6 weeks of zero spend during work days

[FIRE Artist]

Not groundbreaking stuff for the die hard mustachian, but it is a nice life change for me and perhaps this strategy will work for others. 

I changed jobs and work site in the summer and had developed some not great habits of buying coffee with new colleagues and also buying lunch 3-4 times a week.  Enough was enough, I needed to kill the cash drain, and also could lose the stress weight I packed on during the last year of managing life with a dying father.  I have always been pretty good with this, but ate out at least once per week and the same with coffee.  On top of working full time, I have also been taking 2 night classes this fall, so time for meal prep has been at a premium.

So, I trolled the net,  my cook books, my mom’s classic recipes and made a bunch of soups and chili which I froze in single serve portions. I purchased first one, then a second thermos soup container, as well as a small drink thermos. I have managed to bring my lunch and tea to work every day for 6 weeks now. The thermos helps a lot, no waiting in line for the stinky communal microwaves in the hospital cafeteria, and coffee is much less tempting when I have a thermos of delicious hot tea at the ready. I take the thermos along when on a coffee break with others.

I don’t think I have ever managed to go this long with zero work day spend before. I am giving myself the challenge to keep it up through to the end of March with the exception of a couple of pre planned lunches out with team mates dates for the holidays.

For me, the trick has been variety. I have chili, mulligatawny, broccoli cheddar, Thai coconut chicken, Russian vegetable, lasagna soup, and Acadian pea soup right now in my freezer.   I can eat a different lunch every day with no planning necessary.  I replenish one soup recipe every second Sunday to keep the stock levels up without burdening myself with another big soup cook off like when I started.

This meal plan did require an initial investment in containers. I purchased reusable deli containers from the local restaurant supply.  I find as long as I don’t put them in the microwave they are washable and reusable.  Sometime the lid doesn’t make it, so I have extras of those. A 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup is the perfect vessel to defrost and reheat in the microwave.

I am down 15lbs since implementing this life change.  Probably giving up the coffee with cream and sugar was the most effective change, but eating pre portioned meals also helps.

[Plugra]

It recently occurred to me to buy a nice thermos for work and it's worked out great. It's really pleasant to just pour yourself a cup of hot tea or coffee at your desk, right when you want it. And it probably paid for itself in the first couple of weeks.  Amazing that more people don't do this.

[verfrugal]

Congratulations.  Nice plan and execution.  I am looking to put together a similiar plan, even tho i work from home.  Portion control, and having a proper meal ready will stop me from hitting the snacks or indulging in way too many carbs.

[sonya]

My daughter always refused to eat cafeteria food, starting in 3rd grade. She wanted hot, healthy food like soups, etc. The camping thermoses saved the day - although they were expensive - $15 to $30, but they lasted for years with heavy use. Highly recommend.

[soccerluvof4]

I always use to take a nice hearty soup in my thermos back in the day.

[DoNorth]

I couldn't agree more.  Funny enough, I was the boss of an 8 person section and naturally, had the highest salary in the section, but was the only one who packed a lunch every day and brought my thermos. 

It recently occurred to me to buy a nice thermos for work and it's worked out great. It's really pleasant to just pour yourself a cup of hot tea or coffee at your desk, right when you want it. And it probably paid for itself in the first couple of weeks.  Amazing that more people don't do this.

[Feefers]

I found this post to be very motivating, I hope to match your 6 weeks! Started this week by making broccoli cheddar soup. I also have the ingredients for beef stew. So far so good, 3 work days down, $24 saved!

[apkanne]

Thank you for the motivation. I pulled the trigger and am trying this out, got the thermos from mom and the tupperware off amazon, only had sandwich sized ones. Planning on shopping the soups at Aldi/Walmart this weekend.

[Basenji]

Excellent work! Great ideas that I hope to copy (even at home).

[FIRE Artist]

Checking in on this one, the plan is still going strong with no falters at all.  I added a third soup thermos to my kit, I live alone and don’t usually run the dishwasher more than twice a week so the third container helps cut down on hand washing.

I will be making more soups over the holidays, I plan to drop the broccoli cheddar (too high calorie) and add Italian wedding. I also discovered I can double the mileage out of the Thai soup recipe by making both green and red curry versions.

