Soupmakers out?

Anyone have any suggestions for stock cubes? I've ruined many a good soup by using stock that tastes too salty and artificial.

Soup maker was probably best Christmas present ever. Throw whatever is in the fridge that needs eating up, and 20 mins later - voila, vegetable soup.

Slightly off thread apologies but could I have some soupmaker recommendations please?

Do you have an oldfashioned potato masher, Stansgran ? That would break up the spuds. Or you could put them into a large bowl and mash them with a fork. Otherwise, resign yourself to having chunky potato and leek soup!

I use the Scottish mums recipes for soup maker but I think I overloaded it yesterday and have burnt the whole thing out. It was a potato and onion instead of my usual potato and leek and now I can’t find the bottom bit of my hand blender to finish it off. Feeling very discouraged today.

Very easy to clean mine Nannan. I clean it immediately the soup is made. I just run the kettle part under the tap and wipe it clean and similarly clean the top part. On no account immerse it in water!!

I have a soup maker and our family favourite is carrot and lentil soup which I made this morning . As you say , Chuck all the ingredients in and 21 minutes later , delicious soup with no hassle

I might be inspired enough to give it a go.?

No one singing the praises of the instant pot to make loads of tasty soups?

I think knorr do a fish stock cube??

I bought one in sale last year- never took it out of box! I feared it be 'fiddly' but this yr am inspired- i spent time other night making a stew& a soup also (using a hand blending stick)-& realised probably took longer than using soup maker ? is it hard to clean a soup maker though??

I make parsnip and sweet potato, or carrot and coriander for lunch every day in winter. One 'brew' lasts me several days.

Grandtante I would have said the same until I had mine. If you always make chunky soup for a large family, your big pan and a hand blender when necessary is probably more useful, but the soupmaker holds enough for six servings, needs absolutely no attention between chucking in the ingredients and pouring the finished soup from the jug into a bowl, and blends a smooth soup without dirtying another utensil or splashing the walls and work surface. What's more, you can be giving full attention to whatever else you are cooking.

There are a lot of soup recipes at
scottishmum.com/category/fabulous-food/soups/ They have all been family-tested. (ignore the advertisement near the top of the page that says VIEW RECIPE in large capitals, unless you really want to add a recipe search extension to your browser. It has nothing to do with the site.)
Searching online for soupmaker recipes brings up a vast number of them! Some popular ones are repeated again and again.

What is a soupmaker?

I use the largest saucepan I own. Always have done.

I use my soup maker a lot and love it! I use a huge variety of organic vegetables and no factory preservatives and its delicious! Easy too - can't recommend it highly enough. I sometimes add a bit of butternut squash to other vegetables, as it makes a lovely smooth texture. Maybe I should try chunky, seeing what others are saying ! Thank you for the ideas!

LindyB The first thing you should do is look in the recipe book that came with your soupmaker. You may not want to do any of the exact recipes, but it will give you an idea of the approximate amounts to put in - It is about 500 grams of vegetables, plus a stock cube or stock powder, then top up with water from the kettle to the level marked on the side, and switch on! That is it! It isn't haute cuisine.

The vegetables can be whatever you have lying around, or any of the combinations that posters have suggested. They don't need to be chopped all that small or neat.

Carrot and courgette soup, squash and sweet potato, mushroom, tomato, green pea and apple, butter bean and lemon, cauliflower and broccoli, potato and leek or my very favourite Cullen skink, recipes can be found on the internet for them all.

My current favourite is fish chowder using a regular soup (tomatoe?) and dropping in ready cooked seafood at end. You can get nice seafood chunks in frozen bags also with mussels/calimari/prawns (Aldi). I believe there is a fish stock cube or tub but I have not managed to find any,

Salter soup maker came out as soon as the sun disappeared. Leek and potato (you can add chopped ham at the end), cauliflower, parsnip and ginger, and to my great delight, celery. DH doesn’t like celery but loves it puréed into soup. That means I can buy a head with sticks for me to eat and the rest goes into the soup maker.

I love making soup but sadly other half will not eat and also DD when home insists on posh fresh ones from supermarket. I love the cauliflower and garlic one. The garlic is pre cooked by putting whole bulb in tinfoil and baking til soft...clip top of cloves to let steam out. Then squeeze sweet pulp out in to saucepan... can be done in advance and frozen. Maybe the lady who does not like garlic might fancy this as flavour is transformed?

Ditto to several others - I have a stick blender and use that. My current fave soup is Asparagus and Courgette. Such a light, tasty soup I never want the bowl to empty.

Other favourites are brocolli and potato and leek and potato. I also make a squash soup with carrots and lentils which the GD's adore.

My Nan always said that you could make a soup of virtually anything and as long as you could make a soup your family would never go hungry.

I've inherited her love of soup, as has my own family.

I am only half-recalling something I read in a newspaper recently that said that those who have soup for lunch were rarely obese..but I can't remember the rest of the article!

The only soup maker in out house is me!! I am quite lazy about my soups, I buy a packet of Morrisons frozen casserole, fry a load of onion in the pan, thaw out a jugful of the veg and blend it with my hand blender, I add either oxo cubes or worcester sauce. It is usually quite acceptable?

I love this thread, please keep the ideas coming.

No soup maker here, just a big pan. In self isolation and fancying some soup had to make do with what in cupboard and fridge. Red lentils, an onion, chorritzo and some celery seeds.......hey presto, was delicious with self bake french stick from the 'emergency rations' box.