What do you think of 6 can soup recipes?

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There was a soup my mom made and then I made with many cans of stuff. It was canned beans, a few kinds, canned tomatoes......here it is:
Italian Bean Soup
Steam or saute 1 chopped onion in water or oil.
24 oz can of diced tomatoes
24 oz can of red kidney beans
16 oz can of garbanzo beans (chick peas)
12 oz can of white beans
1 and 1/2 t dried basil
1/2 t garlic powder
S&P to taste
Slop it all into a kettle and cook 30 minutes, add 2-3 cup s sliced zucchini, then cook another 15 minutes and serve

Try to get no salt varieties of canned foods, or at least low salt. Then salt to your taste when serving. This is a delicious soup and I'm pretty certain I didn't cook it as long as it says. It just needs to be hot, meld the flavors, and the zucchini needs to start to be soft.
 
Healthy, compared to what? :unsure:

I use canned goods, frozen vegetables, packets, boxes and dried spices in many of my meals with satisfactory results.

The other day I made a quick inexpensive soup with a can of Campbell’s loaded potato soup from the $tore, frozen mixed vegetables and GOYA powdered bouillon.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” - Theodore Roosevelt
 
We make black bean chili with canned black beans and tomatoes, plus fresh colored bell peppers, onions and garlic. We also make a baked chicken dish that uses a can of cream of mushroom soup.

I think they both are pretty healthy other than maybe being a little high in salt, but it's not like we have them every week, or even every month for that matter.
 
How about something like Hobo Soup? We make that at group campouts, upon occasion. Someone browns a bunch of ground beef with onions, garlic, salt & pepper and then everyone brings a can of veggies (NON-creamed type) to dump in the pot. One can per person. Check for seasonings & serve! it is fun and easy.
 
Is it healthy? I guess it depends on how healthy the ingredients in the cans are and how healthy the other ingredients are.
 
Is it healthy? I guess it depends on how healthy the ingredients in the cans are and how healthy the other ingredients are.
This. I've used no salt added canned items to make soups, that way I can control the sodium added. I also make sure they are low/no sugar added. You can use all sorts of things together with lots of different meats.

So like, one of my favorites is I'll brown breakfast sausage and then add a can of butter beans (with the liquid), a can of no salt added dark red kidney beans (drained), a can of no salt added green beans (with liquid), and a can of corn (with liquid). A little onion powder, black pepper, sometimes celery seed or diced celery (often from frozen), stuff is really good.

Another I do is I brown hamburger with onion and garlic, and a little salt. Then I add a can of no salt added diced tomatoes, a can of no salt added green beans, a can of no salt added kidney beans, and some frozen peas and carrots. I add the liquid from all the ingredients and it comes out pretty good.

Items I never use include cream of corn, canned peas, canned spinach, canned carrots, canned potatoes, and canned broccoli because I don't like any of those. If there is a canned something you don't like chances are you won't like whatever it's put in. Although there are exceptions. For instance if the canned carrots are blended with jarred fire-roasted peppers and some canned onions until it is super smooth you can cook it with some cream and that is pretty good. Same with canned squash and yams/sweet potatoes.

Canned pearl onions are really good for soups. I use canned water chestnuts and bamboo shoots with their liquid sometimes in like, brothy chicken or vegetable soups and they are really good.

I've moved away from using canned soups and stews for the most part because of our various dietary restrictions but I used to do stuff like mix a can of cream of mushroom with a can of beefy mushroom and some canned or frozen veggies, water, milk. Or cream of celery, cream of onion, canned chicken or diced rotisserie chicken, milk, and some veggies, then serve it over rice.
 
6 cans makes a fair amount of servings. In terms of the actual healthiness of it, that depends... It really depends on the ingredients thoguh
 
Not a fan of "dump" recipes (dump in cans of xyz) in general. There are several reasons:
  • Cost - canned food is generally more expensive than the base ingredients
  • Salt - lots of salt in canned foods as a rule and the low salt varieties are more costly
  • That cafeteria flavor - there is (typically) an underlying flavor of processed food that reminds of school lunches
All that said, I've used canned soups as bases for other dishes from time to time as a short cut and will likely continue..

Sad side note: this past Thanksgiving we had dinner at a friends house - there were several folks attending and several duplicate dishes. I was asked to bring typical green bean casserole and I made it from scratch except for the canned fried onions which I purchased.

Another guest brought the same but made from canned soup and there was a taste-off. A number of comments about the scratch version went like this: "it taste's wrong; something's not right but I prefer it to the other (canned soup version). The basic difference was that the ingredients were fresher and it wasn't overly salty.
 
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@Janet H that is sad. Sad that they didn't notice the fresher ingredients and that what they appreciated was related to more salt. It sure seems like most processed food is 'the saltier the better'. Not everyone though.
 
@Janet H that is sad. Sad that they didn't notice the fresher ingredients and that what they appreciated was related to more salt. It sure seems like most processed food is 'the saltier the better'. Not everyone though.
Campbell's green bean casserole has become a comfort food. I make other green bean casseroles in the summer for cookouts and no complaints.
 
Guess it's all in how you were brought up. Older generations were raised on canned goods. Hopefully now younger generations are more health conscious (aside from fast foods on the run).
 
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