Chowdah! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you, especially those of you in the jury!

CHOWDAH!

Ramen with chopped chicken (cook it before you add it!), corn, peas, carrots (baby, chopped), green onions.

Campbell's Alphabet Soup with a PB&J.

Campbell's Chicken Noodle with a tuna fish sandwich.

Vons Tomato Bisque soup with a chunk of soft bread.

*Singing* These are a few of my faaaavorite thiiiings!

@Oranges w/ Cheese: What else was in your stock? if it was JUST chicken and no seasoning, unlikely to be good. I use parsley, rosemary, bay leaves, garlic, onion, carrot, and sometimes celery the whole way through.

I eat ramen, canned soup, and homemade soup, and I am not above making a casserole with cream soup. Why limit yourself?

Progresso soups are a meal. Manhattan clam chowder is almost more than I can eat and the potatoes and dairy fat keeps me full. The minestrone is pretty hearty with veggies and noodles.

Soup goes on sale all the time and there's always coupons.

@HogwartsAlum:

Way back when I was a starving menial paid employee I started "share your lunch" days at work and would bring a pot of left over soup or whatever. Great way to shart your left overs and gain a bit of diversity to your diet.

100% of your daily allowance of SALT per every spoonful.

Oh what the hades, why not. A can a day keeps the DR busy.

I just love Campbell's Split Pea. My Pantry is loaded with cans for late night snacks and rainy days when I don't feel like doing much in the kitchen.

Oh yes, home made soup. Let is simmer for a couple days. YUM.

Your immune system can probably kill every microbe in a room now.

If salt is a concern, just don't use the entire packet of powder.

That's a good idea. I might do that...but I'd like to get a little chest freezer first. I thought about doing that but I haven't had any spare money.

Right now, I'm hoping my coworker will shoot me a deer so I can fill up the fridge freezer with that. :) Mmmmm. Venison.

The soups are generally good, but there's no variety. There's vegetarian chili, which is served every day, and a soup which is either great the first time, and tastes 50% less good each time it is eaten, or terrible right out of the gate.

Since I ran out of meal points to eat at places on campus other than the cafeteria during normal hours (Impossible, I have night classes), I probably will start looking into buying prepared meals offcampus in bulk, like Stoffers meals, or at least try to make myself one big thing on Sunday, like a skillet lasagne, and eat it over the course of the rest of the week. Or I'll stop being a baby and eat my slop I get for free with my card.

People, you want to know why we're the fattest and dumbest nation on the planet? Look up the ingredients for a soup at a local stand or the back of a can. Do you really need a full day's worth of fat and sodium for a half cup of soup that won't even fill you up? One local eatery had a tomato bisque that had more fat and calories than a Big Mac. But people think "Soup is so healthy" that they'd abdicate any responsibility for knowing what they're really consuming.

Good recipes are out there, ingredients are cheap, and my family has been healthier (i.e. not getting as many colds) as a result. It shouldn't take a recession/depression for people to get wise.

You'd think Kraft mac-n-cheese sales would go up too, since it's even cheaper than soup for more food volume. Soup just runs runs right through ya... (sorry)

Some good tips! I thought Top Ramen represented all that was good and bad about cheat eats. Wrong!

I bought a couple of each kind of Indomie and was very happy with the quality, and the price, 38 cents each.

Canned soup is a good thing to bring for lunch-pour into a microwaveable bowl & you've got a really cheap meal. but the big problem is the sodium content which is usually out of this world, even for the low-sodium varieties. Making your own takes a bit of forethought, but ensures that you're eating good food that you can identify and pronounce.

@booboolee: I think the electric can opener has to be the stupidest kitchen gadget ever. Unless you have arthritis or something. In which case, carry on.

1. Use clam juice instead of stock (yeah, I just said it, but important enough to repeat).
2. Crisp up some bacon in the pot first and then dice and add it back to the soup at the end.
3. Use cream (not milk)
4. Add the clams at the end so they don't get tough.
5. Musts for ingredients: celery, onion, potato, fresh parsley. Anything else you want to put in is fine (carrots, parsnips, etc), but those 4 are the holy grail.
6. Make a rue to start. It'll be so worth it.

Good luck!

The call is irresistible!

no soup for me! stew it is

@stre: Based on the soup flavor, I'd guess Jeffrey Dahmer.

Campbells: Vegetarian Vegetable, Chicken Noodle, Tomato, Cream of Celery (great with Parmesan Goldfish)

Progresso: Chicken Noodle, Beef Barley, Beef and Baked Potato

Ramen: Nissin Spicy (from the asian grocer), Chicken Mushroom, Top Ramen Cajun

Other: Ms Grass with the chicken fat ball!

Homemade: Beef Stew, Black Bean

I even go out for soup all the time. I just can't get enough. Ever had Shabu Shabu?!? Awwww.... forbidden soup...

