It annoys me to spend $2.50 on a can of soup.  Home made soup is cheap, plentiful, full of wholesome ingredients, easy to make, and did I mention cheap?

In order to get a good soup, you have to start with a good broth.  It is rare that any of us have the time or inclination to make a large vat of broth "just in case" so this means you need to find a brand you like and keep it as a pantry staple.  It should be low sodium, because paying for salt water is just silly.  You should be willing to drink a cup of it, because no amount of doctoring will mask a bad broth.

Here's an example of an easy soup that you can make with stuff you probably already have

Tomato Spinach Soup

2 tbs olive oil
1 shallot, minced, 1/4 cup onion in a pinch
2 garlic cloves, minced
14 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained
28 oz canned crushed tomatoes, I have used fire roasted for a different taste
2 cups vegetable broth
5 oz baby spinach, go ahead and use frozen, but use the whole box - don't bother thawing.
 
Sauté shallot and garlic in olive oil until soft.
Add tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil.
Gather spinach in a tight pile on a cutting board and chop.
Add spinach to soup in batches and cook until wilted.
If you're using frozen spinach, just toss it in and let it go.  It will take longer to cook, but so be it.
Reduce heat to medium low and cook 15 minutes to allow it to reduce some.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Or hit it with some soy sauce for some umami (try it!)

Could anything be easier than this?  It makes about 6 cups.  Discount the fact that you probably already have oil, shallot/onion and garlic at home.

The price tags in my pantry say:

Canned diced tomatoes $0.75
Canned Crushed tomatoes $1.67
Broth - $1.99 but that's 4 cups so let's say $1.
Frozen Spinach $0.99

That's $4.41  - the same amount of canned soup (and not even fancy gourmet canned soup) would run about $7.50 and has things in it that I'm not sure I want.  Plus I get to control the amount of salt and vegetables.  Have you ever separated soup to see how much meat/vegetable you really get?  What?  You aren't as obsessive as I am?  Trust me, you would not be impressed.

So, start experimenting with soup.  You can freeze it in little tubs and take it to work.  Save money, eat better.

It is cold and I'm in the mood for tomato soup!   Not that orange gloopy stuff from the can, either.  Hate that stuff, it's too sweet (not to mention orange and gloopy).  But here in Ann Arbor we've broken a few record low temperatures, and the garden tomatoes are but a fond memory.

Next best option?  Pantry soup!  It's so easy.  What I happen to have on hand is a can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes.  I had meant to buy diced, but picked up the wrong thing, so these have been just sitting around waiting for a chance to be used.  In the fridge is some chicken broth, half and onion, and some carrots and celery. 

Any soup worth eating starts with sweating the onion, celery, and carrot.  This is what gives the soup depth of flavor.  I used one carrot and half a stalk of celery.   A few twists of the pizza spice in it's own grinder bottle that I had to have (had it not been on sale it would have stayed on the shelf), and let it go for a bit.

Next in, the whole can of tomatoes, and about 3/4 of the can of broth (to rinse out the can).

Let it simmer away for 15 minutes, (I was making sandwiches) hit it with the stick blender, and soup is ON!  And tasty...

I like to make soup.  It's easy, comforting, and  a great way to use up things that might otherwise go to waste. 

Lunch today I was what I call Scrap Soup. 

This is what I had in the fridge:

Half of a cabbage head
3 little zucchini
Half a bag of spinach
2 carrots
Half an onion (although, to be fair, I always have an onion going)
A few stalks of celery
Some leftover frozen corn

Joining us from the pantry were:

A quart of tomatoes from a friend with a great garden
Some organic vegetable broth - I do not use bouillon, it's nothing but salt and chemicals
A can of kidney beans
Salt, pepper, oregano, basil

I chopped the onion first and let it sweat in some olive oil, then added the cabbage, carrots, zucchini, and the spices.
After a few minutes I added the spinach, and the pot was FULL so I added the tomatoes and popped on the lid for a few minutes until everything cooked down.
Once there was more room, I added the beans, and enough broth to make it soup, brought it to a boil, then dropped it to a simmer, slapped on the lid, and went to the bank.

An hour and a bit of seasoning correction later, and we had an amazingly healthy soup for lunch.  The weather here has taken a turn for chillier, so soup is good right now, and a bowl full of vegetables is good any time.

I added about $3 to what I already had, and made about a gallon of soup.  No way

Make some soup!  It's easy, it's thrifty, and it's good for you