Zero Waste Tomato and Veggie Soup

Serves 4-6 people
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

¼ cup oil/butter

1 medium onion, rough chopped

2 garlic cloves (or more if you like), chopped

1-2 teaspoons Aromatics- whatever you have laying around fresh or dried (thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, parsley)

2-3 cups veggies, roughly chopped to around the same size (celery, carrot, parsnip, pepper, etc)

1, 28-ounce canned tomatoes (diced, chopped, blended)

2-3 cups water, chicken broth, or veggie stock

Salt and Pepper to taste

Important Note about Food Safety:
You shouldn’t use veggies that have mold on them or smell foul or bitter. They’ve likely gone bad, and should be added to your compost! For your greens, they’ve gone bad if they’ve turned a yellowish color and/or appear slimy.

Method:

Wash, dry, and chop all veggies.

Turn on medium heat under large soup pot and add oil or butter (whatever you have on deck!).

Add onions and garlic and sauté for 3-5 minutes. Stir occasionally until the onions become translucent (when it starts to smell yummy you are ready for the next stage).

Add Salt, Pepper, and Aromatics. You can keep it simple or add whatever you like. This is your recipe so have fun!

Add chopped veggies (doesn’t matter how sad they might look) and sauté for 5-7 minutes until the vegetables start to color or become soft.

Add canned tomato and liquids and bring to a boil, stirring everything together.

Reduce heat to low and allow all the ingredients to hang out and bubble together (about 20 minutes).

Test your vegetables to see if they are soft. If you’re adding greens, now is the time to throw them in!

Blend soup (you can use a blender for this) and taste – add more seasonings to your liking.

Voila! Enjoy your soup!

You can save any leftovers in your freezer for up to 3 months and in your fridge for about 5 days.

Did you know about 35% of food in the United States will go to waste? Find more zero waste recipes here!