soup night

canidothis

many of you have a soup night as a way to keep costs down - how on earth do you manage to get your hubbies onboard? My OH works outside all day long and snifs disdainfully at the prospect of being served up soup for his main meal of the day, I cant even serve up beans on toast as a frugal main meal - he wonders where the meat is and thinks ive just served a starter - what frugal meals do you get away with and manage to serve up as a main meal with no moans?? I really need to introduce at least 1 really frugal meal each week - xx

diluvsdiscounts

There is shock,and echoes of there's no meat in this throughout the whole meal if I ever serve a meal without meat,so consequently i never do. But one of our favourites is a pan of pasta, in a seperate pan fry some bacon pieces(bought very cheaply from butchers) chopped up quite small, add a tin of chopped tomatoes and sprinkle on some thyme(fresh or dried doesn't matter).
Once cooked stir it all together and it is delicious but very cheap to make.
Hope that helps.

canidothis

mmmyum sounds lovely - might get away with that one. I even get a bit of a cold shoulder if I serve up a tuna pasta, it does get eaten but not with so much gusto as meat and 2 veg iykwim - it might be easier to go out and swap hubbie for a version that eats frugally lol

natlie

what about making them thicker and caling them stew lol

in the coven garden soup co books they have bolognaise stew and chili and its just really think soup served with bread

Cawl - welsh stew is really filling and thick and is more of a meal than a soup it has lamb in it or you can do a meat free version called cawl cennin which had a leek base.

You can bulk them out with pasta a bit or rice just not as much as you would usually have

Try this one (link below) there is a nice goats cheese on there too

http://www.newcoventgardenfood.com/site/recipe_6.asp

Nat
xxx

mumoftwo

You can make little meatballs to go into the soup with pork mince. That is how the Dutch eat their soup anyway, roll them really small and you can drop them into the soup as its cooking but I like to fry them first to firm them up and get some of the fat out and then drop them into the soup to finish cooking, My kids and OH love it.

Or if I make butternutsquash soup I fry some bacon lardons or pancetta cubes and sprinkle them on after I served up the soup. Lovely.

Pea and ham soup is really filling. Ham hock from butcher, once cooked in soup, take the ham off, cut up small, it might even do you another pasta meal.

HTH

diluvsdiscounts

My hubby enjoys his meat too another thing I do is a stir fry and only use one chicken fillet, they have never noticed until OH went into the kitchen the other day and spotted it on a plate so throughout that meal we had "hang on I think that was a piece of chicken oh no it wasn't"
It doesn't phase me though we eat very well and all fresh food for what I consider quite reasonable you just need to disguise the fact that there isn't much meat in it.
OH isn't hard to fool but DD now she is a different matter!

angeltreats

My DH loves soup, especially if it's really thick veggie soup that's been blended. I bulk it out with pearl barley and we have some chunky home made bread to go with it and make it filling.

Zazen999

What you need in soup to get away with it is some protein; as it's that which is missing - and protein can come from beans, peas, pulses so include those in your soup.

One of my faves; is tomato and bean soup

Fry off an onion, and add some cumin to the onion as it nears the end of cooking; add a can [or some soaked and boiled down - if you grow them yourself or buy dried] of beans and a carton of passata plus salt and pepper and a stock cube, and some water. Once the soup has cooked in a bit; add a cup of dried rice and some more water as the rice soaks it up, and when that is done, season to taste and serve with fresh bread and cheese grated over the top.

cheeswright

when we have soup I usually make a filling ( but inexpensive ) pudding - such as crumble or fruit upside down pud.. and put it and a steaming jug of custard on the table at the same time as the soup ....so kids scarf down the soup to get to the homemade pud - ( i dont make puds very often so its a treat)
and even though the kids really dont like a soup meal its amazing what they'll eat to get to a pudding......dosnt work if they cant see the pudding though..???

my OH dosnt like pudding - so i dont serve his soup with bread - I make a doorstop sandwich out of his share of the bread with a couple of slices of bacon (or microvaved slices of meat i've frozen left over from roasts) in it and serve it on the side..
it makes it more of a fuss but not a lot..and the pudding usually lasts a few days..

annie-c

TBH, I'd just cook using lower cost cuts of meat if he really doesn't like soup. Meals are supposed to be something everyone enjoys so if soup isn't his thing.....

Cheaper cuts including ham hocks, 'scrag end' of lamb can be cooked in the slow cooker and have loads of meat on them. Good cuts can be got chepaly at the end of the day in most supermarkets. Mince dishes can be bulked out using red lentils, porridge oats or grated veggies. Bacon bits can be bought for £1 a pack in most supermarkets. Chicken thighs are relatively cheap. You can get away with smaller portions of meat if you serve lovely big chunky roasted potatoes etc. There are lots of ways to be frugal.

Pink.

Hi canidothis,

We have a soup and a pud night most weeks.

As others have said above adding meat to the soup makes the very carniverous males in my family feel that it's more of a meal. I often use leftover roast meat or bacon to add to the soups.

Also if I'm doing soup as a main course I leave it chunky as it seems to make them feel fuller than if it's been blended and is smooth. Serving it with homemade bread and a meaty pate or tapenade also seems to help. The pudding helps them to feel they've had a substantial meal too and is a treat as we don't normally have puddings after midweek meals.

Pink