I have come into possession of a giant bag of frozen broccoli-cheddar soup. When it’s thawed, I think it will easily fill a 4-quart pot.
What would be the best way to thaw it out? In the fridge, the sink, my slow cooker, or something else?
I live alone. Can I portion out the soup and re-freeze it? Or can I not do that because it’s already frozen? There’s no meat in it. I’m sure I can give some to my elderly neighbor, but I don’t think the two of us can eat it all before it goes bad.
Other than eating it plain or putting some over baked potatoes, does anyone else have any serving suggestions?
First off, I assume it’s in a ziplock bag or something similar, that is, as opposed to something that’s going to stand up to being boiled.
The easiest way is going to be to put it in your fridge. If it’s really a gallon, it’ll probably take a good 24-48 hours to thaw. I would stand it up in a pot or something so the liquid isn’t up agist the top threatening to breach the ziplock when it melts.
The crock-pot will work as well. You could run it under warm water for a few minutes so it lets go of the bag and then throw the whole thing (sans the bag) in the crock on low for a few hours. I wouldn’t worry too much about re-freezing portions of it. The broccoli might get softer, but that’s not a big concern unless it’s really crunchy to begin with (and really, how often does that happen in broccoli cheese soup) and you want to keep it that way.
You could also put it on your stove, but since it’s a cheese soup you’ll need to do it in a double boiler or it’ll burn the first time you look at it cross-eyed.
You really should thaw it in the refrigerator. As with most large things that need to be thawed, it’s best to do it in the fridge so that the first-thawed parts swon’t go bad on you while the rest is still frozen solid. I realize that the frozen part will tend to cool the thawed portion, and that, with a liquid, the cool will circulate easier than it will in, say, a frozen turkey, but it’s still a good idea.
I don’t know why you couldn’t refreeze the soup. We do it all the time with our homemade soup.
For re-storage, I suggest you portion it out into smaller zip-loc bags, the quart-size work well for this. Fill each one about 3/4 full, zip it closed and then lay flat in the freezer. Once they’re froze, they are easy to stack up in there and they will thaw in warm water MUCH faster than if they are frozen in a “chunk.” I always freeze liquids this way.
Put the bag in a pot with some water in the fridge to thaw it slowly, or peel the bag off the frozen block of soup in a pot with some hot water on the stove if you are in a hurry. This sounds like a commerical product, and may not be the greatest soup you ever had. But it should be refreezable in smaller portions, but it will definitely lose a lot of texture and flavor after a second thaw.
If it is a commercial product (sealed at both ends, printing or sticker on the bag, weighs about 8 pounds (gallon) etc) it’s likely designed to be heated in the bag. Fill up a stock pot, throw the bag in there, crank up the heat and let it boil until it’s hot. Keep an eye on it to make sure the plastic isn’t sticking to the bottom which will happen if the pot isn’t big enough. Should take about 2-3 hours to get there after the water is boiling (less if you just want to be able to portion it out).
For the record, we do this to about 4-6 soups every day, plus I make my own and store them in heat sealed bags.
It must be commercial. It’s in a plastic, non-Ziploc bag and sealed at both ends, and it probably does weigh about 8 pounds. I’m not expecting it to be super awesome. It was free, so I’m not complaining.
I’ll thaw it out, probably in the fridge, and then make smaller portions out of it. Thanks, Joey P, for the tip about the double boiler. I wouldn’t even have thought of that.
That should work if it’s in a heavy commercial bag. I used to heat those right in the soup crocks. Just pull them out, dump the water, and empty the bag in the pot once it’s about half liquid. But they were never as good as the soups I made myself, and actually cost more.
It’s all a matter of finding the right ones. There are some really good frozen food service soups out there. It takes some trial and error, but they’re out there. The market has also really evolved over the last 5-10 years. Places like Sysco and the other big food service vendors have really been focusing on quality.
Yay free soup!
If you want to keep a portion of it frozen, stick it in the fridge until it starts thawing, the cut it open and empty out the thawed portion. Eventually you’ll have a nice pot of thawed soup and a still-frozen chunk that was in the middle of the soupcube. Toss that into another ziploc (or hack into smaller portions, still frozen) and put it back in the freezer. That way you aren’t stuck with a whole gallon, and you also don’t have the thaw-refreeze issues.