Stay with me, don’t leave yet. This soup is surprisingly delicious (if you like cabbage of course!). Also it only costs about 40p to make 2 large bowlfuls (or 4 smaller ones). Infact, I worked it out that for 1 large bowlful plus 2 slices of bread it cost me about 28p for my lunch today.
This is Day 2 of the “Living on WW2 Rations Experiment” where a group of us HERE are spending a month on the minimum UK wartime ration, endeavouring to keep history alive and to cut our cloth during the “cost of living” rise.
I digress. Despite this soup perhaps looking rather “earthy” and unappetizing to a demographic of people who love more saturated tones, it actually tasted rather wonderful (don’t skimp on the seasoning though!). I will make this again quite regularly!
Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 1 oz dripping or cooking fat
- 4 oz shredded cabbage (I used savoy)
- 1 medium sized onion (or spring onion or some leek)
- 3 oz carrot grated (1 medium carrot- I pinched another one from my Guinea Pigs stash)
- 1 oz oatmeal/porridge oats
- 1 pint of stock or water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Pinch of pepper
- 1 pint of milk (I added half a pint of homemade oat milk)
Method
Melt the fat in a saucepan and fry the vegetables except for the cabbage, gently for about 5 minutes without browning. Add the cabbage and oatmeal and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the stock or water and seasoning and boil gently for 20 minutes. lastly, add the amount of milk you want and heat through.
Serves 2 large bowls or 4 smaller ones.
This cabbage soup wartime recipe broken down by cost
- Cabbage 10p
- Rolled oats 5p
- Margarine 5p
- Milk (homemade oat milk) 5p
- Spring onion or onion 10p
- Carrot 5p
Calories for this recipe using homemade oat milk is around 400 Kcal
1 portion of soup plus 2 slices of bread with a scraping of margarine = 450 Kcal
That looks rather lovely.
I dislike oats with a passion, do you think substituting lentils or split peas would work?
Oats are a grain, so I would think rice or barley would be first choices. But I think lentils or split peas would work. Glad to see someone else who isn’t ‘thrilled’ about oatmeal. I limit my oatmeal consumption to oatmeal raisin cookies and meatloaf.
Pearl Barley would work really well but split peas or lentils would be fine too. I think with the oatmeal the boiling releases the starches into the liquid making the soup slightly creamy which I find delicious! Not so nice if you don’t like oats xxx C
I think it looks delicious. I may be trying this out!
How small is your piece of bread? I think your calculations for your servings of bread are off. Or in my case, my dyslexia struck, again! Bread is about 75 calories per ounce (28 grams) and then you add in the fat from your margarine…
Hi Judy my bread is 100 calories a slice and my scraping of marg Is 25 calories…normally I have 3 times as much 🙂 😀 xxxx
Thank you Carolyn for sharing this recipe. I can’t wait to try this one.
Your blog is a treasure and definitely one of my favorites!
I’ve tried a few of your recipes and can’t wait to try this one!
I made this soup, and wow, it tasted fantastic, really enjoyed it 🙂
Brilliant! Must make it again soon too! C xxx