a lot of liquid so use a big pan

*Prices from Tesco, correct at time of publishing