I need your best soup recipes (ideally that freeze well)

[pregnantncnc]

I am looking ahead to meal prep (and also get a stock of recipes) for after baby arrives. I know my eating habits, and when I'm feeling tired, rushed, sad or overwhelmed, my go-to is always soup... but usually the expensive pre-made "fresh" soups from the supermarket. I want to avoid buying these as much as possible, so please hit me with your favourite/best soup recipes. As much as I'm doing this to save money and eat healthier, the recipes don't need to be particularly low cost or especially healthy - but rather really need to taste good!

This is nice: www.lambethlarder.org/madhur-jaffreyrsquos-turkish-red-lentil-soup.html. My method is different though, which makes it really fast and easy. I don't chop the veg and I put it all in a valve style pressure cooker for ten minutes under pressure and then fast cool the lid with water from the cold tap so it releases safely instantly.

I serve it with a splash of lemon juice at the table to add vitamin C. This makes it tastier and helps you to absorb the iron from the red lentils.

This one is from the same physical book that I have (World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffery): www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/934683/firemans-soup. I cook it the same way as above but can't remember if that is according to the book instructions! I find I need to add more salt than I'd expect but can do that at the table if I under salt the recipe

Both freeze really well

The BBC good food website has about 15 pages of soup recipes - I've tried quite a few of them and they are all good. This one was a surprise hit with the DC (although I omitted the green beans and then blitzed the hell out of it as they don't like lumps).
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/indian-chickpea-vegetable-soup

They also had a nice broccoli soup made with celery and onion (and no cheese which doesn't freeze so well) which I made the other day as I had a glut of the green stuff to use up.

This is my favourite soup www.101cookbooks.com/archives/kabocha-french-lentil-soup-recipe.html

It uses a kabocha squash, but I have made it with all types of winter squash including normal butternut squash. You could use precut if you want, or just buy a whole one and cut it in half using a bread knife (much easier than normal veg knife).

Keeping my eye on this thread. Good for new year planning

Could I freeze brocolli and stilton soup? Does diary freeze ok?

Courgette and cashew soup is delicious.

I don’t usually use recipes as such.

Just chopped onion and celery, fried gently until soft, then a load of whatever other root veg I have - carrots, potatoes, swede, celeriac, etc., diced small, plenty of stock from cube or chicken carcass, simmered until soft. Often a handful of red lentils or pearl barley - or both - added with root veg. Chopped parsley if I have any.

Any green veg - chopped leeks, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, quartered sprouts, etc., added just for the last few minutes. Plenty of black pepper!

I don’t blend this sort of soup - dh loves it as it is, nice and thick.
Freezes fine.

One I do blend is curried parsnip, v easy. Just fry some onion gently, add curry powder, then chicken or veg stock, plenty of parsnips, peeled and cut into rough chunks.
Simmer until all soft and blend.

Red pepper and tomato. Sauté an onion, and while its gently cooking chop up a few red peppers and swoosh them around with the onion for a bit. Then drop in a tin of tomatoes, add some veg stock and simmer until the red pepper is soft. Blend. It freezes perfectly.

A top dog cutting a butternut squash is to put it in the microwave and blast on high for three minutes. Cuts much more easily, if you are blending don’t peel it just blend the skin in, extra fibre.