Soup makers

[claphamnative]

For several reasons, it has become clear that soup is the best choice for me to take to work for lunch.

I am extremely time poor but don’t want to always rely on pre made soups due to allergies and wanting to control ingredients. We don’t have a huge kitchen and gadgets need to earn their place but I was thinking a soup maker might actually mean I prep soup myself in advance to take into work.

Has anyone got any thoughts / experiences? Any recommendations for a particular model?

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You don't need a soup maker. You can make soup just as easily in a saucepan.

I know I can make soup in a saucepan, but we only have a stick blender which I find faffy. Plus I wondered if something that could be more hands off might be helpful

You'll get loads of people telling you their soup maker is a pot and blender
Seems to be a Mumsnet thing and honestly has made me feel a bit crap at times. As someone who has MS and really struggles with chopping etc my soup maker has been a lifesaver for me. I have a ninja soup maker at the moment, I have also had a Morphy Richards one which was good but died quite quickly.

I chop things as much as I can manage and the soup maker does the rest. I have soup maybe 5 days out of 7 .

It's so simple to just chuck everything in a saucepan (maybe a bit of onion softening first) then blend with the stick blender. You said you're limited with space.

To save time, I've done overnight soup in the slow cooker before, but I don't like waking up to the smell of soup.

Somebody once told me that I needed a soup maker and I laughed at them. It's so easy to make soup with a pot and a blender. Then I got a soup maker and never looked back. I love it. I love chucking stuff in and going for a shower and coming back to soup. I bought one that can sauté. However, the first one I bought had to be replaced after one year (on guarantee) and then exactly a year later - again on guarantee - and then broke a year later. They don't last forever. So I bought the next one off Facebook market place for a tenner and that's what I'll do from now on. Go for it!

Soupmakers are brilliant! I love mine and it's easier than a saucepan

My soup maker is one of the best Christmas presents I've ever got as a "surprise' gift! MIL knew I love soup so got me this and a soup cook book - it takes 21 minutes and it's bloody awesome!! I even make soup for breakfast sometimes 🤣

I love my soup maker too. It's quicker and easier than using a pan and blender. Plus hand blenders can't get the velvet smoothness a soup maker can. Tip everything in, go and do something else, pour out great soup 20 mins later

I'm almost tempted to get one myself now.

In terms of space, they are not much bigger than a kettle. If you have the money spare, why not?

If you find making soup in a pan a faff, perhaps it's the solution.

Oh and just to add you may get people sneering about using a soup maker, with the inference that you can't cook if you possess one. To me it's another time saving gadget - I can grate a kg of cheese and make a loaf of bread by hand, but there are easier/quicker ways.

Morphy Richards, love mine.

Extremely easy to use, I WFH and make a fresh batch on Monday and put the rest in the fridge / freezer. I raved about it so much my mum bought one and only used it once as thought it was broken - turns out it was just the normal noise the blender makes. 😄 It is a bit noisy so if making before work if no one else is up perhaps make it the evening before

Leek and potatoes soup
An onion, a leek, some potatoes, veg stock. Turn on to smooth setting, end of 20 minutes cycle 60ml cream and 60mls milk, blend together. Job done it'll keep it warm for another 30 mins until you are ready to eat it

Curried butternut squash is really nice and warming too.

Ps you asked about brands etc. I bought the all singing all dancing Morphy Richards one (I love a gadget) and it was this one that I had to replace all those times. I'm not sure what my new one is but it's not MR and I love it a lot more. Can look later when home.

If it makes your life easier then why not - but I always find these things a hassle because I know cleaning them afterwards is going to be a pain. So I would keep that in mind as here's what one review on amazon said about the ninja:

The fact that it has its own cleaning function is cool, but I once made soup and it was quite difficult to wash the glass unit despite putting on the cleaning function first. The thing is, the glass unit is heavy and you need to be super careful not to get any water in the bottom part of it as that links to the motor of the Ninja. So I would probably never use it to actually cook soup as I feel it'd be tricky to wash it off afterwards.

I love my morphy Richards soup maker. I work from home and I’ll chuck in , for example, onion (pre chopped frozen ) , a stock pot, water from kettle, whatever other ingredients eg frozen peas, a bit of ham and some leftover cream or creme fraiche and turn it on. Go back to my desk and 25 mins later I have soup. Another one is onion, stock (these are the two ingredients you pretty much always need) , leftover roast chicken, some veg. Lovely chicken soup. The soup maker comes with recipes but you can tweak them all. The only slight faff is cleaning it . I rinse / brush the top part under the tap being careful not to wet any electric parts, the jug I fill with soapy water and lightly brush round and rinse.

I loved both of those I had - while they still worked !

The Morphy Richards died within a month.

The top-of-the-range Lakeland developed a crack at about 11 months.

Both were from Amazon, so a quick refund both times.

Back to pan & blender.

I definitely wouldn't give over valuable kitchen space to a soup maker. A stick blender is fine.
Just put your ingredients to simmer in a pan whilst you're doing something else then blend once the veg is soft. Make sure you use a big enough pan to do the blending.
I made broccoli soup the other day whilst unpacking my supermarket shop, then blended with a stick blender once I'd finished.

Another here who said they didn’t need a soup maker, pan and blender was fine. Cursed when my husband bought me one. Would now replace it immediately if it broke, so easy and makes much smoother soup somehow.

Morphy Richards kettle style here.

Thanks for all the comments / experiences!

I think I’ll give one a go, at the moment (and I know I’m very lucky and this isn’t the case for many) of time, energy, money, money is the only one I have to waste. So even if I hate what I buy, I can just give it away at the end of the day.

I like the look of the Morphy Richards ones - is it worth going for the Sauté and Soup one?

We have a Philips. It's great! We are very happy with it and easy to clean.

We've got the sauté one. I'm in 2 minds on it really - it's fine for sauteing veg, but I often make a carrot and cumin soup and the fierce sauté heat is a bit high for the cumin seeds. So as long as you don't want to roast spices in it, I'd say go for it!

Gratuitously reviving this thread for the purposes of a rant. I took my Morphy Richards Total Control soup maker out of storage today. I was full of hope. I put in one of those "vegetable soup mix" packets, 2 potatoes, a Knorr chicken stock pot, seasoned it well., set it to smooth. The result was the consistency of vomit, and that was after I hit the blend function for 20 minutes. Twice. It was inedible. It did throw an error initially due to too much water. I wonder if my having to pour water out meant that there was just too much veg in there. It was a 320g pack of finely chopped veg. I had a supermarket tomato soup in fridge, which provided comfort in the wake of the grave disappointment. I really need my next soup maker experience to be positive. What are your very highly rated soup maker soup recipes? Thanks in advance.