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Simple Soups

Soup is the king of thrifty meals and batch cooking – easy to make, freeze, reheat and endlessly adaptable. With just a few simple tips, almost any veg can become a family-friendly soup.

Soupa-Soups

Easy, cheap & filling, let’s soup…

Soup is one of the easiest, most affordable ways to get more veg into children’s diets. You can add extra veg without anyone noticing, make greens easier to digest, and save money compared to ready-made soups.

Almost any veg works in soup including frozen, leftovers, or veg that’s past its best. It’s a brilliant way to reduce food waste, stretch meals further, and turn odds and ends into something nourishing and filling.

Secrets to Soup Success

Make once, eat many times
We suggest making a big batch to keep in the fridge (for a few days) or freezer (for a few months). It saves time, energy and money, and gives you healthy meals ready when you need them.

Store it simply
Once fully cooled, store soup in clean jars, takeaway tubs or any freezer-safe container. Leave a little space at the top, as soup expands when frozen. Soup also works brilliantly in a thermos for lunch on the go.

Stock = flavour
Great soup starts with good stock. Liquid, powder or cubes all work – costs and flavours vary, so use what suits your budget and your family’s tastes.

Build confidence, then experiment
Follow the simple steps below to build your own soups, try different veg, and experiment with dried herbs and spices, or stick to a recipe while you build confidence.

Basic Adaptable Soup

Ingredients:

Stock: Cubes, bouillon powder, or liquid – just follow packet instructions to make it up. If you don’t have any, just use water and add a little more seasoning.

Vegetables: Use up leftovers (cooked or uncooked), frozen veggies, plain uneaten veggies from dinner, anything on offer in the shops, or veggies that are just on the turn.

Taste: Add a little flavour with basic dried herbs (1-2 tsp will do), curry powder, or just salt & pepper. You could add creaminess with milk, coconut milk or cream at the end of cooking, too.

Bulk: Bulk out the soup with root veg, beans and pulses, which are cheap, filling and nutritious. And feel free to throw in any leftover cooked meats from dinner at the end of the soup-making process.

Method:

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan and chuck in a few handfuls of veg per person (raw or cooked, fresh or frozen or tinned). If using cooked/leftovers or tinned veg, fry for a couple of mins to heat through. If using raw or frozen veg, fry until soft (5-15 mins depending on the veg).
Add the other ingredients, starting with about 500ml of stock (or water/coconut milk/chopped tomatoes), some salt & pepper to taste, and some optional dried herbs (like basil, oregano or thyme) or spices (curry powder, paprika, cumin or coriander all work well) to add flavour (these are totally optional, but if you have some on hand it can add an extra flavour boost).
Bring to the boil and simmer until veg is very soft. Blitz with a hand-held blender until smooth (or leave a little chunky if you prefer it that way) or transfer to a food processor (carefully!) for blending when cooled slightly. Add more stock or water if it’s too thick – it should be no thicker than a milkshake. Taste and add more seasonings/herbs/spices if needed.
Serve warm. If you are using cooked meat, add after blitzing the soup rather than before for best results. Pulses like chickpeas and beans can be nice to hold back to add texture, too. Similarly, if you are using cream or milk to add creaminess to a soup, add it at the end to avoid it cooking and curdling.

If you want to have a go at coming up with your own soup flavour combinations but aren’t sure where to start, here are some ideas:

Carrots and lentils, sweet potato and greens, tomato and red peppers, broccoli and blue cheese, squash and apple, parsnip and curry powder (with coconut milk), sweetcorn and chicken or bacon, cauliflower and chickpeas, celery and cream, leeks with white fish and a little milk or cream (leave chunky for a chowder-like soup), beetroot and coconut milk

…and so many more. Have fun finding your family’s favourites!

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Soup Kids Will Love!

Soup can be a divider for kids – some love it, some hate it, some are all about smooth, some chunky, and many aren’t sure at first. That’s completely normal.

If your kids are hesitant, why not try these top tips to win them over with kid-friendly soups:

Children usually prefer sweeter flavours, so use sweeter veg like butternut squash or pumpkin, sweet potato, red or yellow peppers, tomatoes, sweetcorn, peas, carrots, etc.
Give your soups fun nicknames using favourite children’s characters, heroes or the colours of the soup. Try making Monster Soup, Witch’s Brew, Mean & Green, Princess Pea Soup, or put your own name and spin on your soups!
Encourage slurping and playing with their food to make it fun.
Try serving the soup in a mug to make it easier and more tactile for them.
Make the soup attractive or funny, like creating a face in the soup when you serve it with a couple of peas, sweetcorn or carrot slices for eyes and a mouth from a bit of pepper.
Add croutons or small torn up bits of toast and challenge the kids to fish them out with the spoon.
Ask your kids which way they prefer their soups: are you a chunky or smooth/cold or hot/thick or thin/creamy or savoury?

And remember to keep trying!

Sometimes it takes kids a while to get on board, but the more they see and try it, the more used to it they are and the easier it gets.

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