Homemade Soup vs Heinz.

flutterbyuk25

Aldi has big bag of carrots for 39p at the moment!! And you can get cheap takeaway style plastic tubs for freezing from Home Bargains/B&M/Poundland etc. That's what I use, I take homemade soup pretty much everyday in winter for work lunches. I take them out of freezer the night before to defrost normally. It may go a bit lumpy when defrosted, but just stir as you heat and it's all good again. I tend to forget to label them in the freezer so often it's a surprise!

x

rosie383

If you are going to plant your own coriander, just go to your local Asian grocery store and get a bag of coriander seeds. You will get maybe 100g for £1 with thousands of seeds in it. If you go and buy seeds for planting, you will get a bag of maybe 50 for the same price. Can't remember exact quantities now, but huuuuuuge difference in price. I only ever use the cooking ones to plant and they always germinate okay.

rachbc

A can of heinz carrot soup contains 160cals not 600

Though hm is much nicer and cheaper too

Fredula

^ Oh haha, I'm not very good with numbers.

I bought my ingredients today and will be cooking it tomorrow hopefully

carefullycautious

Home made soups are so easy to make and you can fill lots of container for the freezer use with hot bread rolls or naan breads and they make a lovely warming meal

I buy cheap bags of carrots, lentils, potatoe, onion and garlic. Season with a couple of spoonfuls of curry powder and veg stock plus tin of tomatoes.

Or butternut squash, carrots potatoe onion garlic veg stock

Or chunky vegetables.

There are so many to choose from all cheap to do and very filling I could very easily live on them.

building_with_lego

Good luck with your soup making.

Whatever you do, don't google the dangers of tinned soup- I was reading a thread on here recently and it's put me right off. (It's to do with bisphenol- A in the lining of the tin).

Fresh (or frozen) HM soup is always nicer than tinned as you get actual flavours rather than blended-to-taste-the-same-as-every-other-tin flavours. I keep a bag in the freezer and add all the trimmings from spring onions, celery, carrots etc, then blend those with stock for soup. Yum! And effectively free. (Just don't tell OH )

Stephen_Leak

I've just tested this tomato soup recipe, adding the stalks as suggested by Jamie Oliver. Again, no sugar. Thanks to the water from the tomatoes and celery, it makes a litre. I had to transfer it to a bigger saucepan. Even though I say so myself, it's good.

TOMATO SOUP

Makes 4 x 250ml servings

INGREDIENTS

½ a carrot
½ a stick of celery
½ an onion
200g of fresh tomatoes, including stalks
1 tablespoon of oil
400g tin of plum tomatoes
1 vegetable stock cube
500ml of water

METHOD

Cut the top off the carrot, peel it, cut it in half, chop one half into pieces and save the other half. Cut the celery in half, chop one half into pieces and save the other half. Peel the onion, cut it in half, chop one half into pieces and save the other half.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters and remove any hard bits. However, keep any green stalks and include these in the soup. They will give it an amazing aroma and flavour.

Put the oil into a saucepan on a medium heat. Add the carrot, celery, onion and fresh tomatoes. Fry for 5 to 6 minutes. Stir frequently to stop them sticking.

Open the tin of tomatoes. Put the juice into the pan. Chop the tomatoes while they are still in the can (it’s easier than chasing them around the bowl). Put the chopped tomatoes into the pan.

Add the stock cube and water to the pan. Stir thoroughly.

Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering). Continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

If you have a food processor, put the soup in it and blend it to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put it in the soup and blend it to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, use a potato masher, press the soup through a sieve with the back of a spoon, or leave it lumpy. If you used a food processor, rinse out the saucepan and put the soup back into the saucepan.

Put the saucepan on a low heat and reheat the soup gently.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use ripe fresh tomatoes, especially any that are a bit over-ripe and going a bit soft.

Substitute the tinned tomatoes for more fresh tomatoes, or vice versa.

Swirl in a little sour cream. Sprinkle on a few torn fresh basil leaves.

Serve with crusty white bread. In summer, serve chilled.

TIPS

Plum tomatoes can be used either whole or chopped. It is difficult to stick chopped tomatoes back together again if you need to use them whole.

Stephen_Leak

rosie383 wrote: »

If you are going to plant your own coriander, just go to your local Asian grocery store and get a bag of coriander seeds. You will get maybe 100g for £1 with thousands of seeds in it. If you go and buy seeds for planting, you will get a bag of maybe 50 for the same price. Can't remember exact quantities now, but huuuuuuge difference in price. I only ever use the cooking ones to plant and they always germinate okay.

A bit off topic, but more coriander is grown on Birmingham's allotments than anywhere else in the world.

Stephen_Leak

My tip for celery for soups, as I live on my own and a head of celery is enough for more soup then even I can make at one go.

Chop off the leaves, chop the stalks into 5cm (2 inch) pieces, blanch and then freeze it in water.

Blanching destroys bacteria and especially enzymes, which cause spoilage, even when frozen. Freezing in water means that there is ice on both sides of the cell walls, and minimises any damage, which would otherwise cause them to go to mush when defrosted.

One stick of celery is usually about 100g. 100g of celery and 200ml of water fits into a 500ml freezer tub. I even blanch the leafy ends and freeze them in a separate tub.

I put a block of celery and ice into the soup, and adjust the amount of water required by 200ml.