Beef barely soup

Ok my challenge we were trying to stretch out food till we got paid this week. I was down to a few potatoes and I saw that we had some stew meet so I went on a search this is what I found I combined this recipe with my mother in laws recipe and it turned out great. I even added a little of my own in it also

Beef barely soup

2 pds beef stew meet cut into 1 inch pieces
salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons of vegtable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 tsp minced garlif
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 can chicken broth
3 cups water
1 pkg mixed vegtables
4 small red potatoes (I just used what I had)
1/2 cup barely

1. seasoned beef stew with salt and pepper to taste.place seasoned beef into a large soup pot add 2 tbl oil (I added more) and saute for 5 minutes on high heat. Remove meat. Add 2 more tbls of oil and add onions carrots and mushrooms saute for 5 minutes stirring often. add garlic and thyme to the pot and stir for 3 more minutes.
Add chicken broth and three cups of water add frozen mixed vegtables potatoes and barely seasoned with salt and pepper stir all together and bring to a boil cover pot reduce to low heat and simmer 1 to 1/2 hours

To make this cheaper I used minced onion and dehydrated carrots from food storage I didnt have fresh mushroom so I wated to use i can mushroom the last half hour also my mother n law adds 1 tbls lemon juice to hers plus one bay leaf and 1 tbls sugar adds more flavor. I also added a can of black beans.