Last but not least... BRING BACK GIGGLE NOODLE (crying)

Swanson broth has an excellant chicken soup recipe right on the label. I add Reames brand noodles to it (found in the frozen case) for some FRIGGIN awesome chicken soup. Sometimes we put that on top of mashed potatoes. Carb fest! I usually get an 8qt. dutch oven and fill that puppy up. Then we have leftovers for the next couple of days. It's even better when it has been sitting in the fridge overnight. All the flavors mix together.

@GuJiaXian: actually, if you buy one of those rotisserie chickens from the store, you can use that carcass for stock. It will make a nice dark stock because the bones have been roasted.

Also, Swanson's low sodium stock is fantastic.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: you're not supposed to use meat when you make stock, nothing should be salvaged when its done. next time use a chicken neck and do it on the stove, you want a gentle simmer. also, the bones dissolving? that's GOOD. you want that. if your stock turns to jello when you refrigerate it, you're golden.

Canned soup, with some of them containing over 1000 grams of salt per serving (and/or MSG) is a health hazard.

I agree with those who said make your own. Not that difficult and very cheap. And it tastes way better.

Depends on my mood. I can put it all together in 4/5 mins or take a hour. Then again I cook everything.

Give people a break, cooking is fun. I do not support any local framers nor any local business. I love when local/mom and pop stores go out of business. I pop me a bag of popcorn and sit there why they put the going out of business sign up.

@levenhopper: It would me too. I eat a lot, I can't stop that. Soup isn't as filling (or doesn't seem to be) as other food items.

I think I may start the soup thing though. anyting good with ham hocks?

Is it the Peenman Enterprises Human Waste Chili Maker?

(only the hardest of hardcore Phil Hendrie Show fans will get this one)

Nifty article about saving money by making soup

Add some cheese and you have cheese sauce... and some sausage and you have country gravy.
Brilliant stuff.

@CountryJustice: Darn right! I love this time of year because butternut squash is in season. Mmmmm... Butternut Squash Bisque......

Easy peasy. Did it last night. Here's some tips:

"Better Than Bouillion"- great stock starter; a little pricey ($4), but much cheaper than buying your own stock, and makes flavorful soup pretty quick. Makes about 9.5 qts stock per jar.

Bag frozen vegetables- I bought the local store brand mixed vegetables for $1. (I prefer Ralph's Riviera blend veggies; lots of carrots, broccoli, etc.,.)

Spices- bay leaves, thyme, pepper, lawry's seasoning salt if you feel adventurous. (Don't worry about the bay leaves and thyme... one small bottle of each will last you a year, and is well worth the initial investment.)

Bow tie noodles- You can buy mini, or buy the larger ones.

Rotisserie Chicken- save yourself the time and headache of cooking a whole chicken and buy one of those ready to eat ones from the grocery store or Costco. Breast meat makes a great addition, plus I always found rotisserie chicken breasts a little dry, so they benefit from being added into soup. You can just hand pull pieces and drop it into the boiling soup.

Cornstarch- makes the soup thicker and gives it a richer consistency.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the better than bouillion, and the chicken. Wait five minutes, add the noodles. Wait five minutes, add the frozen vegetables (add them last, so they don't wilt on you) Wait five minutes, add the seasonings to taste (don't worry about being super exact... experiment!). Take a cup of the broth, add a tablespoon of cornstarch, and mix it up to make it thick. Add this to back to the pot; it will thicken the rest.

Season with salt and pepper. Serve with cheddar and garlic biscuits, and you've got a meal for less than a dollar a serving.

If you're in a rush, once the water boils and the bouillion is added, add everything in at once. Let it boil for about ten minutes, and serve.

All my girlfriend's friends come over to our house after clubbing because I can usually whip this out in 20 minutes while they're in the living room chatting. (I cook a lot).

some of which i am enjoying right now, as a matter of fact. mmmm...

I think Consumerist needs to put up a "share your soup recipes" post.

Who buys canned or powdered soup?

I make my own. It takes an hour or two, lasts for days and can be frozen.

For dinners, I bought a bag of frozen chicken breasts, bunch of frozen veggies and a number of assorted flavors of seasoned rice. Put it all in the same pot and you will have good results. Each dinner is different because of the different flavor rice and is fairly healthy. And for about $20 you can make a whole weeks worth of 1-2 person meals.

@Frankieblackjack: Try www.foodnetwork.com

Alton Brown, Rachel Ray and Paula have some amazing basic stuff. Emril and some others get complicated with pricey ingredients.

So... all you "Make it my own"-ers, who's got a good recipie?

Nothing beats simple Campbell's Chicken noodle with Nabisco Wheatsworth Crackers cracked in.

Besides, when it comes to po' folks food, I prefer a casserole topped with some sort of chips.

Of course, it should come as no surprise to anyone that you'll get further making your own food than you would buying it at the store. It's not even that difficult once you learn the tricks and have the right gear - crock pot and bread machine coming to mind immediately. Crock pots are a bit of a PITA to clean, but the slow cooker bags sold in stores handle that problem nicely.

That said, sometimes things are just a little insane, and you're going to go with pre-made products. Nothing wrong with saving a bit of cash.

