This hearty lentil soup also light on budget

Economical dash can be made with a variety of cheap ingredients.

For seven years in my mid20s to early 30s, I lived in Los Angeles. I drove down the Pacific Coast Highway on sunny — it was almost always sunny — weekends, my windows rolled down, Weezer or the Doors blasting from my stereo, the ocean breeze in my hair. I hosted brunch for my neighbors, and I made birthday cakes for my dearest friends. I picked fruit off trees whose branches tipped over public sidewalks. I learned so, so much about myself and friendship and hope and what was worth fighting for.

Mostly, I learned how to live quite well on very little.

That period of my life coincided with the Great Recession, and I was among those laid off. I spent years patching together a living by working odd jobs, mostly in the food industry, which itself struggled to stay afloat. I remember gritting my teeth at the ATM when it refused to spit out any cash. I remember working seven days a week and sometimes still being barely able to pay my rent.

When money was tight, I made a game of food shopping, taking only a wrinkled $20 bill into the grocery store to see how far I could stretch it. Rice and beans were my go-to. But on chilly January nights, when the temperature even in Southern California can dip, I started to crave soup.

This lentil soup, with kale and chicken sausage, was one I used to make quite a bit. Between the 99-cent store and a Mexican market a few miles away, I could make a batch of it for less than $5. Inflation, especially in the past year, means this soup will probably cost you a bit more today, depending on where you live. But it’s still an economical solution — especially if you look for products that are on sale and buy some of them in bulk when that option is available.

As you’ll see in the recipe, you don’t have to use broth — water works just fine. The chicken sausage adds flavor, but if you skip it, all you need to adjust is the amount of salt and pepper, and that’s thanks to the addition of dried herbs and tomato paste. I used to get bay leaves from a neighbor’s tree — feel free to use a dried one if that’s all you have. It might be hard to detect its subtle fragrance, but I never skip the bay leaf. It reminds me of how lucky I was to live in a city with such beauty and bounty.

REY LOPEZ/WASHINGTON POST Brown or green dried lentils will have the quickest cooking time, while smaller French du Puy lentils will take longer. Chicken sausage can be left out to make the soup vegan.