SPRING may have sprung, but we still crave quick and easy comfort food.
A bowl of soup with a crusty buttered roll is always a winner.
But those go-to tins of Heinz cream of tomato are £1.70 a pop – not so purse-friendly, especially if you’re feeding a family.
While making soup from scratch can be a faff, there are gadgets that blend ingredients, cook and even self-clean.
We asked Emma Lazenby to put seven of the most popular models to the test – and to stop her family getting bored of eating the same variety time and again, she served up potato and leek, red pepper and tomato, and broccoli and stilton recipes – all costing less than 50p a bowl.
But are these gadgets really worth the hype, for busy households?
Emma gives her verdicts on each of them, and marks them out of five . . .
JustMe soup maker
£49.99, justmeproducts.co.uk
The JustMe soup maker is handy for a quick lunch if you’re working from home[/caption]
WITH its “the smallest soup maker with the biggest results” tagline, I was bowled over by this cute, compact gadget.
It’s a one bowl-only machine and handy for a quick lunch if you’re working from home.
You could even decant your soup into a commuter cup for a food fix on the go.
Whipping up a bowl of chunky soup in just 19 minutes and smooth in 24 mins, it claims to use just 1p in energy to make a meal.
It’s also a colourful addition to your kitchen appliances as it comes in white or sage green.
The manual was user-friendly for this technophobe chef and the recipe booklet full of inspo.
The self-clean function worked a treat, too.
If you need bigger soup batches, you’ll obviously have to invest in a larger model, but for one person this is pretty perfect.
4.5/5
Tefal easy soup and smoothie maker
£129.99, Amazon
THIS good-looking piece of kit with its chrome finish can whizz up 1.2 litres of soup (enough to feed four), in 23 minutes for “smooth” and 25 minutes for “chunky”.
And it did the job well, quietly cooking away for the first 15 minutes or so, then kicking in with its blending function.
But the jug lacks a pouring spout, which makes for messy decanting. And it didn’t have a digital countdown display, which I found handy on the other models.
On the plus side, the “keep warm” setting was a winner. If you have teenagers at home who demand instant grub at any given time, a hot vat of warm soup on the counter may just the thing.
The self-clean function also worked surprisingly well. It whirred around the soapy water and left just a few bits of stray soup on the rim.
3.5/5
Daewoo soup maker
£39.99 (down from £49.99) at Robert Dyas
A FORMER Which? magazine Best Buy in the soup-making gadget category, this 1.6-litre model can whip up five bowls of smooth soup in 21 minutes, chunky takes seven minutes longer.
It can also blend smoothies and juices (no ice) in two minutes. This is a great gadget if you’re after a no-frills soup and smoothie maker.
While it does have a digital display, it lacks the self-clean function.
I failed to clean the jug immediately with a soapy brush and was left with soup-crusted blades that needed a thorough scrub, although this was my fault.
For a budget, easy-to-use soup maker, with an ideas-packed recipe booklet, this Daewoo number is spot on.
4/5
Tefal PerfectMix 2-in-1 cold blender and soup maker
£139, John Lewis
THE splurge option, but it’s a hefty piece of kit – so steer clear if you are short on worktop space.
If, however, you like the sound of an all-singing, all-dancing blender to make smoothies, soups, fruit compotes and more, then this might be worth the investment.
With its robust blades, it can even cut through frozen veg in a jiffy. There’s a downside, though.
Even in its relatively gentle soup-making mode, this machine is unbelievably loud.
It sounds like it might take off – and my cat ran a mile.
It comes with a “steaming basket”, but this was a faff to use and can’t hold enough veg for a family meal.
I did like the glass jug design – it was good to see the soup-making in action.
3/5
Ambiano soup maker
£29.99, Aldi
CHEAPEST of the bunch, this model feels a lot pricier than a sub-£30 machine.
I was immediately pleased with how compact and lightweight it is. It could easily be stored away in a cupboard, or even sit on the kitchen worktop if you have some spare space.
The digital controls were straightforward and the “keep warm” feature is handy if someone in the family comes home late.
The design also allows you to remove the lid during cooking, stopping and starting where you left off if you want to add extra ingredients.
Whizzing up a batch of smooth soup in 26 minutes and a chunky one in 29, I’d have given the Ambiano the full five out of five if it had the self-clean mode.
4.5/5
Morphy Richards soup maker
£79, ao.com
GIVEN this model’s higher price, I was surprised not to find either a “keep warm” or “self-clean” function – both handy features found on most other models.
It was, however, one of the quickest soup makers, cooking up a meal for a family of five in just 21 minutes for a smooth soup and 28 mins for chunky.
It is almost identical in appearance and functionality to the Daewoo model, but unjustifiably double the price.
It delivers in terms of its basic soup-making role and the recipe booklet was welcome.
But at just under £80 I would expect something extra, which it sadly failed to deliver.
3/5
WeightWatchers soup maker
£35, B&M
ONE of the cheapest soup makers around, and you really get some good bang for your buck with this one.
It’s super simple to use and the healthy recipes included were a nice touch.
It cooks and blends 1.6 litres of both smooth and chunky soups in under 30 minutes, and with a handy LED screen that counts down your cooking time, this low-cost gadget is as good as its pricier competitors.
The self-clean mode is great, too. You just add a small squirt of washing-up liquid and warm water to the jug and it whooshes away almost all soup remnants in a flash.
And it is quite a good-looking machine, with its slick stainless steel and grey jug.
4/5
EMMA’S VERDICT
ONCE soup-er sceptical, I am now completely sold on these convenient machines.
I was pleasantly surprised at just how easy they are to operate and how much time and faff they save.
To be able to serve up a satisfying meal for my family (soup must always come with bread and butter, in my opinion) in under half an hour, with minimal chopping and washing up, was a godsend.
Just be sure to mix it up when it comes to your soup repertoire.
Croutons or crisp scraps optional.
SPRUCE UP YOUR SOUP
FOR most recipes, all you need is vegetables and stock – so you can use up all those carrot and broccoli nubs lying at the back of your fridge drawer.
I even whacked in a lump of leftover Christmas cheese.
For an anti-ageing boost, try using collagen-rich bone broth instead of stock.
And if you like your soup rich and creamy, a dollop of peanut butter works wonders and costs as little as 5p.
Toppers are a fun way to spruce up your soup, too. Some wacky chefs even suggest using the scraps from the bottom of your crisp packet instead of croutons.
Or make your bowl extra filling by adding a poached egg.
There are no rules when whizzing up a bowl of soup. Anything goes.
