Winter Wonderland Soup – Frugal Mason Jar Gifts for Under $2

Your budget is stretched to the max, time to the holiday is closing in, and you forgot to get gifts for your neighbors, book club, moms group, or office pals.  Or maybe your family doesn’t exchange gifts, but you want to give a little something to everyone “just because.” What do you do when you have only change to spare?

First, you drum up a few ideas that can be created lickety-split without looking like they were whipped together last minute.  And if you are truly stumped, you think of the one item that is always well received during the holidays: food!

Winter-Wonderland Potato Soup is a simple, delish recipe, that’s easy to create and super frugal. You can head to your local grocer or dollar store to get all the ingredients and small mason jars. The jars will cost you about $1 each and the ingredients will average to around $1 or less per soup gift.

WINTER WONDERLAND POTATO SOUP

This filling soup is low on ingredients, easy on prep, but rich in hearty goodness. A mason jar, soup mug, or soup bowl are all suitable containers for gifting.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Potato Flakes
• 1/8 cup Plain White Biscuit Gravy (dry package)
• 1 Tbsp. Parmesan Herb Seasoning
• 1/2 Tsp. Garlic
• 1/2 Tsp. Dried Onion Flakes
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Tsp. Pepper

Instructions:

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed.  This will yield approximately 1 cup.

TIP:  If you are making multiple gifts, you can mix all together.  For example, if you are making two gifts, double the recipe, then extract 1 cup of mixed ingredients per gift.

Place 1 cup of mix into a small mason jar or a zip bag (if you are using a soup mug).  (Place sealed zip bag into bowl, soup mug).

Create an instruction tag to include either inside the container or added on a tag for the gift.  The instruction tag should read:

Winter Wonderland Potato Soup – Pour soup mix from bag into bowl. Heat 2 cups of water, bring to a boil.  Pour boiling water over soup mix, stir until ingredients are dissolved.  Cover for 5 minutes.  Uncover, stir, and enjoy!  For an extra treat, top with Cheddar cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, or all three!

For an extra embellishment, add strands of ribbon around the mason jar or base of soup bowl. Attach a festive ornament to the ribbon and looped them through the ribbon to secure it to the top of the jar or bowl for a truly festive look.

As you can see, it is extremely easy to quickly create simple, lovely, frugal hand-crafted gifts from the heart that will be well appreciated by your gift recipients.

Add your own touches by experimenting with the soup mix by swapping nacho cheese seasoning for the parmesan herb.  What everyone will appreciate the most is the time you took to craft them an original and thoughtful gift!