SOUP tasters were handed out to Nailsea residents by students, keen to demonstrate how to beat the recession by cooking healthy meals on a budget.

The teenagers, who are taking A level home economics, gave up their free time to offer the samples and recipes to customers at a town centre greengrocers.

They analysed the nutrients and costed the recipes for chicken noodle, broccoli and stilton, leek and potato, tomato and basil and carrot and lentil soups, which they made during lessons.

Home Economics teacher Madelein Cornelissen said: “The soups were well received, particularly as the weather was cold and wet.

“Customers enthused over the tasty soup and a number of eager tasters took away the students recipe sheet, which can be downloaded from nailseaschool.com, and some even bought all the ingredients there and then.”

Burchill’s, in Colliers Walk, supply the school with fruit and vegetables for lunches and events such as healthy eating for citizenship days, and a young chef competition.