We are delighted to be partnering with Sainsbury’s Waste less, Save more initiative by sharing our waste-busting bubble and squeak soup.  This brilliant soup is perfect to cook with kids and perfect for using up chicken and vegetables left over from a Sunday dinner.

Did you know that households in the UK waste a mind blowing 15 million tonnes of food and drink every year. To bring this to life, that includes 5.8 million potatoes, almost 6 million glasses of milk and an astonishing 24 million slices of bread every day! Not only is this a huge problem for our environment, but families are throwing away money along with food. In fact, the average British family wastes £700 per year on food that could have been eaten, but is thrown away instead, that’s around £60 a month.

Are you a frugal cook? I am, it was how I was raised.  My mum was a war baby and food was scarce and she raised me to hate waste.  She taught me about meal planning and using leftovers for the next days meals, she called it companion cooking. We often could guess what the following days meal would be.  Roast beef would be turned into sandwiches, hotpots and pies. Chicken would mean her famous stew, pasties and curry.

Bubble and Squeak cakes are a regular addition to our meal plans.  I am lucky that my boys love vegetables.  This Bubble and Squeak soup is simple to make, uses leftover cooked vegetables and also is great for using up the chicken carcass.

Bubble and Squeak Soup

Ingredients:

• Chicken Carcas or chicken stock and leftover chicken
• Leftover cooked vegetables – we used leeks, turnips, carrots, new potatoes and roast parsnips,

How to make Bubble and Squeak Soup

When I was growing up, my mum would make chicken stock from the carcass in her pressure cooker, I do the same, but use my slow cooker.  I pop the chicken in the slow cooker cover with boiling water and let it cook overnight.  Strain the chicken bits and bones from the broth and allow to cool before you skim off any fat from the top.  It makes a delicious chicken stock and the best base for this soup.  Don’t have a chicken carcass then you can use shop bought stock or a stock cube.

Make sure any of your leftover vegetables are in bite sized pieces.  We added leftover roast parsnips, so Mini sliced them and he also sliced the new potatoes in half too.

Add the vegetables to your stock and warm.  As your vegetables are already cooked you it only needs to be warmed through before you eat it.

We often have our Bubble and Squeak Soup with Dumplings.  My dumpling mix is 100g of vegetable suet and 200g of self-raising flour.  Make a well in the middle and add water, mixing with a butter knife until it comes together.  Form loosely into 8 portions and place in the soup.  Cook uncovered in the oven for 20 minutes for a crispy top and covered for 30 minutes for a soft top.

Bubble and Squeak Soup is so simple to make then both of my boys can make it on their own and help prepare it. It is great for using up leftovers and making sure that we do not have waste.

What are your favorite recipes for using up leftovers?

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