Soup Party Fare: Cheap Wine, Sliced Fruit, Soup and Bread

We love to entertain, to invite friends and family to our home, break bread, pour wine and share good times.  Entertaining, though, doesn’t need to be lavish or even remotely costly.  In our home, especially when times are tough and finances run thin, we host soup parties.

Best scheduled on a weekend, a soup party begins late in the afternoon to allow time for the bread to bake and for the soup to boil while the children play and their mothers and fathers chat.  Then, the party can languish on into the evening with card games or a calm after supper walk.

The party is exceptionally inexpensive for not only everyone who attends, but also the host.  Each of the guests is invited to add something to the soup pot — something that they already have lurking in the crisper drawer of their fridge or in their cupboard.  One guest might bring a few wrinkled potatoes, while another might bring half a zucchini leftover from last night’s supper, still others might bring a solitary chicken breast or handful of potherbs.  Beyond that, someone might bring some apples or oranges from their fruit bowl or some odd end pieces of cheese for the appetizer tray.  Each pot of soup for each party becomes a surprise.

At our most recent party when Tiffany of Colorado Mama attended, our soup contained parsley, cilantro, chicken stock, carrots, potatoes, tofu fried in coconut oil, Japanese eggplant, onion and miso.  It varies from party to party. but it’s always delicious.

It’s such a pleasure to share food among friends, and there’s no reason that every occasion for entertaining be costly or time-consuming.  Indeed, many traditional wholesome foods are also humble foods.

And, on the topic of frugal food, don’t forget about the Pantry Challenge coming up in December.  You’ll have the opportunity to win one of two vintage cook books!  Check it out here.