Far and away the pea soup with chunks of ham is my favourite, I could eat it every day, but only allow myself the pleasure once a week to ensure I don’t get bored with it.

I have also been thinking I should add a Mexican flavour to the mix, tortilla soup is the obvious choice there I think. 

[Dee18]

Your soups sound delicious!  Please post recipes, especially if you find a good one for tortilla soup.

[FIRE Artist]

Your soups sound delicious!  Please post recipes, especially if you find a good one for tortilla soup.

Here is my mom’s pea soup recipe. I cook it until the peas break so don’t bother with the blending step. I also add a grated carrot for colour. For the ham, I rarely bake one so I purchase a little half boneless ham when I see them on sale, and add a generous amount.

[FIRE Artist]

I use this recipe for the Thai soup.  https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/coconut-curry-chicken-soup

I double the amount of curry paste and add 2 tbsp of tamarind concentrate.  I use the leftover meat from a Costco rotisserie chicken, so usually 3/4 of a roast chicken.  I use palm sugar instead of regular, and full fat coconut milk.

Since I want to eat this out of a thermos, after the noodles are cooled, I put them onto the cutting board and chop it into 1-1.5" long pieces - the noodles will be a sticky mass when the noodles are cool so it is pretty easy to chop up.  For this recipe, if you reheat and eat it straight away, it is still pretty much like the fresh soup ratio of noodles to sauce, but once it sits in the thermos for 4 hours, the noodles will have absorbed most of the liquid, so you are eating a soft noodle and chicken dish more than a soup.  This doesn't bother me at all, but consider yourself warned if you don't like soft noodles. 

I will try to remember to post more recipes as I make them again. 

[Antonn Park]

Nice! Carrot and butternut squash soups are good, but I suspect soup with lentils will keep you full longer. When I worked for an employer, I would make a pot of rice and beans every week and eat that throughout the week. Took me about a year to get sick of it.

[FIRE Artist]

I have an all vegetable soup in the freezer, but I can only take it when I have some kind of protein to supplement it with.  I am now just making soups with protein included to simplify the lunch bag. 

[frugalkristen]

I want to jump on this trend - no spending during the work week.  I have no intention of spending the rest of this week (I did buy a couple of grocery items Monday) but will start completely December 31st.  Congrats to the OP on this change!

[FIRE Artist]

Over the holidays I have put up double batches of chili and pea soup and am trying out a new recipe - chicken taco soup.  With what I already had in the freezer, I am good for work lunches for the next 10 weeks.

My next challenge is to eat down the rest of what is in my freezer, I want to get to the point where my freezer doesn’t contain “ingredients” rather is used to store ready made meals. So in the future, I will no longer be buying meat for the freezer, rather buying meat to meal prep and be freezing completed meals, be it already made soups, stews or assembled meal kits for the slow cooker or instant pot.

[FIRE Artist]

Posting an update on this.

The power of habit is very, very strong.  I don't even think about lunches for work at all anymore, I go down to the deep freezer on Sunday night and pull out 5 different soups/stews/chilis for the week and move them to my fridge.  Mornings are like clockwork, fill the kettle to boil, put a soup in the pyrex to reheat in the microwave and fill the thermoses with hot tap water to pre-heat (recommended to keep food hot longer).

When I started out on this journey, I thought that I was only going to stick with it until the end of winter and then switch to something else during the summer months, but I am now rethinking that plan.  The habit is in place, and I honestly can't imagine wanting to go back to having to do lunch meal prep on a daily or weekly basis.  Switching to something like salads for lunch would mean that I would need to prep the salads and the proteins on a minimum every Sunday.  Since I work in a climate controlled space, it really doesn't make sense that I need to switch to cold lunches just because it is hot out.  I will still drink hot tea at work as well. 

My freezer is getting empty, it is time to top things up again so likely I will make a batch of something over the next few weekends, then I can lay off the lunch cooking for a another 2 months.

[LifePhaseTwo]

This is so great - practical, healthy and economical. I love soups and stews all year round - a super cheap soup I used to make for work before I FIRE-d is a simple black bean soup: black beans, a dollop of curry paste, some chicken stock and salsa, in the slow cooker, then blended with a hand blender.

[DirtDiva]

So Mustachian!

