Soup maker

[SooopDragon]

In the interests of reducing food waste and eating better I’m looking at getting a soup maker - can anyone give me a recommendation? I have a small kitchen so the smaller the better and would be great if it could also do smoothies as the children live these.

Please don’t tell me I can just make soup on the stove with a stick blender - I am chronically ill and rarely have the energy.

Thanks in advance

I got mine a few months ago after constantly seeing ads for them on here! First few goes were quite bland but like other posters said the trick is to add more salt or an extra stock cube.
Made carrot and coriander today.

I have a small Morphy Richards one. Makes about a litre of soup. I use frozen chopped onion and other frozen chopped vegetables like butternut squash and sweet potato. I haven’t used it to make meaty or chicken soups. It does smooth or chunky in 19 minutes , I prefer the smooth. If I want a chunkier soup , or a soup like a minestrone I use a pan.

I do like the fact that you can put everything in the soup maker and walk away knowing when you come back the soup is done ( and it stays hot for quite a while if you leave it clothed)

You do have to wash it by hand , both parts, which is a bit of a pain.

I don’t think mine does smoothies.

I was initially quite sceptical and only bought it because I had a voucher to spend, but I have used it a lot.

Closed not clothed

And agree with others upthread, you do need to add plenty of seasoning, I add stock powder, salt and pepper, and often chilli flakes or cumin.

[quote DoucheCanoe]@onwardsandupwards22, spicy butternut and sweet potato is my favourite 😋

375g butternut squash, 375g sweet potato, 50g red onion, fill to line with veg stock and bung on to smooth. Stir in 1/2 TSP dried chilli flakes at the end then serve.[/quote]
Thanks! Will give it a try

@viques

I have a small Morphy Richards one. Makes about a litre of soup. I use frozen chopped onion and other frozen chopped vegetables like butternut squash and sweet potato. I haven’t used it to make meaty or chicken soups. It does smooth or chunky in 19 minutes , I prefer the smooth. If I want a chunkier soup , or a soup like a minestrone I use a pan.

I do like the fact that you can put everything in the soup maker and walk away knowing when you come back the soup is done ( and it stays hot for quite a while if you leave it clothed)

You do have to wash it by hand , both parts, which is a bit of a pain.

I don’t think mine does smoothies.

I was initially quite sceptical and only bought it because I had a voucher to spend, but I have used it a lot.

I was wondering about frozen veg. Do you sauté them first to soften them up?

Another one with the morphy Richards compact. Bung it in, walk away for 19 minutes, job done. Made broccoli and leek the other day.

Love mine. I’m lazy and buy pre chopped veg. Bung into the soup maker with stock cube and water. Press start and 15/20 mins later smooth tasty soup. Use it most weeks during the winter.

I love mine. Used every other day in winter. Tefal one.

@MeredithGreyishblue

I love mine. Used every other day in winter. Tefal one.

Shit no it isn't. It's a MR! Compact

Another vote for the Ninja Foodi. I have honed my soup recipes so that they require me to just bung in the raw ingredients, press one or maybe two buttons and then come back in half an hour. Magic. I even make oat milk in it every morning.

I bought the Aldi one this week, it's great! I've used a pan or slow cooker for years but treated myself so I can leave it and come back to it all cooked and blended in 20 minutes and just rinse it out afterwards.

It's great as I can go out with the dog and come back to a nice warm blended soup. The Aldi one. they probably all do keep it warm.

We have a ninja and rate it! Put in onion and garlic, press chop, then saute then chuck in veg, stock to the line and leave to soup-ify. It is bloody heavy though, so it might need to live on a counter...

Please don’t tell me I can just make soup on the stove with a stick blender - I am chronically ill and rarely have the energy.
I had this with my late mother.
I told her the soup maker doesn't chop and peel the veg for you which is the hardest part, but she bought one anyway. Used it once and was exhausted by the effort so never again. She had a small kitchen so it ended up in the garage.

The only way a soup maker could be less labour intensive would be if you bought ready prepped veg but then a) that doesn't fulfil your aim to cut food waste and b) you could use ready prepped veg in a pan with a blender.

I told her the soup maker doesn't chop and peel the veg for you which is the hardest part

You don't need to chop and peel the veg though. E.g. if it's potatoes I just cut them into quarters with the skin on. Same with carrots and parsnips etc.

@CatAlice

Please don’t tell me I can just make soup on the stove with a stick blender - I am chronically ill and rarely have the energy. I had this with my late mother. I told her the soup maker doesn't chop and peel the veg for you which is the hardest part, but she bought one anyway. Used it once and was exhausted by the effort so never again. She had a small kitchen so it ended up in the garage.

The only way a soup maker could be less labour intensive would be if you bought ready prepped veg but then a) that doesn't fulfil your aim to cut food waste and b) you could use ready prepped veg in a pan with a blender.

That's just not true for everyone. It's low contact once you've set it going. No heavy pans to lift, no watching for it burning or drying up. You can rough chop it all and not need to stand and blend it!

I would get a slow cooker and a separate blender - you'll only need to pour from one to the other. The slow cooker will give you the advantage of being able to cook a lot more than just soup in the one pot. If you were so inclined you could probably do a whole week's dinners from it so you wouldn't have to be putting in out and away often.

I have one of these mini choppers and it's great, I bought it for onions because I HATE chopping them but now use it for anything that can be roughly chopped.

I do most veggies in it for soup - just chop into a few big chunks, put in, press the lid down for a few seconds and it's done.

'would get a slow cooker and a separate blender - you'll only need to pour from one to the other. The slow cooker will give you the advantage of being able to cook a lot more than just soup in the one pot..'

Multicooker gives even more options and means you get the result of the 8 hour slow cooked meal in 30 mins!

an*

Surely you just need a good day croak and a stick blender... multiple uses less space taken up by 1 gadget that can only do one thing

@onwardsandupwards22, no, I put the frozen veg in straight from the packet, add stock, seasoning, any fresh veg I am adding like cut up potatoes, carrots or peppers(I don’t buy them frozen). Press start.

@ponkydonkey

Surely you just need a good day croak and a stick blender... multiple uses less space taken up by 1 gadget that can only do one thing

day croak?

Keeps it warm for ages

I used to liquidise but that was a faff

Morphy Richards here, DW used it for lunch. DS used it when he got home from college.

Top tip - when you do a roast throw in a load of onion, sweet potato, butter nut, gone over carrots, parsnips etc in a separate tray with cumin and coriander use these in your soup.