Free: Soup, Apples,Garlic, Bag

Three bags of soup mix. See the windows in the bags?

On Thursday night, I go to a church that serves a dinner for anyone in church or town. As the nutritional quality of the dinner has declined, the number of people has declined. The people who come now are a lower SES (socioeconomic status). Most have not finished hs and are elderly. Only a few of us have attended and/or graduated from college or have been in professional careers.

Since exbf was going to come here on Thursday, I asked if we could have our big meal at lunch and go to the dinner that evening. He agreed. My author friend was there, and my friend Lena. we all sit together. About halfway through the meal, we were given bags with bean soup mix. Exbf is not going to cook. Fred did not want his. Soooo, I got three bags.

The Vacation Bible School children made these bags of soup mix and wanted to share with us.  Ummm, I know where little kids have had their hands and can imagine how many beans were rescued from the floor. (Linda, take a deep breath.) Since the soup beans will be rinsed and boiled, I expect a good outcome. 

The bean soup mix was in a paper bag with a plastic window and little metal tabs to close the bag--impressive. The children had written a Bible verse. Some of the children had to be five- or six-years-old, while others were ten-years-old, judging from the handwriting.  On the back of the bag was a recipe:

The directions looks easy enough.

There are navy beans, kidney beans, green split peas, and barley to equal two cups. I measured it.

All these were in a quart storage bag. Maybe someone can clue me in on the beans if I got them wrong.

Seasonings

This is a very small bowl. Notice there a six bouillon cubes. I have never put more than one in a gallon of soup, so I will not put six in a half gallon! Even if they are low sodium, this is excessive. I have lots of pimiento jars where the other five will reside for another time.

I am going to put a half pound of free, cooked, very lean ground round in this. When I mentioned maybe I would, exbf was very emphatic with his approval. The man likes his meat.

When we went to get produce for the girls, the guy said he saw me coming as he was bagging these up. Exbf picked out three or four for himself. So the rest will either go in the dehydrator or be cooked as pie filling, which I will eat in a bowl with no pie crust.

Blogger won't allow me to put a caption. This is an elephant garlic a vendor gave me while I was discussing garlic growing with him at his booth at the farmer's market at the Fest Hall. He told me I could plant ""this one" as he handed it to me. Now, when do I plant?" Can I plant in a container?

At the festival on Friday night, our local Ford dealership was handing out bags.

Your turn

Do you know what kind of beans those are? I know there is barley, too. What did you get free lately?