@trk182: I think us "we make our own soup" folk are relevent in that, even though we say, "we make our own", most of us are using pre-made stocks, many made by Campbell's. So, we're just taking their product and stretching it.

Made sort of homemade chicken noodle soup yesterday, I don't make my own noodles and I use canned broth.
Total cost (broth, chicken, veggies, noodles), my guesstimate is around $10 for 20 or so servings.
Tossed it together during halftime yesterday, total prep time was around 10 minutes, total cook time was less than an hour. (Having a quality knife makes a hell of a difference.)
And, it always tastes better.

Throw in fresh veggies, beans, and either rice, barley, or pasta and you're good to go.

*~*STL*~*

And don't forget to wash and reuse the bags/containers. Throwing them out is a waste of money.

is that Dexter in the picture!?!?!?

I can't help but wonder how cracker sales are doing.

@HogwartsAlum: Yeah, me too, even if I cook it and freeze a bunch, it's still cluttering up my freezer for months and months and months, taking up room that should rightfully be occupied by ice cream novelties.

@emis: Those were meatballs...

@FuryOfFirestorm: prok shoulder makes the best..um...soup?

anyway it's really good.

@trk182:

No kidding. Trust me, we're proud of you. But we've already heard that you can make your own soup, and its cheap..

Oh, and delicious, and it supports local farmers, and you can put whatever you want it.

Yes, we know. Because you tell us every single time someone mentions soup in a post on here.

Thank you. I needed to hear it again.

Now, tell me again.. How easy is it?

@CountryJustice: I've made my own soups before to amazing results... except when it came to clam chowder. When I tried to make my own clam chowder it ended up in the perfect storm of failure.

We keep a sturdy tupperware container in the freezer into which I toss chicken bones, carrot tops and bottoms, celery tops, onion skins, and other vegetable detrius of the sort. When it gets full, I toss all of that plus some garlic and frozen chopped onions and spices in the stock pot and make me some stock.

Sometimes it's a really carroty stock, sometimes it's a really chickeny stock with little veggie matter, but whatever, it's easy stock from stuff I'd otherwise throw away.

(The onion skin gives it lovely color, even tho it doesn't really add flavor. Dried mushrooms are also nice and keep forever so you can have them on hand.)

@tekkierich: Me too -- it's fun, and the cost often works out to less per serving than the canned stuff. When the economy went south, I spent $8 on a cookbook of soups and stews, and that thing has already paid for itself several times over. Instead of shelling out nearly $10 for lunch every day (I am staggered to realize how long I did this), I just bring the soup.

I don't make my own soup because I hate eating the same thing for a week. Since I live alone, it lasts forever and I get sick of it and end up throwing it out. That's just wasting money.

For about 15-20 dollars I can make lunches for the entire week for my wife and I and have them different and unique that no can could match.

@Oranges w/ Cheese:

Well-made stock destroys the meat. The fact that your meat tasted like cardboard means you did it right. Throw it away, and add veggies and chicken (or whatever it was).

@Oranges w/ Cheese:
Hey, you were partway there! The meat *should* end up flavorless, since the whole point is to extract the flavor into the liquid.

I'm not a crockpot user, but my guess is that the cover is the x factor that threw off your stock--it's usually made in an uncovered pot. The crockpot probably causes enough change in the heat/moisture flow to soften the bones more than in conventional stock making.

I generally make stock on a weekend when I can safely use a regular stovetop pot--obviously, if you need this to happen on a workday while you're not home, that isn't going to work.

Anyway, if you're up for trying it again sometime, don't get discouraged! It sounds like you were probably a lot closer to getting it right than you realize. /end kitchen geekery

Everytime there is a post about soup 900 we make it our own soup people jump out of the woodwork...We know already.

Some soups don't even require stock. I make a killer tomato soup by combining a big can of crushed tomatos, a can of rotel, a small can of tomato sauce and about 1c white sauce. The result is a spicy, creamy, soothing tomato soup that goes well with grilled cheese or tuna sandwiches.
It's super cheap, too.
We also made some poor-man's gumbo the other day by combining a Zatarain's gumbo mix with some canned okra, some inexpensive sausage, and we bought an inexpensive amount of fresh shrimp to toss in there, too. Yum yum!

@DjDynasty: 5 gallons only lasts you a week?

Soup is great. You can make it as fancy or as simple as you want.

Spend the money for various spices & herbs, beans, vegies.. etc. vs. Spending $1.32 (though Campbells soup ain't great) per person = $6.60

Somehow, I think I come out ahead.

I've said it a hundred times if I've said it once: For the cost of about 5 cans of Progresso soup, you can make the equivalent of 15-20 cans, and it's fresh, and you know what went into it, and you can support local farmers in the meantime.

It's a win/win/win/win.

Yeah-

About $10 in ingredients can make a really good tasting soup that can make 8 decent servings.

And more exciting than canned soup.

It is not that hard people, I even find it enjoyable.