I started carrying my lunch to work almost 30 years ago, and coffee has always been free at my workplaces (healthcare= fueled by caffeine). At $100/month @3% interest, that saved money resulted in an additional $54k in my pocket over that time frame.  Plus it's easier to make healthier choices in the morning than when you're standing in front of the fried chicken and mashed potatoes at 12:00.

I love dal and rice dishes- maybe better in a Pyrex bowl than a thermos, but I suppose you could water it down to be more soup-like.  Minestrone freezes well- has some beans for protein, lots of veggies. 

[Xlar]

Posting an update on this.

The power of habit is very, very strong.  I don't even think about lunches for work at all anymore, I go down to the deep freezer on Sunday night and pull out 5 different soups/stews/chilis for the week and move them to my fridge.  Mornings are like clockwork, fill the kettle to boil, put a soup in the pyrex to reheat in the microwave and fill the thermoses with hot tap water to pre-heat (recommended to keep food hot longer).

When I started out on this journey, I thought that I was only going to stick with it until the end of winter and then switch to something else during the summer months, but I am now rethinking that plan.  The habit is in place, and I honestly can't imagine wanting to go back to having to do lunch meal prep on a daily or weekly basis.  Switching to something like salads for lunch would mean that I would need to prep the salads and the proteins on a minimum every Sunday.  Since I work in a climate controlled space, it really doesn't make sense that I need to switch to cold lunches just because it is hot out.  I will still drink hot tea at work as well. 

My freezer is getting empty, it is time to top things up again so likely I will make a batch of something over the next few weekends, then I can lay off the lunch cooking for a another 2 months.

What containers do you use to freeze the soups? I like your plan and how easy it sounds to get ready in the mornings.

[apkanne]

What containers do you use to freeze the soups? I like your plan and how easy it sounds to get ready in the mornings.

from OP: "I purchased reusable deli containers from the local restaurant supply."

I went and bought these on amazon, didnt need so many, but they were cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EFFYTQG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

hope that helps.

[FIRE Artist]

What containers do you use to freeze the soups? I like your plan and how easy it sounds to get ready in the mornings.

from OP: "I purchased reusable deli containers from the local restaurant supply."

I went and bought these on amazon, didnt need so many, but they were cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EFFYTQG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

hope that helps.

Yes, those are basically what I got. I find they last pretty long if you don’t microwave them or drop them with frozen food in them. The lids don’t last as long, I find they get brittle and break easier if I open straight from the freezer, they fare better straight out of the fridge.

I was able to purchase them locally, and the lids and containers are sold separately in bags of 50 each so I just bought a second pack of lids.

Avoid overfilling them to protect the lids as well. 

I use the 16 oz ones for soups and stews, the 8 oz for fried rice, and beef tips as I expand this system to include some evening meal components. 

[FIRE Artist]

So I took a break from this during the summer and am going to start again next week. Is there any interest in a challenge?

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I get free lunch at work, but this is a fantastic challenge & you had a great streak!

[redhead84]

I bring leftovers for 95% of my work lunches (exceptions are lunches paid for by work or the 2-3 times a year I forget my lunch bag). I would love to develop a system for freezing individual portions in advance like yours. Unfortunately, I don't have the freezer space right now. Maybe I'll have to keep my eye out for a deal on a freezer.

[Slow road to freedom]

So I took a break from this during the summer and am going to start again next week. Is there any interest in a challenge?

Yes, up for a challenge. I currently have home-made salad at work, but some days are skipped (too hard in the morning!) and some days I spend needlessly - on chocolate.

I tend to fare well when there is some form of competition.

I do have a soup maker (very good) so ready to start Monday 2 Sep? Zero spend work days => money saved, weight lost...

[Chickadee]

 I will join you guys. Right now I’m doing pretty good compared to last year, I’m buying lunch only about twice a month. I’d love to just get rid of it entirely. I also stopped buying a soda or sparkle water which I used to buy every day, now it’s again down to about twice a month.

 I also really like salads. You just can’t make them to find advance. What are usually do is take half a portion of leftover like fish or chicken and then make a quick salad while I’m having my morning coffee. When I get to work the stuff is usually fine in my bag for for five hours. Then I chop up the chicken or fish and put it on top of the salad. I keep a bottle of salad dressing in our workroom fridge so that I can put it on at the last minute without making my salad soggy.

