Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

Prinzessilein

Yes, I use a soup-maker...a gift last Christmas...it is a joy to use...it cooks and blends and then cleans itself!


A local restaurant has pumpkin soup on its winter menu...it comes with a swirl of sour cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds...and is £7.95, with bread as an 'extra'!!!!!...…...my soup definitely classes as a champagne lifestyle choice at those sorts of prices!

joedenise

That's a ridiculous price for a bowl of soup! and to charge extra for a piece of butter. No wonder we don't eat out very often!

Denise

humptydumptybits

joedenise wrote: »

That's a ridiculous price for a bowl of soup! and to charge extra for a piece of butter. No wonder we don't eat out very often!

Denise

True but the thought of it has made my mouth water so just at the moment I'd pay it.:j

moneyistooshorttomention

I think around £5 is reasonable for a bowl of soup and some (decent) bread to go with it.

Think the price at a cafe I go to here pretty often is £8? (but at least it does include some decent bread with it).

But - yes - I figure it's pretty easy to make one's own soup - and it comes out very cheap then. So I do that sometimes.

Blackcatsreturns

I love soup too. It must be a big profit maker for the restaurants and coffee shops. I had a bowl of soup in the cafe of an independent department store recently - it was so watery that it hardly stayed on the spoon and so salty that I needed a glass of water - £7 for that experience made me cross. I use a soup maker and would agree that it is a great gadget. I work from home so it's a quick and easy way to put on soup which is ready quickly and then it can be set to clean itself.

greenbee

I've started on the soup again for winter - chop veggies, sweat, add stock and bring to the boil at breakfast, then stick in a thermal cooking bag. Done and hot for lunchtime. Needs reheating if I'm out until the evening. Today was carrot, lentil and ginger - lovely and hot at lunchtime when we came in from gardening (my mum is staying, and I have some time off as I've been away for a lot of weekends due to work recently).

I definitely need to get into the habit of doing this when I have time, or putting something in the slow cooker if I'm going to be out for the day (thankfully I think work is pretty much all at home for the rest of the year). The leftovers will be frozen for when I'm travelling again and need to defrost/reheat.

jackieblack

I really wish I liked soup. It always sounds lovely, so warming and filling and healthy, but I just don't like it.
It's the same with salad, some salads sound really delicious but I don't enjoy eating it at all.
It's very frustrating.

suki1964

Blimey, if I was charged more then £3.50 for soup, wheaten and butter I'd not be returning

Big bowl of Irish Stew is only a fiver ( with wheaten)

DH loves vegetable soup, I hate it. Basically its line the bottom of saucepan with a single layer of dried veg, then add leeks, diced carrots, soup celery and parsley , a stock cub - and boil it to death

Bloody horrible in the majority of eating houses but the most popular soup about ( no accounting for tastes )

Im very lucky working in veg production, I can bring home anything thats past its best -ie not perfect - plus I can have as much potato waste as I want. When I say waste, its the wee slivers from cutting chips, makes great soup bases

caronc

Homemade soup with decent bread is one of my favourite meals though something I seldom have when out for lunch. If I do it tends to be where you buy a sandwich and can add chips or soup for a couple of quid extra.
Stupidly, looking back, one of my worries when I had to retire early was Christmas/ New Year. As a family it's a big thing for us not so much on the present side but on the getting together and we all like to indulge in food & drink luxuries. Traditionally I host both Cristmas & New Year (which suits me) and while we all chip in I was concerned I'd struggle with my share of the costs which I really didn't want. However a combination of saving throughout the year for it and having the time to watch for the SM etc. offers means that was an unneeded worry.:D Today's champagne moment all though not immediately realised is stashing aperol, martini rousso, fancy napkins and a gammon joint away for the festive season. Negroni anyone?

skogar

Yum homemade soup :-)


Unfortunately although Derby is not too far away from here it's a bit too far for me to have tried out the theatres etc. Good to hear that there are quite a few venues for theatre etc. Looking at the website though for Derby theatre it looks like there are cheaper tickets available for quite a few events if you book early enough which isn't bad. They also mention preview shows. They've started doing these in one of the theatres near here and they can be quite a bit cheaper so worth a look. Also can be worth checking if there are any discounts if booking mre than one event at once. Its worth checking out the local amature groups as well although the standard varies tremendously you soon get to know which ones are worth going to see.



Good luck with the saving and budgeting. I think its doable.