Post Furlough/student food: Sausage and Lentil Soup/Stew - slow cooker and freezer friendly Dump and Go recipe

 This is one of those recipes that can be bagged and frozen ready for throwing into the slow cooker straight from the freezer on your way out for the day - remember when we were able to do that!  Once it is cooked the leftovers also freeze beautifully and since it uses sausages and pulses - both of which are cheap it will not break the bank either - win win win.

Speaking of slowcookers they are one worthwhile investment if you are serious about saving money on fuel.  The often quoted statistic is that they use the same as a lightbulb - but this is misleading because since LED lightbulbs became the go to this is no longer true. They use about 1% of the electricity that it uses to keep the oven on low (comparing one hour of slow cooker use with one hour of oven use) and unlike Instant Pots and other trending kit they are under £30 and widely available so they recoup the outlay quickly.

Onto the recipe - if you intend to freeze it uncooked then freeze without the added liquid - saves on freezer space.  The only difference between a soup and a stew is the amount of liquid.  I use a pack of sausages from the chiller, but you can substitute frozen sausages if you prefer - just make sure they go straight back into the freezer before they start to defrost.

Sausage and Lentil Soup/Stew (serves 6 ish)

1 pack of you favourite sausages

340 g brown lentils (when I am feeling lazy this is about 2/3 rds of a 500g bag)

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 onion diced

2 sticks celery, chopped

3 crushed cloves garlic

1 carton passata

1 tsp mixed herbs

4 pints water or stock for soup or enough water to barely cover for stew

To make fresh:

Brown the sausages in a little vegetable oil, remove from the pan and add the onions, fry until softened.  Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute until fragrant.

Add all the ingredients except that water to the slow cooker, use the water to rinse out the pan used for frying to get the last of the juices from the onions and garlic.

Bung on the lid and cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours or  LOW for 7-8 hours - it will not hurt significantly if you go a little over!  

I like to slice the sausages before serving to make them portion better between us all.

Serve with fresh bread. pasta or rice

To freeze cooked:

Allow the stew to cool then portion into freezer bags, label and freeze.  To use thaw in the fridge overnight (or microwave if pushed) and heat either in a saucepan or in the microwave until piping hot   all the way through.

To Freeze "raw":

Once the sausages and onions have been browned add to a freezer bag along with all the ingredients except the stock or water.  Label with instructions that remind you to add this and how long it needs in the slow cooker - it is easier to write it on the bag rather than a inventory sheet which gets lost!  No need to thaw - the bag can be emptied in as is to cook.  Once it has been thoroughly cooked freeze the leftovers as above.

Variations:

The pulses that you use can be any kind lentils not just brown, if you do not have lentils then beans can be used as a substitute.  If you use dried beans remember to soak them overnight and then change the water and bring to a "hard boil" for 10 minutes before draining and adding to the slowcooker.  A slightly more expensive but less faff version is to add a drained tin of pulses.  This can even be generic baked beans in tomato sauce if pushed - still very cheap.

The sausages you use can be supermarket "bangers", hot dog sausages (from a tin only about 50p a go), frozen sausages (I always have a pack in the freezer for emergencies), "fancy" sausage like smoked sausage (kiebasa), Chorizo also makes a nice addition but can be a bit much if used as the sole meat.  I use leftover bangers for this recipe as well - when I cook sausage and mash just for the kids I have 2 sausages leftover -pop those in the freezer and when you have 8 you have enough for this stew.

Substitute other meat for some of the sausage in this recipe - add a couple of rashers chopped bacon, leftover roast meat, mince.

If you want to stretch the recipe slightly then add some more chopped veggies.