Have any of you tried the packet soups from Lipton? They seem to be pretty convenient. I just bought a few of them and put them in my work drawer along with a tuna and crackers packet for that day some day where I might forget my lunch.

[SimpleLifer]

Congrats on eating healthier and saving a ton of dough!

2 months ago I decided to cut dining out, and realized that I've only spent $15 on eating out last month, and that was due to eating out with coworkers for "team lunches".  I'm gonna cut that by bringing my lunch and eating with them, but having what I bring from home.

I do have one question for those of you who have been using thermoses for a while.  How do you keep them from getting stinky?  After 1 school year of my kids taking hot lunches in thermoses, they reeked.  It seems like the plastic lid starts to smell funky, but the stainless steel container also stinks.  I usually ran the thermoses through the dishwasher, which seems to get things cleaner than I can by hand washing, but I also tried soaking the lids in several different types of "odor-absorbing" things like baking soda water.  Nothing has cut that smell. :-(

This year I've had to get more creative with lunches and send things that taste great without being hot. 

This is the type of thermos I am referring to: https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-2330TRI6-Vacuum-Insulated-Food/dp/B0008GNJEU/ref=sr_1_18?keywords=thermos+food+container&qid=1567280377&s=home-garden&sr=1-18

[Slow road to freedom]

Right, work tomorrow.
- Salad ready? Check.
- Soup made? Check.

Zero spend day number one, here we come...

Three soups made (veggie), so good through to Wednesday. Travelling Thursday / Friday so will be a challenge, but I'm on it. Wish me luck ;-)

[FIRE Artist]

Congrats on eating healthier and saving a ton of dough!

2 months ago I decided to cut dining out, and realized that I've only spent $15 on eating out last month, and that was due to eating out with coworkers for "team lunches".  I'm gonna cut that by bringing my lunch and eating with them, but having what I bring from home.

I do have one question for those of you who have been using thermoses for a while.  How do you keep them from getting stinky?  After 1 school year of my kids taking hot lunches in thermoses, they reeked.  It seems like the plastic lid starts to smell funky, but the stainless steel container also stinks.  I usually ran the thermoses through the dishwasher, which seems to get things cleaner than I can by hand washing, but I also tried soaking the lids in several different types of "odor-absorbing" things like baking soda water.  Nothing has cut that smell. :-(

This year I've had to get more creative with lunches and send things that taste great without being hot. 

This is the type of thermos I am referring to: https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-2330TRI6-Vacuum-Insulated-Food/dp/B0008GNJEU/ref=sr_1_18?keywords=thermos+food+container&qid=1567280377&s=home-garden&sr=1-18

I haven’t used that kind of thermos and have not noticed a smell, but a couple of things, I do not use the lid of my soup thermos to eat from, I eat directly from the stainless steel container. The plastic part that screws into the container, I remove the gasket for washing so that it gets clean and no food is trapped beneath. Could the gasket be the source of your smell?

For my tea thermos, I rinse it daily with hot water and dish soap, and give it a good clean on the weekend with a bottle brush and I soak it overnight with a tab of denture cleaner to combat the stains that black tea leaves behind. Maybe that would help you?

This is the kind of thermos I use. https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Stainless-Ounce-Folding-Spoon/dp/B01DZQT01U/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1GKCNYYG0UMFO&keywords=soup+thermos&qid=1567526163&s=home-garden&sprefix=Soup+thermos%2Caps%2C196&sr=1-4

[FIRE Artist]

Right, work tomorrow.
- Salad ready? Check.
- Soup made? Check.

Zero spend day number one, here we come...

Three soups made (veggie), so good through to Wednesday. Travelling Thursday / Friday so will be a challenge, but I'm on it. Wish me luck ;-)

This is great. I brought my lunch and tea today so am back on track. Today I brought a sandwich because I have cold cuts to eat up.

I have a batch of chilli and a batch of pea soup ready to go in the freezer. Tonight I put on a batch of fancy pants-from-the-farmers-market dried soup. It is basically a bunch of pulses and rice with Indian tandoori spices.  Hope it is good.

[Slow road to freedom]

Right, work tomorrow.
- Salad ready? Check.
- Soup made? Check.

