Kitchen Hack: Weeknight Meals
My freezer has a new addition on a regular basis: ready-made soup. How did this new addition come to be? It all started with a few visits to Whole Foods and a place called Berkeley Bowl. Both of these stores have a wealth of ready-made foods that are delicious and less expensive than a restaurant. They also have a lot of pretty produce that's good for photos. Plus, I believe that their fruits and vegetables, particularly their lettuce, lasts longer than the items I get in typical grocery stores. Anyway, back to the hack.Both Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl have soup buffets that feature 4-6 different kinds of store-made soups. When I visit, I fill my cups with whatever looks good, and then I take them home and freeze them. I've also found freezable ready-made soups in the prepared food refrigerator. Many of these soups contain less than 200 mg of sodium per serving, and in the prepared soup world this is an epic figure.At any rate, soup can go from freezer to microwave to table in about 5 minutes. A stock of soup in the freezer ensures that you can have dinner on the table after a late class or meeting or wild day. Pair with a salad and whole grain crackers or bread and you're all set for the night.Have I mentioned that soup freezes really well?If you'd rather make your own than go for the prepared stuff, then be sure to check out the Food and Health Recipe Database's soup collection. Make a big batch of any of these chef-tested recipes and freeze the leftovers in single serving portions or zip-top bags.Here are a few favorites from the database, which has been over 20 years in the making!
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