Green Soup with Sea Spaghetti is made with cabbage, greens, leek, celery, courgette, spinach, and kale which is finished off with a garnish of fried sea spaghetti seaweed! Healthy, vegan & delicious!
Last Sunday I popped out for some sugar to make some Gooseberry Jam as my dad, ever the fruit magnet, had been invited to pick gooseberries at a local allotment and kindly delivered a carrier bag full to me.
I thought I’d time my visit to my local Tesco to be about an hour and a quarter before closing as my sister had been telling me all about her 1p bargains recently.
Well as soon as I got there I made a beeline for the produce department and saw a few people coming away from the reduced shelf but there was still plenty there.
I was joined by one other shopper eventually so there was no stress picking out what I thought I could use.
Even if something is only 1 or 2p nothing’s a bargain unless you use it!
My booty consisted of mainly green vegetables and herbs and if I’d stuck around I discovered that I could have had some soft fruits but hey I was new to this so I didn’t know the ropes. I’ll know better next time!
So when I got home I totted up my bargains and if you ignore the 2 packs of rolls which cost me 25p each the rest of my haul cost me 24p! Here’s a list of what I got:
Reduced Price | Original Price | |
| 922g Mushrooms (loose) | 4p | £2.76 |
| 1 x 240g Bag Baby Spinach | 2p | £1.50 |
| 1 x 120g Bag Baby Spinach | 1p | £1.25 |
| 1 x Pack Rosemary | 1p | £0.70 |
| 1 x Pack Lemon Grass | 1p | £0.70 |
| 2 x Packs Tarragon | 2p | £1.40 |
| 1 x Pack Leek & Cabbage | 1p | £1.25 |
| 1 x Pack Sea Spaghetti Seaweed | 2p | £2.00 |
| 1 x 2.5kg Pack of Potatoes | 2p | £2.00 |
| 1 x Pack Snack Apples | 1p | £0.50 |
| 1 x Pack Baby Kale & Pomegranate Salad | 2p | £1.50 |
| 1 x Pack Baby Kale Salad | 1p | £0.90 |
| 1 x Pack Sliced Greens | 1p | £1.20 |
| 1 x Cabbage | 1p | £1.00 |
| 1 x Iceberg Lettuce | 1p | £0.49 |
| 1 x Finest Stoneground Sliced Loaf | 1p | £1.00 |
| Total | 24p | £20.15 |
Rest assured none of this is going to or has gone to waste like the packs say “Love Food Hate Waste”.
With bargains like this to be had there is no excuse not to eat healthily as this shop came to about the same price as a jam doughnut!
I worked out the ingredients I bought for this soup came to just over 5 pence but would have cost over £5 at full price!
The tarragon and some of the mushrooms went into a sauce with some pork (post to follow) that night which I served with the bag of greens and some mashed potato.
The following day I made this Green Soup with Seaweed Spaghetti.
I would never have bought Seaweed Spaghetti ordinarily but it worked well as a garnish for this soup.
My hubby said it tasted like fish, I just thought it tasted like the sea!
I read somewhere that you shouldn’t eat too much of it as it’s high in iodine but I’m sure what we had as a garnish was fine!
So what was the soup like? Well, hubby and I loved it, keeping the chunky texture by not blitzing it too much with a blender is key and far more satisfying than a blended soup.
We had this as part of a main meal along with some crusty rolls and cheese, just right for a summer evening.
My son enjoyed his but my 11 yr old daughter turned her nose up at it! I seem to remember at her age hating things like spinach in a cream sauce so I think it’s an age thing!
I think everyone must love a bargain as I’d never had so many comments or views (over 3,000) of a post on my Facebook!
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Green Soup with Sea Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 Onion chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves chopped
- 2 Celery sticks chopped
- 1 Large potato diced
- 1 Courgette chopped
- 300 g Pack finely shredded cabbage & leek 100g Cabbage, 100g Leeks, 100g Greens
- 120 g Baby spinach
- 60 g Baby kale
- 1.3 L Vegetable stock made with 2 stock cubes
- 90 g Fried sea spaghetti seaweed for garnish (optional)
- Pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Heat 2tbsp oil in a very large pan and add all the vegetables except the baby spinach and kale.
- Give the vegetables a good stir and sweat under a lid for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Next add the stock and pepper, bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- Towards the end of cooking prepare the sea spaghetti by chopping into roughly 3 – 4cm strips.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok on a highish heat and fry for 6 – 8 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the baby spinach and kale to the soup and bring back to a simmer for a further 3 minutes.
- Use a stick blender to partially blend the soup (you want lots of chunky bits).
- Serve in bowls garnished with the sea spaghetti if using and some warm crusty bread.
Leila Benhamida
Very unusual. A lot of greens. Love your bargains buy.
Camilla
Thanks Leila:-)
Claire
I’d never heard of seaweed spaghetti before but it’s a good idea. My hubby loves a jar of seaweed seasoning we got from somewhere or other so I bet he’d love this.
Camilla
Haven’t seen it lately but yes I’m sure he would love it:-)
Lisa Williams
Fab! I have lots of different types of seaweed in my cupboard from Asian cooking and I would love to be able to sneak them into other bits seeing as they taste great might try one in here as I have not see and UK seasweed in our local shops 🙂
Camilla
Good idea Lisa;-)
Martina Evans
Ooh sea spaghetti, never heard of it before. Fab recipe!
