Can I save money by making my own soup?

Tibbie's_mum

Last soup I made was when I boiled the £4 gammon joint that we had on Boxing Day. I put a swede in with it whilst it was boiling away, which was on special at Morrisons for 30p, and the stalk from a head of brocolli, removed the gammon joint for lunch, and liquidised what remained in the pan. It made a lovely pot of soup for a total spend of 30p!

Edit: Forgot to add I nicked a bit of the swede to mash up with a load of leftovers for a meal for my youngest, so technically it was less than 30p

cassieannie

Yes I certainly agree it is so much cheaper to make soup. I also use the hob way and use up the vegetables with lentils and vegetable stock, and fill the deeper round lock tight plastic containers and make enough to fill about 6 of these and then freeze them. So we have a constant supply when needed.

Spirit_2

Yesterday we had Tomato and Basil soup.

Sweated two onions and about a third of a celery bunch.
When soft added three tins of value tomatoes and 2 pints of veg stock (stock cubes) .

Cooked in large stock pot in the oven for about 1 hour along with other dishes.

Seasoned with black pepper, no salt needed.

Snipped up a small bunch of basil leaves and added to soup.

Whizzed up in magimix.

A very good portion of 5-a-day for 4 adults and about a pint left over.

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat

We love homemade soup, and quite often have it for dinner with some homemade bread and some cheese.

Regularly dished up in the Buffy household are:

* Curried parsnip (onions, parsnips, mild curry powder - for the curry taste, chilli flakes for the heat , veg stock made using stock cubes)
* Chilli bean and sweet pepper (onions, garlic, red/orange/yellow peppers, cumin seeds, oregano, red kidney beans, veg stock made using stock cubes)
* Carrot and coriander (onions, garlic, carrots, coriander powder, veg stock)
* Minestrone (onions, carrots, garlic, peas, savoy cabbage, tinned tomatoes, veg stock)
* Chunky vegetable with pesto (carrots, leeks, garlic, red kidney beans, tinned tomatoes, pesto, rosemary, veg stock)

All delicious, and all very reasonable price wise, especially when reduced veg can be obtained...of course if you grow your own, even better! I have a big soup pot which I usually fill - this makes several meals for us which can be frozen.

poppy-glos

brisck1 wrote: »

This all is great advice, I think I will use up my backlog of oxo cubes first before investing in some bouillon powder, and thanks for the link to the recipes!
Im wondering if a hand blender is going to be good enough or if I should invest in a proper one? (got some argos vouchers to use up!)

I think im gonna try some set recipes before I start improvising, but I wanted to ask, should I always 'sweat' veg before adding stock atc?

also is their anything I shouldn't be adding which cant be frozen and reheated with the soup?

i love my stick blender, use it in the saucepan, quick and easy and less washing up, haven't used the food processor for years..

seraphina

I always sweat my veg, but I don't suppose you have to.

I got a pressure cooker at Xmas, and like Olliebeak I've made loads of soups in it. It's becoming one of my most used kitchen things!

Rebekah24

Last year I made a lot of cabbage soup, however this year I am not too sure if it works out better to buy or make.

Typically I eat 1/2 a can of soup per day - to give you an idea of volume

When I make it I usually make just over a litre, using the following
1 Cabbage
1 simmer soup packet
Cayenne pepper
Root veg - whatever is on woopsies
1 tin tomato

Tin soup I buy for 5 for £2

Not too sure if its actually any cheaper to make it...

Any words of wisdom.. was thinking about getting raw ingredients tonight then started to tot up what it costs...

Thanks in advance guys

kinkyjinks

Rebekah24 wrote: »

When I make it I usually make just over a litre, using the following
1 Cabbage
1 simmer soup packet
Cayenne pepper
Root veg - whatever is on woopsies
1 tin tomato

Tin soup I buy for 5 for £2

Not too sure if its actually any cheaper to make it...

Any words of wisdom.. was thinking about getting raw ingredients tonight then started to tot up what it costs...

Thanks in advance guys

I've never heard of a simmer soup packet but guess it's the same as a stock cube which could bring your overall cost down slightly. It also depends how many portions you get out of your HM soup. I've had a quick look on Tesco site and it looks like the most expensive item is the cabbage but their price is an outrageous 95p:eek: so I guess it would be cheaper to buy tins...BUT no tinned soup tastes as nice as HM.

If you make it yourself, you know exactly what is going into it. For example I bought one of those so called fresh cartons of carrot and coriander soup and was shocked that in 1 portion it had over half of my RDA of salt but it tasted like it still needed seasoning. I make all our soup because I prefer the taste, don't like unnecessary additives and it's usually cheaper.

katycocoa

I made 7 generous portions of veg soup yesterday (which I think tastes much nicer than shop-bought).
Here's what it cost:

Large butternut squash £1.30
2 small onions 5p
Small swede 20p (whoopsie)
3 carrots 25p
2 stock cubes 8p

So, £1.88 in total and 27p per portion. But I would argue that it's a lot healthier than tinned soup so definitely worth making.

Bitsy_Beans

Well for me it's not just about cost. I decide how much salt goes into my soup which sadly for tins you don't get that option.
I make my own leek and potato soup, bung in some stock (either a cube or HM) cook in the slow cooker and then blitz. That can feed me lunchtimes for a week.
Have you looked into other varieties of soup, vegetable bulked out with a country soup mixture is very filling and if you've got a SC you can make significantly more than 1ltr. Using a tin of toms in your cabbage soup will push the cost up.