I am a college student and avid soup eater. I live in an apartment so I have a kitchen available to me and I want to make a bunch of soup and freeze it. I usually buy Campbell's Chunky soup but would like to save some money.
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Hello!
We like Taco Soup and it freezes well!
1 LB. cooked lean ground beef
1 can corn
1 can Ranch Style beans
1 can pinto or kidney beans
1 can Ro-tel
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch DRY salad dressing mix
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 small onion, chopped ( optional)
3 or more cans water
Pour ingredients into a large pot or crockpot and heat thoriughly. Top with shredded cheese if desired and serve with crackers, Fritos, or tortilla chips.
You must have a very good sense of smell Mara! Its getting cooler her in Australia - just coming into winter - and I have a pot of soup stock bubbling away at the moment. First a hint - any recipe that calls for a can or a jar of something will be more expensive - you are paying for someone else to prepare it for you! Soup from scratch is so easy and only takes a little while longer. My favourite soup is part of my 'rubber chicken' recipes.
I get roast(?baked) chickens from the supermarket near closing time - often less than half price - 3-6 at a time depending on how cheap they are. As soon as I get home I strip all the meat from the bones/skin, have a chicken dinner and freeze the rest in containers for future meals, or you could return some to your soup if you like it meaty. I then put the bones, skin and stuffing into the slow cooker, cover with water and leave to simmer overnight. (If you don't have a slow cooker any large pan will do - simmer for 3 or 4 hours).In the morning I strain the bones, etc. out and I'm left with a very tasty chicken stock to use as my soup base. I add to the pot potatoes, turnip/swede/parsnip, (whichever you can get), carrots - I like lots of carrots - celery, onions, leek, sweet corn, etc. in any amount and combination depending on your taste - any veg you like will do, have a look and see what veg is in the canned variety you eat now. I also add red lentils, about 1 cup to 4 cups of stock - add more if you like a thiker soup. These are a good source of protein and need no pre-soaking. They disintegrate in cooking leaving a lovely thick soup. Simmer until all the veg is cooked. I don't add any more seasoning as the barbecued chickens are already seasoned and the stuffing has herbs. I then freeze what I don't eat in individual containers.
Not to let anything go to waste I feed the strained bones and skin to the dogs - after long slow cooking they are soft and crumbly and there is no danger of the dogs choking - this may not be the case if it is just cooked on the stove top.
If you want to make clam chowder or potato soup, use frozen cubed hash browns. It freezes well as the potatoes have been prepared to be frozen to start with. The quickest way to make clam chowder is to make a batch of potato soup and add a can or two of clams from the grocery store.
Potato Soup "Large batch"
I pkg frozen chunk hash browns
2 stalks of celery (stalks are the single stem of a pascal of celery) diced
Cook over med. high heat until celery and onion are done. Add salt, pepper and a little celery seed. Add enough milk to color the potato water. Thinking with instant potatoes if you like a thicker soup or making clam chowder.
Clam Chowder. Just add clams to above potato soup recipe
Cool, put into quart sized freezer bags, make sure excess air is removed and bag is properly sealed. Lay on side in freezer, you will have much more room for more soups.
Turnips, carrots, swedes, pearl barley, beans, peas, split peas plus any hardish vegs are available
Dice vegetables into chunks about 2cm square. Soak hard beans etc over night
Get bacon bones, smoked hock, beef bones from a butcher. I use about a KG.
Cover bones with water add pinch of salt if plain bones used. Bring to boil and simmer until meat falls off bones.
Here is an inexpensive soup recipe:
2-3 cups dried black beans
Half cup frozen corn
1 jar salsa
Half cup rice(optional)
5-6 cups water
Chili powder to taste
Cook all day in crock pot
If you are in a hurry, or don't have soup frozen ahead of time, a quick and easy homemade soup is to fill a pot with water, add bouillon (there are a wide variety of flavors...beef, chicken, fish, vegetable, etc.), keep a bag of frozen mixed vegetables or your favorite frozen veggies in the freezer and add desired amount to soup. Add desired spices, chopped onion, etc. Something I have found and have come to love in a pinch is celery flakes. They have saved me many times on soups and macaroni or potato salads when I ran out of celery. It gives a great flavor! You can always add pre-cooked rice, elbow macaroni, leftover spaghetti noodles, etc. for substance.
Something else I forgot to add to my other post...
Keep Top Ramen on hand. It is cheapest if you buy it in bulk. You can get a case for about $5. Top Ramen can be more than just what is in the package.
Many times we add chopped ham, chicken, mixed vegetables, stewed tomatoes, etc. There are also a few cold salad recipes using Top Ramen noodles in them that are very good.
Thanks for all the great info!
Quick and Easy Soup
2 cans of veg-all
2 large cans of the large cut veg-all
1 large can of tomato paste/sauce or crushed tomatoes
1 to 1 1/2 lb.of browned, drained hamburger meat
add a little water as desired
salt/pepper for your taste
simmer all ingredients together until your tastebuds says its ready. Doesn't take very long for all t he ingrediates to merge.
For wedding gifts, I buy a soup stock pot for the new bride to cook with and put the cans of veggies/tomato paste/sauce with instructions to add the hamburger. Everyone loves the soup and the idea.
Mullagatawny Soup (You can find a recipe on-line, I don't have access to mine at the moment.) Freezes awesome!
I double and triple the recipe and freeze it in portions appropriate for my family or single serve for my lunch at work.
It starts with a rue of butter, cubed carrots, cubed celery and chopped onion. Flour is then added, then chicken stock. Then wild rice, cooked chicken and green apple. Don't forget the most important spice - curry! This is all boiled for a while and then at the very end, half & half is added.
It's awesome! Don't be fooled by the curry or if you think you don't like curry - my husband even loved it!! It's a very common soup with an uncommon name, so I'm sure you'll find recipes for it. Good luck!
Here's a freezing tip: Buy a case or two of pint sized mason jars and freeze your soup in those. The jars are inexpensive, a perfect single serving size, and made of glass so also microwave well for quick thawing. Or, if you decide you want to move away from freezing in the future, you can use them to can your soups (it's easier than you think), and/or pickling in the summer! You can't go wrong w/ mason jars ... less expensive, more convenient, more sustainable, and more durable than tupperware.
Seth:
I use recipezaar.com for most of my recipes. Just search using 'soup', and a whole list of them will appear. I always sort them by 'rating', that way I can choose recipes that I know have been tried (and liked!) They also have a lot of crock pot recipes. Good luck with cooking AND school!
Jo
I love soup. Thanks for all the good recipes. Can you freeze potatoes in the soup?
I don't recommend freezing potatoes in soup they get mushy.Learned first hand with some bean soup I made.As for freezing in jars be careful because the glass can expand and bust make really sure not to fill it all the way full I'd leave about an inch or two space at the top to be honest I'd really be afraid of the glass and I'd leave space no matter what I froze it in.Another thing is to let it cool in the fridge before you freeze it other wise ice crystals can form and cause freezer burn.
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