Zero spend day number one, here we come...

Three soups made (veggie), so good through to Wednesday. Travelling Thursday / Friday so will be a challenge, but I'm on it. Wish me luck ;-)

Two days in, and I'm holding strong. Slight bummer tomorrow - out of the office. Have frozen soup that was prepared, can use another time. Essentially I will be buying food, but it will be reimbursed as business expense. That counts, right??

[FIRE Artist]

Right, work tomorrow.
- Salad ready? Check.
- Soup made? Check.

Zero spend day number one, here we come...

Three soups made (veggie), so good through to Wednesday. Travelling Thursday / Friday so will be a challenge, but I'm on it. Wish me luck ;-)

Two days in, and I'm holding strong. Slight bummer tomorrow - out of the office. Have frozen soup that was prepared, can use another time. Essentially I will be buying food, but it will be reimbursed as business expense. That counts, right??

Of course that counts, as long as you are not spending your own money. I take company supplied food when provided as well,

[FIRE Artist]

Similar to last year, I am pre planning to have to purchase two lunches for not yet planned team events.  One will be for some kind of team holiday lunch, and I am throwing in another for either a team building or leaving party type of thing.

My intention is to not have any unplanned spending due to failure to organize my lunch and beverage needs during the work week, and will not be so maniacal as to give myself a bad reputation for non participation at the few team lunches that we actually do.

The people I regularly socialize with at work for coffee chats already know about my bringing from home strategy and why, so there is no awkwardness there. In fact, most people are impressed and encouraging about it.  I work in the public sector and am on year 4 of salary freezes, so that also plays a factor in the tone of the workplace when it comes to frugality - I would say most people bring their lunch at least 60% of the time.

[KBCB]

For me, the trick has been variety. I have chili, mulligatawny, broccoli cheddar, Thai coconut chicken, Russian vegetable, lasagna soup, and Acadian pea soup right now in my freezer.   I can eat a different lunch every day with no planning necessary.  I replenish one soup recipe every second Sunday to keep the stock levels up without burdening myself with another big soup cook off like when I started.

Can you elaborate on heating. Do you heat your soup in the morning and then it's still hot or warm for lunch?

[imadandylion]

Speaking of thermos/heating up food, one of my coworkers keeps a very tiny crock pot at work and plugs it in some time during the late morning before lunch. It's a regular thing. Not a bad idea.

[Zamboni]

Ooooh, I'm in for this challenge! Lots of great successes here, @FIRE Artist.

I also happen to have one of those little crock pots, and I just acquired a thermos. I don't think I've had a thermos like this since elementary school, but I am perfectly happy eating soup for lunch daily.

[Much Fishing to Do]

Thats awesome.  I was never very good at staying away from the food/coffee places on a workday (though thinking back I think I used them more as an escape from the worksite...I could have obviously just gone for a walk instead...duh...)

Luckily I've been able to work from home for the last 12 years or I'd probably weigh a thousand pounds.

[FIRE Artist]

For me, the trick has been variety. I have chili, mulligatawny, broccoli cheddar, Thai coconut chicken, Russian vegetable, lasagna soup, and Acadian pea soup right now in my freezer.   I can eat a different lunch every day with no planning necessary.  I replenish one soup recipe every second Sunday to keep the stock levels up without burdening myself with another big soup cook off like when I started.

Can you elaborate on heating. Do you heat your soup in the morning and then it's still hot or warm for lunch?

Yes, I heat it to boiling hot and put it in a soup thermos. It stays hot until lunch. I work in an Office so the thermos isn’t taxed with sub zero outside temperatures. 

I work 7-3, usually I am packing my lunch at 6:15 and eat at 11 am. Soup is always hot, sometimes I have to let it cool down a bit. I believe the quality of the thermos matters.

[KBCB]

That's awesome. Thanks for the heating info.

When eating soft food so frequently do you do anything to satisfy the want for a crunch?

[FIRE Artist]

That's awesome. Thanks for the heating info.

When eating soft food so frequently do you do anything to satisfy the want for a crunch?

I usually take a handful of cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers and some nuts for snacks.

It is kind of a weird question though, most of my meal entrees are soft foods when I think of it, what is crunchy but fried foods? 