Paul Wilson
Pea soup is lovely. Must try and get some sea spaghetti.
Heather Haigh
Just goes to show you can make something healthy without breaking the bank.
Camilla
Exactly Heather:-)
Maya Russell
I think it looks good & healthy but would definitely have to blitz it for the children or they would turn their noses up at it.
Camilla
My son insists on having his soup with chunks in but my daughter mostly turns her nose up at anything green blitzed or not!
Elizabeth
What a lot of bargains! Expert shopping, that! Gorgeous recipe too – I’ve never tried sea spaghetti but I’d be keen to! Thank you for sharing with the No Waste Food Challenge 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Elizabeth, I’m sure you’d love the seaweed:-)
Ursula Hunt
There is great satisfaction from getting bargains and them making delicious food with them
Camilla
Yes Ursula, I’ve got a back log of recipes to blog now as so much foodie inspiration!
William Gould
Great bargains! My wife makes straight for the money off meat counter in ASDA first thing in the morning, and can pick up a large chicken to freeze for £3 – Nothing like the 1p’s though!
Camilla
Good for your wife but the best time to shop for bargains is early evening as that’s when they need to get rid of things fast:-)
Sandi Gaertner (@sandigtweets)
What a beautiful soup…I love the sea spaghetti.
Camilla
Thanks Sandi – yes the sea spaghetti was great:-)
Joanne T Ferguson
Your soup looks so healthy and delicious! Great photo! Pinned and shared!
Camilla
Thank you Joanne:-)
Niels | Have Another Bite
That soup looks tasty and healthy, and a great bargain! 😛
Camilla
Thanks Niels, I have a bargain celeriac with which to make soup tody:-)
Glamorous Glutton
Amazing bargains, that’s really impressive! Great looking soup too, full of wonderful things. GG
Camilla
I know! Manage to pick up some Greens and a Cerleriac for 1p last night:-)
Florian @ContentednessCooking
This soup looks marvelous and majestic! Love all the veggies, yum!
Camilla
Thanks Florian:-)
peter @feedyoursoultoo
Such a cool recipe.
Camilla
Thanks Peter:-)
Jacqueline Meldrum
Wow, what a haul Camilla and good for you using them all up. There is usually a crowd around that section in my local tesco. People must know when they usually do it, so I oly grab something now and again. I’m always delighted with the cheap mushrooms.
Camilla
Yes I think there are regulars from what I hear who know the ropes! They had even stacked their trolleys with more expensive reduced good and then were queuing up to get them reduced down further!
Kate @ Veggie Desserts
WHAT. A. HAUL! Goodness, you did well. And the soup sounds fantastic. I can’t wait to see your other bargain recipes!
Camilla
Thanks Kate, yes it’s extra satisfying to make something for a few pennies:-)
sarah
Brilliant bargains! I must try that at the tesco near me. Love soup with chunky bits in it. 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Sarah, yes get down to Tesco and get some bargains:-)
LINSY PATEL
just loved your bargains and loved the idea of sea pasta. hope you will get use all this soon before it goes bad.
Camilla
Oh nothing going bad here, have washed and frozen the herbs and lemon grass that I’ve not used yet and just have a small cabbage and a handful of mushrooms left to use up as we’ve had 3 meals on this haul so far:-)
shobha
Wow.. delicious and healthy.. Lot of ingredients have gone into this soup.. I have never come across sea weed spaghetti.. will try to look around if I can find some.
Camilla
This Sea Spaghetti was from Cornwall, England and I have no idea if it grows in every sea?
Janie
Wow! I’ve shopped the bargains at various stores before but I’ve never scored such hardcore bargains – way to go you 🙂
Janie x
Camilla
Me neither but hopefully I can make a habit of this as it makes a huge difference to your shopping budget:-)
Sally - My Custard Pie
So impressed by this haul and what you did with it.
Camilla
Thanks Sally – more recipes to come:-)
Emily
Oh my what an absolutely bounty of reduced treasures! I love the reduced section – my latest score being 75p for 2 salmon fillets. I love seaweed flavours in meals so this sounds great!
Camilla
Thanks Emily, I think I’ll have to wonder down the fish and meat aisle next time:-)
Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla
I’m loving this Camilla… I must look at the bargains more often. For some reason I have never seen so discounted produce, most of the time it is half price but not 1p! I’m very impressed 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Margot, it’s all about timing it with the end of the day when they need to get rid of everything:-)
Ursula Hunt
Great cheap and healthy soup
Camilla
Thanks Ursula:-)
Paul Wilson
Love the idea of sea spaghetti.
Camilla
It was fab:-)
Keep Calm and Fanny On
All my local Tescos are rubbish, they reduce things from say £1.25 to £1.24 – I’m sure the yellow stickers cost more! Well done on your haul, and this soup! Never heard of sea spaghetti seaweed!
Camilla
Thanks “Fanny”!I think it’s all about timing as they do incremental reductions through the day until this last one. In our local store the prime time is 7.15 but that’s not a time that’s convenient to me so this late Sunday afternoon time is great for me. I’d never seen this seaweed before either, but I’m glad I’ve tried it as I’ve always fancied the idea of it:-) It was a bit like slimy liquorice shoelaces!
Dom
green soup… yay! I love stuff like this and what an utter bargain! You’re so good at this. My dear grandmother would be proud!
Camilla
Aah thanks Dom, I think this was my finest bargain moment! It has spurred me on and then I get to try new things too so it’s a definite win/win:-)