The Versatility of Cream Soups

Regardless of whatever kind of cream soup you like, cream of chicken, mushroom, or celery, these condensed soups can be very versatile and useful in a pinch. When it comes to food storage you want to conserve space and you can only do that with multi-use products.

What is Multi-use?

You may say it wears many hats or might call it versatile like say canned tomatoes or chicken broth. It is a product that has many uses, thus eliminating the need for too many items in a limited amount of space. Deciding on dry food storage vs canned food will also be determined in your food storage area. Keeping everything cool and dry and away from direct sunlight is going to give your food the longest shelf life.

Just the Basics

Last week we learned about salt and its importance, benefits, uses, and storage. This week we will be purchasing a very versatile product, cream soups. I myself am lactose intolerant and can’t handle the dairy in those soups without a pill. I will be purchasing Lactaid pills to have in my arsenal if things get to the point where I have to eat dairy as a matter of survival. But for most of you, this won’t be a problem.

Condensed cream soups come in a variety of flavors, sodium levels, low-fat, and sizes. A family of four may want to purchase the family size cans and a single person or couple might be more economical to go with the regular size. You can find them in your standard Campbells cans or you can save some money and get them in the store brand. You will be purchasing 5 cans this week, and that will be based on the food storage plan for two people, purchase more if you have larger families.

The most common flavors are Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom, and Cream of Celery. I have found a few dairy-free options but will have to do a taste test on them and see if purchasing them in bulk if I can get a better price. For now, I will store coconut milk, which generally runs around $1 a can so I will still be within my budget if I get 5.

The Versatility of Cream Soups

Cream soups can be used as a base for making thicker heartier soups, stews, sauces, skillet, and casserole dishes. The sky is the limit when it comes to these workhorse products. The key is to know what your family likes, and what ingredients you might want to store in connection with these soups.

For all the dishes you’ll be making, storing a variety of canned, frozen, dehydrated, or freeze-dried veggies might be a good idea. Along with that, you may want to think about pasta or rice, other grains, and beans. Even canned, frozen, or freeze-dried proteins or meats should be considered.

For those that can’t have dairy or wish to be a bit more flexible, I recommend canned coconut milk. You can turn that into what you need by adding whatever flavors you need. For example for the cream of mushroom, you can add mushroom seasoning and a can of sliced mushrooms. For cream of chicken, you can add chicken flavor bullion and freeze-dried chicken or canned chicken pieces. And for the cream of celery, you can add celery seed or celery salt to achieve the taste you need. If that seems like too much work I would just keep an assortment of the different condensed soups.

What Dishes Can I Make?

The real question is what can’t you make? Sure you could make the base from scratch but that eliminates the whole point of using an already made and shelf-stable base. You don’t have to think about all the other things you will need to store to make said base. You reduce the time spent prepping and cooking. And in a survival or emergency situation, you don’t have time to worry about where this or that is for your family’s one-pot meal.

The convenience of these products removes a step in cooking and thus reducing your stress load. I will be giving you links to recipes for using these condensed cream soups and in future posts will show you how to adapt them to a plant-based diet. But for now, I would look for recipes that have the fewest ingredients and of course ones your family will eat. Be sure to look at ways you can store the rest of the items on the list. Think versatility when you are shopping for your food storage or pantry.

The first place I would look would be Campbell’s page to look for recipes using the condensed cream soups. Just search by name: Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom, or Cream of Celery to see what recipes use them. Though It might take longer to find recipes that way if you are looking for specific dishes you know your family will eat then this would be a great place to start.

Campbells Recipe Links

Green Bean Casserole

15 min Chicken & Rice Dinner

Chicken & Stuffing Skillet

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Shepards Pie

Swedish Meatballs

Easy One-Pot Beef Stroganoff

Tater Topped Casserole

Mushroom Rissotto

Easy One-Pot Tuna Noodle Casserole

Recipe Links

29 Delicious Meals You Can Make with a Can of Soup

35 Recipes that Start with Cream of Mushroom Soup

45 Recipes that Start with Cream of Chicken Soup

51 Campbell Cream of Celery Recipes

Sandra

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

Being plant-based and having ready-made canned condensed cream of mushroom soup on hand can be a bit more challenging. So having a few pantry staples on hand at all times helps to make it easier when a recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2 cup Dry Oat Milk
• 1.5 cup Corn Starch
• 6 tbsp Dried Minced Onion
• 5 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1/4 cup Mushroom Seasoning
• 6 oz Button Mushrooms (opt) Sliced and Sauteed
• 1 1/4 cup Cool tap Water
• 1 can Coconut Milk

Method

 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together and store in a clean dry airtight jar.
   
2. Thinly slice mushrooms and sautee in a large pan with a little butter or oil over medium heat. Stirring constantly till perfectly tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
   
3. To make the condensed soup, stir a 1/3c dry mix into the water and heat slowly over medium heat until the soup thickens to desired consistency.
   
4. Stir in sauteed mushrooms. This can now be used however you would use a normal can of cream of mushroom condensed can of soup.
   
5. To make this into soup simply add a can of coconut milk and heat till hot enough for your liking.
   
6. To make this a tad fancier you can add a swirl of vegan sour cream, fresh chopped parsley, and some crispy fried garlic. Serve with some warm bread and plant butter and a side salad to make the meal complete.

Notes

This batch of dry base mix is the equivalent of 12 cans of condensed cream soup.

You can omit the mushroom seasoning if you want this to just be a blank cream base for making cream of chicken, cream of celery, cream of mushroom, or any cream soup or sauce you like. You can doctor this up to fit your preference.  

To make Cream of Chicken: Mix 1/3c dry base mix with 1 1/4c Chicken broth and 1/2c diced chicken pieces

To make Cream of Mushroom: Mix 1/3c dry base mix with 1 1/4c Mushroom broth (1 Tbsp mushroom seasoning dissolved in water) and 1/2c sliced sauteed mushrooms.

To make Cream of Celery: Mix 1/3c dry base mix with 1 1/4c Vegetable broth and 1/2c cooked celery.

To make Cream of Asparagus: Mix 1/3c dry base mix with 1 1/4c Vegetable broth and 1c cooked asparagus.