Seriously, when you make your own, it can reach the status of an art form. Every batch is a little different from any other batch. When you are busy, a consommé can nourish from a cup while you carry on. When you are famished, a hearty soup or stew can fill like nothing else. When you are under the weather, soup gently restores electrolytes and fluids, and comforts. When you are hot, soup refreshes. When you are cold, soup warms. Maybe soup is the perfect food we haven’t recognized yet.

Soup Economy & Variety

Soup is also a brilliant choice for those who are weary, short on time, low on grocery money, or who need real nourishment. You can turn a lot of food odds and ends into soup—clear bouillons, meaty stews, rich vegetable blends, creamy bean or grain concoctions ready for homemade grilled cheese sandwiches—and the list goes on.

Based on her work with army schools and mess halls during the Second World War, Ida Bailey Allen wrote this message to 1940s homemakers: “Don’t be tempted to omit soup from your menu because you have heard tell that men do not like soup! This is not true; men do like soup—big husky bowlfuls.” This is also true for many women and children. And if someone in your family doesn’t care for soup, a heartier stew may do the trick. Noodles, dumplings, meatballs or alphabet pasta add to the fun factor.

Soup Starters

Allen explains that the army took great care to maximize vitamins and minerals in soups by adding all liquids left from boiled vegetables or meats to the soup base. This is an excellent tip for getting all the nutrition you pay for when you buy groceries.

Another tip is to add the bits and pieces left from preparing other dishes. These could be the last few veggies no one ate, meat bones and scraps, and bits of leftover cooked cereals such as oatmeal or quinoa. Nearly any kind of vegetable scraps can be used to make soup stock—onion and potato peels, carrot and celery tips, roots and green tips of leeks and scallions, outer leaves of lettuces and greens, broccoli stems, radish leaves and so on. All these things can be simmered together in a stock pot or slow cooker, or pressure cooked.

My favorite method is to use an Instant Pot; I add all the odds and ends to the pot and fill to the fill line with water. Sometimes I add a couple of bay leaves or a pinch of herbs, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. I pressure cook the lot for one hour and allow the pressure to release naturally. Then, I strain the liquid through a colander lined with cheesecloth and either use or freeze the broth. This makes a fantastic soup base!

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can achieve results just as good by using a large stock pot. Put everything into the pot and fill to a safe level with fresh, cold water. Bring to a boil; then, simmer slowly for two to three hours, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam. If you don’t include meat, the spent vegetables can do further duty in your garden compost bin. You could also use a slow cooker; fill it the same way and cook on high for 4-6 hours before cooling and straining.

Soup Additions

Once you have your soup base, you can add whatever you like—fresh vegetables or meat, meatballs, dumplings, noodles, rice or other grains, beans, pasta…whatever strikes your fancy. If you want thicker soup, melt two tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan for each quart of liquid; add an equal amount of flour and whisk to thoroughly combine. Then, add this roux to your soup base and whisk until thickened. If you want to add a deeper color to your soup, allow the flour to brown a bit in the butter.

Alternately, you could use the same amount of corn starch or arrowroot starch. Whisk well in cold water before adding to the soup. If you add these starches directly to hot liquid, they will clump.

If you really want color, try adding a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes or some leftover tomato juice. If you want to add a meat flavor with adding meat, use one or two bouillon cubes or some bouillon paste.

You can also make a soup stock entirely from meat bones. For example, if you cook a whole chicken for dinner, save all the bones and carcass. Put them in an Instant Pot or in a stock pot or slow cooker; add a splash of apple cider vinegar to help draw minerals from the bones; then, fill to the fill line (or to a safe level if using a stock pot or slow cooker) and cook as above. Strain the broth, season to taste and either use or freeze.

Soups From Scratch

Of course, soups don’t always have to made from leftovers or scraps. There are countless recipes using economical ingredients you can easily find or grow. I recently found an interesting one from the World War 2 era that starts with frying oatmeal! That certainly got my attention, and I had to try it. The recipe, for Vegetable Soup, only uses 10 ingredients including the water, salt and pepper. It is attached above if you want to try it.

I used butter instead of margarine, and used an entire small swede (rutabaga), grated so it would be sure to fully cook. I diced the other two vegetables and used freeze-dried parsley at the end because my garden is mostly barren at the moment. My family thoroughly enjoyed this soup and I will definitely make it again.

Soup Accompaniments

The Alice Bradley Menu Cook-Book has a whole section in the index for Soup Accompaniments. I am including a few options here, just as printed, in case you would like to try any with your next bowl of soup.

Toasted Cheese Crackers

Brush
Small crackers with
Melted butter, sprinkle with
Grated cheese and with
Few grains cayenne. Bake at 400°F until cheese melts and serve at once.

Cheese Circles

For each person cut
3 small round pieces of bread, toast lightly, cover with
Grated cheese and put in the oven until cheese is melted. Then put cheese-side down in a soup plate and pour soup over the circles.

Souffléd Crackers

Soak
Common crackers 8 minutes in
Ice water. Shape with a round cutter into crescents and ovals, dot with
Butter and bake in hot oven 400°F until puffed and brown.

Graham Crisps

Mix together
4 tablespoons cream
½ cup coarse entire wheat flour and
¼ teaspoon salt. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased tin sheet or inverted pan. With a wet fork spread very thin in rounds and bake at 350°F until crisp and delicately brown.

References

Bailey Allen, Ida. Double-Quick Cooking for Part-Time Homemakers. New York: M. Barrows and Company, 1943.

Bradley, Alice. The Alice Bradley Menu Cook-Book: Menus, Marketing Lists and Recipes [April – May – June]. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937.

Patten, Marguerite. Victory Cookbook: Nostalgic Food and Facts 1940-1954. London: Chancellor Press, 2014.

Campbell’s Soups advertisement. Life Magazine Vol. 18 No. 5 (January 29, 1945): 29.

“A dish of vegetables with love is better than eating the best meat with hate.”

Proverbs 15:17