FOOD What has happened to soup variety in stores?

[bracketquant]

You gotta have priorities. Kid or cooking. Can’t have both. If you have to cook, strap the little monster to a chair.

I don’t smell my own farts. The fact that you asked that question is, frankly, disturbing. How many people’s farts do you sniff? Does your nose make physical contact with the buttocal area of the sniffee? Are you trying for the 2022 “Joe Biden Award”?

Inquiring minds want to know…

Joe has the Sniffee Award, Hunter the Snortee, as the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

[20Gauge]

First, I’ll move this to the shortages thread in a day or so. But I’ve been looking for a certain soup: Campbell’s condensed split pea. No one locally carries it. Oh, the various stores have it in the computer for you to order, but if you try, it’s unavailable. And that’s not the only one. What happened to Campbell’s cream of shrimp? Or about a half dozen others that aren’t coming to mind right now? There used to be over 30 different soups available on store shelves. Now there are only about a dozen (on a good day.) I just thought I’d put that out there. I used to have about 8 different varieties on my food shelves. Now I have three: chicken noodle, cream of chicken, and creme of celery. Go, and vegetable beef, with whatever fake “beef things” they add to it.

Anyone else noticing your favorite is no longer available? I had to get it from Amazon by the flat.

Yep, variety is the 1st step to famine.

The question is are we going to have a famine or the rest of the world. We certainly can grow enough.

 

[20Gauge]

The green pea soup is my favorite, I still have a dozen or so in the storeroom, and no, I won't send any off to you!

Mine also. Especially is a bit of hamhock or bacon is added

 

[Babs]

Damn s autocorrect. (See? That was spelled “damned.” I watched as I typed it. I swear my spellchecker is possessed by the dribble.)

Mine makes whole words disappear.

 

[bracketquant]

Yep, variety is the 1st step to famine.

The question is are we going to have a famine or the rest of the world. We certainly can grow enough.

Variety, yes. But not a loss of variety of soups on the shelves.

Staple crops, the 4 main ones - corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, along with about a dozen minor ones, is what supplies more than 90% of the energy/calories to the world's population. A shortage of those (in the recent past mainly due to distribution "problems") is what has caused famine.

Ukraine's wheat fields are just a bit more important than whether one can buy a can of cream of shrimp soup.

 

[inskanoot]

MzKitty, is this it?

PRINCESS DIANA’S CARROT SOUP - Food Lovers Recipes

www.foodloversrecipes.com

PRINCESS DIANA’S CARROT SOUP
|

PRINCESS DIANA’S CARROT SOUP

Dit is die een wat ons gemaak het. Engiste verskil is dat ons reg aan die einde ‘n bietjie room bygesit het en witpeper. Ook ‘n knippie suiker, maar slegs as dit nodig is.

This is supposed to have been a favorite of Princess Diana. I take out 2 or 3 carrots from the pound as the flavor seems to overpower the other flavors.

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ½ cups chicken broth
1 pound carrots peeled and sliced
1 ¾ cups diced potatoes
1 ½ cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
flat-leaf parsley and carrot slices, for garnish

In large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and sauté 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil; simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer to blender in batches and puree.

Return to pan with milk; season with salt and pepper. Reheat (do not boil). Garnish and serve.

BRON- Louise Groenewald

 

[Babs]

I've noticed that same thing with canned vegetables. I don't ever buy them, except to put them into the long term pantry. But When we moved, we pitched all of them because they were over 10 years old and we didn't have room to store them anyway. Now trying to restock, and there is a real lack of variety.

 

[Hermantribe]

The green pea soup is my favorite, I still have a dozen or so in the storeroom, and no, I won't send any off to you!

Anderson‘s Split Pea is much better than Campbell’s. Maybe that’s available?

 

[mzkitty]

MzKitty, is this it?

PRINCESS DIANA’S CARROT SOUP - Food Lovers Recipes

www.foodloversrecipes.com

PRINCESS DIANA’S CARROT SOUP
|

PRINCESS DIANA’S CARROT SOUP

Dit is die een wat ons gemaak het. Engiste verskil is dat ons reg aan die einde ‘n bietjie room bygesit het en witpeper. Ook ‘n knippie suiker, maar slegs as dit nodig is.

