The easiest way to stretch a meal (and look super fancy): make a soup. If you are working on a tight budget and need to stretch your food or budget just a bit… make a soup.
Groceries and food make up a large chunk of my family’s expenditures. We also love having people over and love to entertain. But we also don’t love having to spend a lot of money (which we don’t have) on a lot of chicken, meat or fish to feed all the people who we love who have come to our house.
You ever are making a meal and need to make it stretch for more people?
Are you ever strapped for money and are trying to make your main dishes go a little bit further?
Do you need to turn a regular supper into something a bit more fancy?
Making a soup makes you seem more “fancy” and put-together because two courses are fancier than one.
Think about it: if you go to someone’s house and they serve supper with two courses, you automatically assume that they put a lot of thought and effort into it. It’s a great hosting trick that is really super easy to implement.
People fill up on soup when it is served first. A soup is nourishing and filling, and after eating a bowl (or two!) of soup, they will eat less of the main dish. This is great if you are trying to get away with serving less of the main dish.