Forget festive excess tuck into a hearty New Year soup dish

In addition, as the purse strings have also been stretched along with my waistline, I look for meals I can make using things that I already have in my larder, that are light in money but also in calories.

This Tuscan bean soup hit’s the spot. As with all soups, you can be quite liberal and inventive with your ingredients, use what you already have where possible and conjure up a soup that is as unique as you are.

This is what I did to make this glorious, slightly spicy soup.

I used the slow cooker, which will cut down on the cost of cooking too.

Chop a large onion and cook it in a frying pan with a little oil on a low heat until it is soft and sticky.

Add some chopped peppers, some garlic and some chilli, cooking for a few minutes.

At this point I transferred the contents of the frying pan into a slow cooker, adding a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes, little smoked paprika and vegetable stock cube.

If you have celery, carrots and so on add them at this point, diced up small. Throw in a can or two of mixed beans, or even baked beans, and leave to cook until everything is soft and the soup has thickened up.

Season with salt and pepper, tasting as you go, and serve with some crusty bread. Some recipes include bacon or lardons, but I generally don’t as I like to keep a few days meat free, and it is then suitable for vegans and vegetarians too, a recipe everyone can savour.

I love soup of any kind really and, if you look through what vegetables you have lurking in your fridge, you can make something out of nothing really.

Not popular in this country but in Germany and Austria, garlic soup is often on the menu. Celery soup is delicious, or just carrot and coriander.

I think my all-time favourite is leek and potato but, then again, is it tomato, or sweet potato, or minestrone?

The choices are endless really. Whichever soup you fancy, why not make it yourself, cut out the calories and cut out the cost!

Next week, readers, I shall be writing my column from Benidorm. Hasta la vista!