Soup makers, worthwhile?

[Jellycatspyjamas]

I was making soup for lunch today and found myself thinking about soup makers. Coming in to autumn I usually make a batch of soup for lunches, I work from home and soup is an easy, healthy winters lunch for me so I was thinking I could set it up and have fresh soup instead of freezing and defrosting.

If you have a soup maker do you use it, is the soup consistently good, can you set it to be ready at a particular time. Or is it something that sounds like a good idea and then sits at the back of a cupboard for most of the year? I don’t tend to collect appliances (no microwave or air fryer here) but something that makes life easier and delivers lunch when I’m ready sounds like a good idea

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I have a Ninja one. I love it, sautés, you can select chunky or smooth soup, keeps it warm and it cleans itself so I just need to give it a rinse out after that.

Can use it just as a blender too.

You could try your local library of things? They might have one.

Otherwise it sounds like you should try a second hand one off marketplace. You may get a revolution in your lunch hour..

Love ours.

Chuck in veg and a can of pulses/chick peas/spices/stock cube.

Then go out for a lunchtime walk, it's ready when we get home ❣️

I use mine about 3 times a week even in summer. I’m losing weight and soup is a staple lunch for me. Yes it can be done with a pot and blender but in over 30 years of independent living I rarely did.

Love mine. It's used regularly and definitely earns its keep. Mines a basic "kettle" style compact one, mine doesn't sauté but some do. Even in a pan I rarely sautéed. Sometimes I might roast veg in the oven first.

I can put it on and go off and do something else without having to check that my pan has decided to boil furiously, or has gone off the simmer.

And I do still make some soups in a pan just because they are better- eg french onion soup or a bone broth.

The lid won’t stop it from catching and burning. I don’t have a microwave, so not so quick to defrost and heat up.

It won't burn on a low enough heat and how tiresome is a quick stir every 20 minutes.

I bought a soup maker last year after my 25 yr old stick blender expired, I wasn’t convinced it would be better but it was in Lidl’s aisle of things you never knew you wanted so I caved in.

Mine sautés, and the blade gets a much smoother texture than the stick blender, it also keeps the soup warm which is great, I find it’s quicker than making it in a pot myself, the only drawback is mine is quite small so only makes 2 portions whereas I used to make a huge pot full, quite honestly, I think both methods are pretty equal.

LOVE mine
Yes you can make it in a pan etc

I love the convenience of just putting the ingredients in, it sautes then add the stock
No splashes or spatters and I can go off to do something else whilst it's cooking.
It then blends with the lid on so no splashes everywhere

I also dislike frozen soup it tastes old
I've had mine 7/8 years now
It fulfills that " ooh I want to make something" urge without the whole, getting big pan down etc

Fresh soup in a soup maker all the way !

We have one! I’ve also taken to buying pre chopped and frozen veg mixes (I have an AI condition and have issues with my hands sometimes) including some chicken goujons, coconut milk, chilli, wine / wine stock pots (Knorr), butter beans to thicken, sometimes I’ll add sweetcorn after so it’s got those in for a bit more crunch lol 😂- it takes 21 minutes so I can easily chuck it all in when making a coffee if WFH and voila - soup for lunch!

I have the Aldi one and like it when I use it.
Problem is we already eat at 9pm without making soup in addition
I would like to use it more though. It's easy to use but you still need to do all the chopping.

I love not having to wash the pan and blender, just the soup maker.

I bought these https://amzn.eu/d/i537uZf to save eating the same soup daily!

Slow cooker with timer + stick blender = easy soup that can be simmering while you're out or getting on with your day.

As some has suggested see if you have a "Library of Things" near where you live.
They might have one that you can rent.

@Jellycatspyjamas they have a website.
It's says "DIY" but they can have loads of stuff.
My local one has a popcorn maker 🍿

We follow the 5:2 fasting diet and always have soup for lunch on fast days, so twice a week.
I have toyed with the idea of a soup maker but probably won't bother, ut I have to ask the pps who say they are sick of the same soup every day - why don't you makea variety over the weeks/days, freeze portions then just take out what you fancy?
I 've usually got at least 4 varieties in the freezer because I make double every time and freeze the extra. That's got to be more time/every efficient than making a tiny portion every day surely?

If you need something that you can leave cooking while you do other things, what about a slow cooker?

Had a Morphy Richards and the ingredients started to stick to the bottom after a few months of use. According to reviews, this is a common problem. Also the internal gubbins tend to be part plastic. Call me gullible, but I’ve some concerns about the hazards of plastics

I didn’t think about using the slow cooker, I have one already and it would save the watching the stove issue. I’ll try that and see how I go before buying a gadget.

as a dedicated pan and blender soup maker I also thought a soup maker was a pointless invention , but I got one last year and love it. Have just used it for the first time for the autumn today for a lovely pan of tomato, kale and cannellini soup.

advantages over pan and blender for me are that I don’t need to be in the kitchen at all. I wouldn’t leave a pan unattended for half an hour but I can throw everything in the soup maker, get on with work upstairs and come down to eat it later.

i also have discovered that I don’t even need to saute the veg to make tasty soup. I chop the veg, throw everything in together and add seasoning and that’s it. (And yes, two years ago I would also have said it was impossible that would make edible soup, but it does).

it definitely saves me time and makes workday lunches very very easy.

Oh it will burn on a low heat. 😊. I made exactly that mistake just recently - forgot to set timer, was caught up in something else, a couple of hours passed and I thought “what is burning - oh….”. I then compounded my error by mentioning to DC1 who promptly told partner and all siblings who found it hugely funny. It is now in that book of “things we remind DM about for the next 20 years”.

On the OP’s question, DM had a soup maker for a few years - she fancied one and requested it as a birthday present when in her mid 80s. It was pretty good, saved her some of the chopping/prep work and was ready for lunch if she had been out having needed no attention between starting and eating. It was useful enough that one of the DC adopted it when she died (mainly for the fact that it can be left to cook and stir itself on a timer).

I wouldn’t bother with it myself (despite being a certified soup burner) but its a gadget which is in regular use rather than retired to the back of a cupboard after three uses.

I’ve done the same thing, left soup on the hob on a low heat, got stuck in a meeting and it’s burned before I could get back to it.

I’m sure there are ways I could be more organised and have a lovely frozen soup library to choose from but life just doesn’t work that way for me. It’s enough to have a selection of main meals batch cooked and frozen without adding my lunch into the mix. Lots of helpful thoughts though both for and against, thanks everyone.

@Jellycatspyjamasyou mentioned borrowing one, we have a lending library where I live that does lend all sorts of bits and pieces maybe worth looking in to?

It sounds like this would be useful for you @Jellycatspyjamas

Why not check FB marketplace etc for a barely used one ?
Then if you don't like it ( you will!) It's not that much of a loss .

I love mine .Used to put it on before I went on afternoon school run ,and when we got back to a lovely bowl of hot soup on a winters day it was bliss !
I miss those days so much as my little school boys are now big men .