[Linea_Norway]

That's awesome. Thanks for the heating info.

When eating soft food so frequently do you do anything to satisfy the want for a crunch?

I usually take a handful of cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers and some nuts for snacks.

It is kind of a weird question though, most of my meal entrees are soft foods when I think of it, what is crunchy but fried foods?

Nuts are crunchy. But otherwise a cracker, which does need a topping. Or a muesli bar.

[catprog]

For me I make a cheese sandwich with bread from the bread machine.

Work also pays for snacks(Which I am trying to cut down on for health reasons) and a monthly lunch.

(Some times I have to buy food due to forgetting the bread machine)

[Hula Hoop]

I've been doing the no spend at work thing for several years now although I do spend around Euro 1 a day on a coffee in the AM.  I can live with that though.  I have both a fridge and microwave at work which helps a lot.

I have quite a high metabolism so I find healthy-ish snacks are key.  I have nuts (currently almonds) and crackers in my desk and yoghurt in the fridge.  I usually bring something else as well to crunch on at morning coffee time - either some cookies, crackers and cheese or maybe a carrot or other veg.  This morning it was leftover homemade hummus and a carrot plus some almonds.  For lunch I made some leftover basmati rice into a 'Russian salad' before I left for work in the morning ie. added mayo, some canned tuna, some leftover cooked peas and a chopped spring onion (canned corn and boiled eggs also work well in a Russian salad if you have them on hand).  Sometimes I bring leftover dinner from the night before and sometimes just a salad with whatever we have in the fridge (olives, tuna, ham, mozzarella balls, boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes are some favorites).  I keep oil, vinegar and salt for my salads at work.  I also have hot sauce to add to leftovers.

One thing that has helped me is to still take a break from work during lunch time.  I think, if possible, it's important to get out and avoid eating "al desko".  I often meet a friend to eat lunch under a tree at a nearby park.  She buys her lunch but often gets takeout so that we can eat together.  Otherwise, I just sit under a tree by myself and peruse the news on my phone.

[expatartist]

Great initiative! While I don't have enough workable freezer space for anything like this, I typically bring my lunch during workdays and make coffee at work since all options around here are expensive. Great idea for the thermos, I may invest in a secondhand Stanley soon.

[Linea_Norway]

My job provides a fruit bowl and I like to eat the bananas from it, if they are properly yellow and not green or brown. Besides that I also have a pack of oatmeal biscuits in my desk that are not tempting enough to start to eat if I'm not hungry. But unfortunately they taste better than you would expect, so I often eat 1 or 2 too many.

[KBCB]

That's awesome. Thanks for the heating info.

When eating soft food so frequently do you do anything to satisfy the want for a crunch?

I usually take a handful of cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers and some nuts for snacks.

It is kind of a weird question though, most of my meal entrees are soft foods when I think of it, what is crunchy but fried foods?

I agree this could come off as a weird question. I usually don't like super soft foods. If I don't have to chew it is almost like I didn't eat and am still hungry. So I might not have meant crunchy.. not sure what word I would use..? But i agree fresh veggies and nuts would work!

[KBCB]

My job provides a fruit bowl and I like to eat the bananas from it, if they are properly yellow and not green or brown. Besides that I also have a pack of oatmeal biscuits in my desk that are not tempting enough to start to eat if I'm not hungry. But unfortunately they taste better than you would expect, so I often eat 1 or 2 too many.

I am so picky about my bananas... If i could have the perfect banana everyday oh my.. how wonderful!

[FIRE Artist]

That's awesome. Thanks for the heating info.

When eating soft food so frequently do you do anything to satisfy the want for a crunch?

I usually take a handful of cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers and some nuts for snacks.

It is kind of a weird question though, most of my meal entrees are soft foods when I think of it, what is crunchy but fried foods?

I agree this could come off as a weird question. I usually don't like super soft foods. If I don't have to chew it is almost like I didn't eat and am still hungry. So I might not have meant crunchy.. not sure what word I would use..? But i agree fresh veggies and nuts would work!

Pretty much but for one pureed soup recipe, all of my soups and stews have meat which require chewing.  I think it is all in what recipes you use and how you prepare it.  My pea soup has hearty cubes of ham for example.  I can't drink my soups or my chili.