This is supposed to have been a favorite of Princess Diana. I take out 2 or 3 carrots from the pound as the flavor seems to overpower the other flavors.

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ½ cups chicken broth
1 pound carrots peeled and sliced
1 ¾ cups diced potatoes
1 ½ cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
flat-leaf parsley and carrot slices, for garnish

In large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and sauté 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil; simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer to blender in batches and puree.

Return to pan with milk; season with salt and pepper. Reheat (do not boil). Garnish and serve.

BRON- Louise Groenewald

Sort of. The one I had left out the potatoes, and used half & half instead of milk, and a small onion instead of a medium.

I would garnish it with a sprinkle of mace. It wasn't a thin soup, so adjust your ingredients til you get what you want.

It really is good.

 

[bracketquant]

I may be misremembering, but I seem to recall seeing Campbell’s Snapping Turtle Soup. When I was a kid, some on 50 years ago…

Jeff B.

I don't remember if it was Campbell's, but I tried canned turtle soup about 40 years ago. WORST SOUP EVER.

 

[inskanoot]

Sort of. The one I had left out the potatoes, and used half & half instead of milk, and a small onion instead of a medium.

I would garnish it with a sprinkle of mace. It wasn't a thin soup, so adjust your ingredients til you get what you want.

It really is good.

Gotta get some mace.

 

[bbbuddy]

If you think our food sux, you should look at the better quality of clothes and shoes from other countries. We are literally walking around in pajamas. What a joke.

QFT

 

[rafter]

Here is a Shrimp soup recipe that looks good.

Shrimp Chowder



Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 cans (12 ounces each) evaporated milk
• 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
• 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 can (7 ounces) white or shoepeg corn, drained
• 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 pounds peeled and deveined cooked small shrimp
• 3 ounces cream cheese, cubed

Directions

1. In a small skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the onion, milk, soups, corn, Creole seasoning and garlic powder.
2. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. Stir in shrimp and cream cheese. Cook 30 minutes longer or until shrimp are heated through and cheese is melted. Stir to blend.

 

[Cag3db1rd]

My problem with canned commercial soups is that most (all, or nearly all?) of them have suspect ingredients. Ditto canned chili. Soy this or that, typically Soy Protein Isolate. Progresso used to be a good soup vendor, but I've pretty much stopped buying them since they started including the soy. Also Textured Vegetable Protein, "Natural flavor" (MSG?). And so on.

Even (non can) "organic" soups such as the Pacific line of soups have soy in them. (I have medical reasons to avoid unfermented soy.)

Amy's soups have legit ingredients, but they taste bleh.

What next? How long until we have to start searching the soup label ingredient list for crickets, or cricket flour???

I understand about health reasons to avoid soy. We do as well. It affects hubby's testosterone levels. We tried once to go vegan, and it dropped him so low, his dr almost put him in the hospital.

He is also allergic to wheat, and was working at Bama Frozen Dough at the time. He was literally breathing in wheat every day. He wondered why he was always sick.

Now we have to look at ingredients for both wheat and soy. We also had to purge a lot of foods from our preps that contained wheat and soy. Mostly gave them to prepper friends who didn't have the same health problems.

 

[Bones]

Oddly, Dollar Tree here in KS. has a rather large selection of soups and flavors. Campbell's, Chunky, and Progresso.

Recently, Mrs Bones' mom was in a snit over her grocer not carrying Campbell's Bean and Ham soup. We found it in stocks at $tree.

Good luck!

 

[20Gauge]

Variety, yes. But not a loss of variety of soups on the shelves.

Staple crops, the 4 main ones - corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, along with about a dozen minor ones, is what supplies more than 90% of the energy/calories to the world's population. A shortage of those (in the recent past mainly due to distribution "problems") is what has caused famine.

Ukraine's wheat fields are just a bit more important than whether one can buy a can of cream of shrimp soup.

No any production line, cuts out the inefficient items 1st. The same goes for soup. those that are less common or do not sell as much are cut in order to maximize the eff of the production lines.

 

[Marthanoir]

I haven't seen Campbells condensed Pea and Ham soup in years, I loved that stuff, and the Lentil & Bacon

 

[thompson]

H-E-B, a regional grocery chain based here in Texas, has some great store-label soups. I especially like their Cream of Jalapeno and Cream of Poblano to eat just as soup, but also use them in cooking.

 

[xtreme_right]

There used to be over 30 different soups available on store shelves. Now there are only about a dozen (on a good day.)

Pre-covid, I remember the canned soup section was 6-8 feet wide. Campbell’s soup were in those custom holders with the name of the soup type written on it.



Remember how much space cake mixes and cake frosting used?
Same with flour and sugar. Before, each type would have 10 or so front facing. Now it’s more like 1 or 2.



We’re slowly getting conditioned to having fewer options.
A

 

[Red Baron]

Pre-covid, I remember the canned soup section was 6-8 feet wide. Campbell’s soup were in those custom holders with the name of the soup type written on it.

View attachment 356867

Remember how much space cake mixes and cake frosting used?
View attachment 356873Same with flour and sugar. Before, each type would have 10 or so front facing. Now it’s more like 1 or 2.

View attachment 356872

We’re slowly getting conditioned to having fewer options.
View attachment 356875A

Da Komradesky . . . .

 

[EMICT]

The fewer the options, the more weight one might lose. I know I'm working on that aspect.

 

[packyderms_wife]

You gotta have priorities. Kid or cooking. Can’t have both. If you have to cook, strap the little monster to a chair.

I don’t smell my own farts. The fact that you asked that question is, frankly, disturbing. How many people’s farts do you sniff? Does your nose make physical contact with the buttocal area of the sniffee? Are you trying for the 2022 “Joe Biden Award”?

Inquiring minds want to know…

There's a thread here, from a couple of weeks ago, about fart sniffers.

I'll have to look for the broccoli and cheese now, IIRC way back in the day it wasn't half bad and I used to enjoy it over a bowl of freshly cooked basmati rice.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Pre-covid, I remember the canned soup section was 6-8 feet wide. Campbell’s soup were in those custom holders with the name of the soup type written on it.

View attachment 356867

My local Fareways soup section not only still looks like this but their house brand soup section is almost as wide as campbell's.

H-E-B, a regional grocery chain based here in Texas, has some great store-label soups. I especially like their Cream of Jalapeno and Cream of Poblano to eat just as soup, but also use them in cooking.

Cream of Chicken with Herbs... OC looks at me and I'm like what?!? I'm eating it straight out of the can, cold! Love that stuff.

 

[packyderms_wife]

H-E-B, a regional grocery chain based here in Texas, has some great store-label soups. I especially like their Cream of Jalapeno and Cream of Poblano to eat just as soup, but also use them in cooking.

Cream of Chicken with Herbs... OC looks at me and I'm like what?!? I'm eating it straight out of the can, cold! Love that stuff.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I realized a long time ago that our local independently owned grocery store has a huge variety of almost everything to choose from. It puts our local Walmart's selection to shame. From soups, cake mixes, BBQ sauces, flour, Hamburger Helper, you name it, all across the board.

 

[Meadowlark]

I have not seen chicken and wild rice in almost a year. I would double up on it.

 

[Bad Hand]

About the only soup I buy is New England Clam Chowder. I can make better soups than I can buy then I freeze the left overs.

 

[wintery_storm]

Yes, that’s the one I got. They have a 15% off coupon.. I used it.

that is a good price. my local small grocery store has all the soups you have been talking about. I was there today. I actually bought a can of the shrimp for my hubby to give it a try. Expensive 2.86.
Dennis if you need any let me know I can sent you some.
They had clam and bean and bacon. They were out of mushroom.

 

[Signwatcher]

I've never seen a Campbell's cream of shrimp!

