I wanted something light for dinner last night, and when I opened this can, this…stuff…slithered into my saucepan. I could tell the texture was totally off in some way, and realized the best way to describe it was that it was SLIMY, not creamy like potato soup should be.
I almost never throw food away, but that went down the sink, and the solid chunks in a can in the freezer where I keep bones and the like. Not surprisingly, it had less than 2% bacon OR cheese, and one of the >2% ingredients was modified food starch, which explained the texture.
Tell us about your own personal culinary disappointments. Happy New Year!
The part that I don’t understand… Regular Campbell’s tomato soup has almost no flavor, and the low-sodium version has none at all. But my grandmother’s recipe cans just fine, has even less sodium than the “low-sodium” one, and has loads of wonderful flavor. It’s clearly possible to make a genuinely-good, genuinely-low-sodium, canned tomato soup. Why can’t any company do it?
We make homemade tomato soup when we have loads of tomatoes in the garden. Anything to use them up when you can’t bear another BLT or to can anything else.
And yes it’s good stuff.
Sometimes you just wanna see that Campbell’s soup red gunk in the pan. It’s a fond remembrance more than delicious. It scratches an itch.
Simple economics. Tomatoes cost money, so the bare minimum goes into a can of tomato soup. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of what you are paying for, in Campbell’s tomato soup, is for the can and the processing. Also, the target market is mostly kids, isn’t it? Everyone knows that they don’t know any better (this does not reflect my personal opinion).
If you are willing to shop the gourmet aisle or boutique grocery store, you might find something more real tasting, at three times the price. For example, