Soup in a Bag for Gifts for Coworkers

I was thinking of what to give as gifts to my coworkers this year and since we always have tons of candy and sweets at the office, I decided to go with something different.  I did a search for soup kits and found this one for Friendship Soup online that definitely had the right name linked to it.  There were several positive reviews and some tips that I liked, so I went for it.  I did a test run a week ago or so, and did a few of my own changes.  I tasted the broth, but the actual soup I sent to my daughter's house for them to all have to dinner and give their opinion's on.  It was a thumb's up, so went about gathering all the ingredients to make the 15 packets and am adding a can of Rotel cilantro and lime tomatoes and a box of Jiffy cornbread mix so they have a complete meal in the busy season coming up if they choose.  I designed a combination greetings card and instruction sheet on how to assemble it for in the bag too.  It's kind of a southwestern flavored soup and here is how I made it..for the packets I layered in each one (I put the clear cone bags in tall glasses with the top folded down a little to keep it open)

3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp powdered beef base
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup dried black beans
1/3 cup pearl barley
1/3 cup dried kidney (red) beans
1/3 cup great northern beans

Layer all of the above in a cone bag or 2 cup jar.

To turn mix into a pot of soup:  In a large crockpot add:
either: 1 lb hamburger or ground turkey browned with salt and pepper, or a ring of smoked sausage cut up in bite size pieces (I used turkey smoked sausage), spicy chicken sausage-a lot of reviews said this was really good, or leftover roast beef etc.

THINGS YOU NEED TO ADD: a can of Rotel cilantro and lime tomatoes, 4 cups water, a quart (4 cups) of beef stock, 1/4 cup catsup, a small onion diced, 1 stalk celery diced, and 1 carrot, cleaned and diced. 

Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.  Mine was cooked on low and actually took about 9 hours for the beans to soften correctly so allow enough time..I baked the Jiffy cornbread so it was still warm when it was eaten. 

You can cook this on the stove also..they said it would take about 9 cups of water for about 2-1/2 hours.

You can add more water if it looks too thick, a little at a time.