This is dinner on day 3 of Meal Plan 9.

It is a naturally vegan recipe if that is of interest to you (natural in that no substitution of anything is needed)

Serves 2
150g carrots, Asda 49p/kg, 7p
200g potatoes, Asda 59p/kg, 12p
200g tomatoes (half a tin), 31p a tin, 16p
100g onions Asda 59p/kg, 6p

Scones
125g self raising flour, value 45p/1.5kg, 4p
40g oil, 89p/litre, 4p

Topping
250g onions, Asda 59p/kg, 15p

Total cost 64p, 32p each
552 cals, 11g protein, 20g fat, 83g carbs

Make the scones first.
Mix the flour and oil together. Add enough cold water to make a soft dough. Put on the work surface and pat out to an oblong, about half an inch or the thickness of your thumb, thick. Cut into smaller shaped scones and place on a baking tray. Smaller shapes because we want to be sure they will cook in the same time as the vegetables. Purely as a fuel saving thing. If you prefer larger scones, and don’t mind the extra cooking time, of course do larger scones.

Chop all the vegetables into chunks, don’t peel the onion, toss in a little oil.

Put the scones and the vegetables into a hot oven. Cook the scones until golden and the vegetables until soft and cooked through. This will give a lovely deep flavour to your soup.

Remove the onion skin. Set aside two thirds of the onions. Put the rest of the cooked veg in a saucepan and add the tomatoes. Season well, warm through, and whizz smooth, or leave chunky if you like your soup that way.

Mash up the remaining onions with a fork. Season with a little salt and pepper and maybe a smidgen of dark brown sugar if you have it.

Serve the soup with the warm scones, topped with the roasted onions.

This can all be pre-prepared. Both the scones and the soup will freeze well, and of course, could be used at lunchtime if you prefer.

Keep the scones fresh by keeping them in an airtight tin for a day or two, any longer then that and they should really be frozen or they may taste stale, and/or a bit hard. You can gently warm them through when you come to eat if you like.

If you have any red lentils, you could add 100g for added protein, or perhaps half to a whole tin of kidney, or other, beans, depending on how beany you like your soup. You could have tomato scones with it, one of the most popular recipes on the site. Or have your scone with a sliver of cheese and chutney, or a thick slathering of butter. Or how about a generous smear of any flavour pesto under or on top of any of the other toppings, or indeed, by itself.

A bit of grainy mustard would be lovely in the scones, or some fine chopped rosemary, sage or thyme. A tblsp or 2 of fine chopped walnuts, toasted hazelnuts or roasted peanuts would be delish too.

I have been talking about ‘your scone’ throughout, but of course, the recipe is for you to share however many scones you make, not just one. Or if you don’t need that many calories, you could have any left over some other time