It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Spendless

ariarnia said:

-taff said:

If the soup is tasteless for you, are you OK with tasting other stuff? soup i buy tastes fine. and it's not just me. everyone thinks i make bad soup

To make it smooth, you really do need a blending stick or a food processor jug, or push it through a sieve [ the last will only work if the veg is super soft] i have a 'soup maker' and a stick blender. when i use potatoes or cook the veg too long then it turns out mushy like runny mash. when i use other things it turns out grainy. this is what other people say. not just me. 

Cauli is OK in a cauli and cheese soup but I wouldn't put it in a normal veg soup, ditto for kale, too bitter. Broccoli, also wouldn't use in soup unless it was specifically broccoli and cheese of some kind. Basically, most brassicas really. i was told by someone to use cauliflower because it breaks down and thickens the soup as an alternative to potato. and it did. but it was mushy rather than thick if that makes sense?

If everything is tasteless, unless you over salt. i don't add salt. i don't think we add salt to anything other than the occasional chips and eggs. when i add stock (marigold or oxo are what i have in) then to add enough to taste it then it's too salty.  

i'm happy to try a recipe but don't really want to follow recipes iyswim? the idea was to find a way to use up what we have and add an extra 'course' to the meal to fill up on veg. not buy things to cook something specific. i read how easy people find it on here and just can't figure out the knack.  

thanks for all the help and advice again. i've got a couple of butternut squash that have been lurking in the fridge for a while so i might try again this weekend. 

I think some of your bolded answers might shed some light on it. Soup needs salt added during the cooking, without it it's a bland veg and water mix and I don't add salt to much else either other than a few things at the table.

 If you're using a soup maker how are you cooking the veg for too long? Mine you switch on, it counts down from 19 minutes and then bleeps at you to turn up to eat it.

I also think you need to be careful with what veg you're using, such as the cauliflower. Totally understand the need to use up what's in, but some things are going to affect other veggies in there. Eg I have an aubergine in clear need of using up. I'm also contemplating making soup but I wouldn't dream of putting it in - I'd be too wary of what it what do. If you ask on here before putting together, then there's a wealth of knowledge and someone will tell you if you have a clash. 

Katiehound

 

Jackie - for some reason it's not letting me tag you, but the toasted bread for croutons. How long will they last in a jar, might they become mouldy?  Crusts don't get eaten at our house either. As a child I wasn't allowed them as they were my Dad's favourite. So, I was really excited when leaving home and buying my own bread that I could at long last see what this wonderful treat was - only to be disappointed! I'll eat them with something very wet, like beans on toast or in soup but otherwise I'm not keen. Making them into croutons would be a good idea. 

When I was a child the crusts would always be put on a baking sheet in the bottom of the oven when something was being cooked/ roasted. This resulted in wonderful crispy rusks (great if I managed to snaffle one!) which were then bashed with a rolling pin and turned into raspings to coat a boiled ham or the like. They would keep forever- well, almost in a screw topped jar. 

My dogs think rusks are the best thing since sliced bread- but they are out of luck as I rarely have bread.

I think you could do the same with your crusts- but cut into cubes and then bake when the oven is on. A slow low cook would give you crispy croutons. The other way is to deep fry I think.

Of course crusts will also makes crumbs- treacle tart? queen of puddings?

I am not a soup eater or a soup maker but I think my friends advice is excellent. Always try out a recipe first just as it comes, once you taste the result you can tweak it- or of course abandon the whole thing!

Brie

I often use split lentils to thicken soup.  Works well with butternut squash.  Also I always add an onion for a bit more flavour even if everything else is cooked left overs.  Soy sauce and worcester sauce also add a bit more zip.  And depending what else is in the soup mustard can be nice or tomato paste (ketchup in a pinch!)

Spendless

@sammy_kaye18 - Sorry I meant to talk more about teens and p-time jobs and forgot.

We didn't put pressure on DD to find work once she finished GCSEs, she'd gone through an horrendous year, 3 schools in yr11 and at times I didn't dare leave her alone, so thought give chance of recovery. Then lockdown1 came in the week before her 17th and then we had a further 2 lockdowns, restrictions, tier systems by the time she was 18. By now she was old enough to drink, the pubs had re-opened but only outside, the shops had opened and she was fed up of being skint. She did find a job in a cafe but only had availability on 3 days (because 3 days she was at college and they were closed on Sundays). She was excited to be earning, so when I discovered that she was going to be paid under NMW I decided to keep quiet in order not to burst her bubble. The job lasted around 3 weeks, till the owner discovered she was off to Uni that Autumn (it was May) plus she couldn't help out on any of her college days and the owner didn't want anyone who was at college or moving away (if I hadn't seen the email myself I'd have thought DD was fobbing me off as to why she wasn't being kept). It took her another couple of months to find something else - by that time college had finished and she ended up doing retail jobs but because they were national chains they did at least pay her the legal minimum. After that she moved to drama school in Edinburgh and briefly did have another retail job, that paid a lot more an hour with a bonus on top if she hit a certain target. Her job for the summer as she's inbetween courses pays better again.  So yes, baby steps with them, from his current job he can look for somewhere with a better hourly rate or somewhere that pays a bonus etc. Once he's learnt to drive that will expand options too. 

PearlRose

Hello everyone, I'm super new to this forum and love the honest discussion and supportive atmosphere here. 

The most noticeable area of our increased living costs is the energy bill. We had a fixed deal and used to pay slightly above £90 a month for gas and electricity. Now it will be about £250 (fixed for two years). Although the Ofgem announced a 54% cap, it's an 143% increase for us.

There are also increases in other things. We have had milk delivery from a local farm for a few years, and the price has slightly gone up (£0.75 per pint), which is reasonable considering the increase in their costs. It's £0.69 in Sainsbury's or Aldi. The difference is 6p per pint and less than £2 a month, so I would like to keep supporting the local business. 

YorksLass

I'm another soup maker and honestly prefer my own to shop bought ones - tastier, cheaper, you know what's gone in it and so on.  The only shop bought one I like is a mulligatawny from the Co-op but sadly they don't seem to do it any more.  That said, I usually have a couple of tins or a box of cup soups in the cupboard for emergency use.

I make mine pretty much like JackieO and find they do vary from time to time according to what extra use-up bits I might chuck in but they're always tasty.  I usually blend them in a liquidiser for a thick, smooth soup but sometimes leave them with chunky bits in or I might add broken bits of pasta towards the end of cooking time.  And yes to using up crusts to dip in or make croutons with (these last for about a week in a sealed container).

ariarnia - I have an excellent recipe book called Soups for Every Season by Annette Yates.  It's a collection of soup recipes that make the best use of seasonal produce that's available at any given time of year.  The recipes - some traditional, some a bit more unusual - are divided into four sections (ie seasons) and the instructions are for cooking on the hob, microwave or slow cooker and also tell you which ones can be frozen and at what stage of cooking.  Sometimes there's a helpful tip for a substitute ingredient as well as a section about making your own stock (nothing wrong with a stock cube though) and another one for garnishes and accompaniments.  

London_1

yes great to use the cooling oven on the very bottom sjelf to dry out bread for crutons .as I eat a fair bit of soup, my crutons don't last long enough to go off I've never yet had any go off any way But I do make sure they are as dry and crispy as I can make them.

Seems there are a good few HM 'soup'ers' on here great way to use up wonky veg

On youTube there is a lady who makes tomato soup from tinned tomatoes ,so if you get some cheap reduced bashed about tins well worth looking into.

 I think if I recall she is called Tracymouse, and she has excellent recipes and show how easy it is for people to make soup and also does some really good batch cooking recipes for the freezer as well on there

JackieO xx

Wraithlady

sammy_kaye18 said:

40......yes FORTY sausages. 

So I now have the small freezer empty and freezing nicely again.


No idea what I'm going to do with all those sausages 

Apologies if someone has said this before but, once cooked, you can re-freeze the sausages, as long as you're averagely careful about putting them in the fridge once cooled - I do it all the time.

linz

I love curried butternut squash soup in the winter. Chop up the squash and a couple of onions, sprinkle some salt, pepper and curry powder on top, bake in oven in a bit of oil til soft. When cool, cut all the skin off (or cut off before oven baking) and finish off in a pan on the hob adding some water then blitz with a hand blender when it's cooled a bit. 

I also boil the seeds for a few mins then cook them in the oven in some spray oil and salt, makes a lovely healthy snack.

Jellytotts

I leave the skin on the butternut squash, once blitzed you don't know it's there.  I leave it on for roasting too, I love the crispy edges.