Cook simple fridge soup and flatbread

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The average person spends more than 10% of the money that they earn on food.  Unlike rent or your phone bill you have some control over how much you spend on food each week though.  Takeaways and ready-meals are expensive so you can save money by cooking meals yourself.  

Fridge soup is just soup made with whatever you have in your fridge or cupboard.  It’s cheap, easy, and you can change the recipe to use up leftovers.  It should take about half an hour to make.  In this video it’s served with flatbread, which is also really easy and fun to make, but you can eat it with normal bread or toast if that’s what you have at home.  

Most recipes don’t have to be exact, especially soup.  You can use different ingredients and different amounts.  And if it doesn’t work or doesn’t taste very good the first time that you do it then it doesn’t matter – you can just do it differently next time.  When we filmed this at Poole City Farm in Plymouth, Aidan, the presenter from IKEA, made his flatbread dough really sticky but when Kyle did that Candeice added some more flour to make it easier to work with.  Theirs turned out better!

Onions and carrots are cheap and you can get them everywhere.  They’re the first ingredients of most soups.  You need to put these in the pan first and gently fry them in oil for a while to soften them (the onions will start to go a little bit see through) before you add other ingredients.  If you’re adding something like leftover bacon then add that next before you add the tinned tomatoes and stock.  Softer veg like peppers or courgette can go in after that.  If stuff starts to stick then turn the heat down a bit. 

The smaller you cut things up the faster it’ll cook, but if you like chunky soup then cut your vegetables a bit rougher.  It doesn’t really matter.  Kyle doesn’t like hard bits or lumpy mash so cut his veg up really small.  If you don’t have any herbs then that doesn’t matter.  And it doesn’t matter what type of pasta you put in – whatever you have in your cupboard.  If you don’t have any pasta then that doesn’t matter either.  It’s a basic soup that you can add whatever you like or whatever you have in your fridge to, to use up leftovers and save you money on your food bill each week.

Download a PDF of the Fridge Soup recipe here.

Download a PDF of the Flatbread recipe here.

How to make simple fridge soup with flatbreads

Fridge soup

Ingredients

  • carrot, onion, celery, for frying
  • garlic cloves
  • potatoes, peppers, mushrooms or courgette
  • handful spinach, kale, cavolo nero or Savoy cabbage
  • can cannellini beans or chickpeas
  • dash olive oil
  • dollop tomato purée
  • can tomatoes
  • stock cube
  • dried herbs, such as thyme and oregano
  • small handful spaghetti (or tiny pasta shapes such as orzo or alphabet pasta)
  • To serve (optional)
  • fresh herbs, such as parsley, chives, basil grated parmesan or cheddar

Method

  1. Chop all the veg for frying: carrot, onion and/or celery to start with. Slice the garlic and chop the potatoes, peppers, mushroom etc. into cubes. Set aside.
  2. Tear up any greens you wish to cook into pieces. Set aside.
  3. Drain and rinse the beans or chickpeas. Set aside.
  4. Heat a dash of olive oil in a pan and fry the carrot, onion and/or celery until softened.
  5. Add the sliced garlic and cook for a few more minutes.
  6. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another minute.
  7. Tip in the tinned tomatoes, water and the stock cube, following the proportions of stock cube to water on the packet. (You can clean out the tomato tin with half a can of extra water to get every bit of tomato from the can.)
  8. Add dried herbs if liked – such as a thyme or oregano.
  9. If you are adding potatoes, add them now and reserve the remaining vegetables. Simmer for ten minutes.
  10. Break up the spaghetti into small pieces and add it to the pan (or alternatively use tiny pasta shapes such as orzo or alphabet pasta).
  11. Add the drained cannellini beans (or chickpeas) and simmer until the pasta is nearly cooked.
  12. Add the other reserved vegetables and simmer until they are cooked to your liking, adding the greens last of all.
  13. Serve in a bowl topped with fresh herbs or grated cheese if you have either (both optional) and with the flatbread on the side.

Flatbread 

Ingredients

  • equal amounts self-raising flour (plain or wholemeal) and natural yoghurt, (say 250g of each to serve 4), plus extra flour for dusting
  • baking powder (optional), say 1⁄2 tsp for 250g flour
  • pinch salt
  • dash oil

Method

  1. In a large bowl using a wooden spoon, stir the flour and yoghurt with baking powder if you have some (this will help the flatbread fluff up a little more) and a pinch of salt.
  2. Dust the work surface with a little flour and knead the dough for about a minute until smooth.
  3. Dust a clean bowl with a little flour and then put the dough into the bowl.
  4. Cover with a plate or tea towel and leave in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
  5. Divide the dough into either 4 or 8 (depending on how big you want the flatbreads).
  6. Roll out the dough into rounds.
  7. Oil a frying pan or ridged griddle, then set to a medium heat.
  8. Cook the rounds one at a time on the oiled frying pan (or griddle) for a few minutes on each side, or until golden-brown and slightly puffed.
  9. Remove each flatbread from the pan and keep warm. Add a little more oil to the pan or griddle if needed.
  10. Serve.