Friday 10 June 2011

Loads of carrots to use up

When I was food shopping last week I thought the potatoes were too expensive, so I looked for a cheaper alternative. After all I don't have to have potatoes, any vegetable will fill me up just as well. Carrots were a good price so I got a 2kg Value bag for about 70p. I like a lot of onions in my diet and they were a good price also.

Every day I have eaten carrots, but I still have a lot left, 2kg is a big bag. As I mentioned I am going away for a few days so the carrots need to be cooked and either eaten or stored. I have tried freezing raw carrots and they end up a bit rubbery, so this time I thought I would make carrot soup and freeze that.

Rinse, top and tail, and chop up loads of carrots, add two chopped onions. Put them in my biggest pan and add water. Oh dear, the pan isn't big enough.

Transfer them to a bigger pan. This is one I found in a skip if you remember. The majority of the stuff I found went to charity shops, but I kept this stainless steel pan for myself, and it has come in usefull. Not bad for free, ha ha.

Anyway, add garlic granules, turmeric, and mixed spices. I have used a spice packet from the Enchilada box, as there seems to be far too much to use for it's original purpose. Everything gets used up here.

Boil it till the carrots are soft, it smells nice. Then transfer to the Kenwood and mush it up. It has made nine pots of carrot soup for the freezer. I have used old potato salad pots. These are not microwavable so it will have to be transfered to dishes that are, for re heating.


I can eat this as soup with some tasty bread, or I can add it to stews. I might bulk it up with sweetcorn or peas for a lunchtime snack. Job done, my own healthy soup at a fraction of the cost of buying it.

10 comments:

  1. That looks good Ilona - I was going to suggest carrot soup!

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  2. How long can the soup be stored when frozen me dear?
    Regards,
    Thick John

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  3. It looks a good hearty soup, some nice bread to go with it and you've got a good tasty meal there. I often make butternut squash soup. I get bags of it frozen as it's cheaper than faffing about cutting it up etc, just put in a few veggie stock cubes and blitz it and have it with a sandwich. The kids love it too. I've often thought about a pressure cooker as they cook things so quickly but always worried the thing would explode and I'd be scraping my meal off of the kitchen ceiling. My best buy has been my large stockpot, I tend to use no other pan now. Just throw everything in, no need to worry whether it fits, it holds loads and only one pan to wash at the end of it. Enjoy your soup, it's making me hungry. Cheers x

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  4. I'm hungry already. An alternative/addition coriander & carrot is nice or carrot and rosemary.

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  5. Meant to say too, on Sky News earlier 5 counties in England, including Lincolnshire are now officially suffering from drought.

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Farmers-Face-Bleak-Summer-After-Five-Counties-Officially-Suffer-Drought-Says-Environment-Agency/Article/201106216009073?lpos=UK_News_Top_Stories_Header_1&lid=ARTICLE_16009073_Farmers_Face_Bleak_Summer_After_Five_Counties_Officially_Suffer_Drought%2C_Says_Environment_Agency

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  6. John if you are thick then I must be as well, because I don't know how long you can store it in the freezer for. I only have a three drawer freezer in my upright fridge freezer, so I dont store things for more than a couple of months. I am constantly eating from it to make room for new food. At the moment I have a lot of bread in there, so I must start eating more toast for my breakfast.

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  7. I've eaten soup that has been in the freezer for over a year and it tasted just as good, but like you I do like to use things up to make room for more stuff.

    Looks lovely, and it's very healthy.

    Sue xx

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  8. Ilona, due to previous blogger problems I have started a new blog called
    'Sarina`s Allsorts', and would love you to have a look in there. You might well find something that interests you!

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  9. Curry powder is good in a soup. It goes particularly well with butternut squash. It's also a good rescue for a soup that doesn't taste all that good!

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