I remember it from my childhood. No pleasantly though.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Well, ya'll have put me on a quest. I'm going to be seriously looking for Cream of Bacon soup. Ever since someone mentioned it, I've been craving a pork roast smothered in the stuff cooked all day in my crock pot, LOL! I didn't even know it existed.

 

[Dennis Olson]

H-E-B, a regional grocery chain based here in Texas, has some great store-label soups. I especially like their Cream of Jalapeno and Cream of Poblano to eat just as soup, but also use them in cooking.

First of all, those soups are the same price as campbell’s. Second, they pushed the “Old Country Fare” brand to the bottom shelf. That was the store brand before they went “upscale.” While the new store brand’s chicken noodle soup is $1.22 a can (!!), the OCF brand is 58¢.

And THAT is why they rebranded.

 

[Meemur]

You made me look!

In terms of quantity, there were plenty of canned soups at Fareway, but you're right about selection, somewhat slim. All of the common ones were there: chicken noodle, bean with ham, veggie, tomato, plus all the ones we Central Iowans cook with -- cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, beef broth . . . but no onion, golden mushroom, shrimp, clam chowder, or potato.

Cans of Campbell's were $1.98

Confession: I have about 15 cans of various Campbell's soups in my emergency pantry, but in the fall and winter, I make chicken noodle and veggie soups and then freeze them in pint containers. My soup tastes much better to me than any brands I can buy locally.

But given Covid, the flu, whatever . . . I generally have canned soups, along with peanut butter and jelly on hand for no fuss eating.

 

[bracketquant]

Well, ya'll have put me on a quest. I'm going to be seriously looking for Cream of Bacon soup. Ever since someone mentioned it, I've been craving a pork roast smothered in the stuff cooked all day in my crock pot, LOL! I didn't even know it existed.

Apparently, it is Campbell's newest soup. An internet search doesn't show any availability near me. About 100 miles east, it looks like it can be found at Market Basket stores, all in the Boston area.

 

[Dennis Olson]

You can get it from Amazon for almost the normal retail price.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

I realized a long time ago that our local independently owned grocery store has a huge variety of almost everything to choose from. It puts our local Walmart's selection to shame. From soups, cake mixes, BBQ sauces, flour, Hamburger Helper, you name it, all across the board.

Food Giant?

Yeah, it is that way in my area too.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Food Giant?

Yeah, it is that way in my area too.

Sure is! Food Giant puts Walmart and most other grocery stores to shame.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

You folks should know - you got me so hungry for soup that I just made one - used mostly vegetables from the garden.

Fresh, vegetable soup.

Ahhh……


NOW I can get back to reading where I left off on this thread.

 

[thompson]

First of all, those soups are the same price as campbell’s. Second, they pushed the “Old Country Fare” brand to the bottom shelf. That was the store brand before they went “upscale.” While the new store brand’s chicken noodle soup is $1.22 a can (!!), the OCF brand is 58¢.

And THAT is why they rebranded.

These are not Hill Country Fare (the HEB lowest price point store brand). These are H-E-B branded soups. H-E-B has always had two levels of store brands, HCF being the lower quality (but still good) and offering a limited selection that is mostly basics; H-E-B is their premium store brand, comparable in every way except price to the name brands as far as quality and varieties offered. HCF has never offered as many varieties as Campbells OR the H-E-B brand.

The price point for the Cream of Jalapeno and Cream of Poblano soups IIRC was about a dime less, give or take, from the standard Campbell's Cream of XYZ soups.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

You folks should know - you got me so hungry for soup that I just made one - used mostly vegetables from the gardem.

Fresh, vegetable souup.

Ahhh……


NOW I can get back to reading where I left off on this thread.

Campbell's Chunky Baked Potato and Steak with Cheese is what I've having right now, LOL. Yeah, flung a craving on me, too. I had dental work done, Wednesday, and I am still only able to eat soup. Early supper, since I missed lunch. I'm having to mash everything up to get it in my mouth. No chewing involved.

 

[nomifyle]

This thread made me want soup last night. Amy's Tomato Bisque, maybe its me but it didn't taste as good as usual. But then again my knee pain is high and that might have made the difference.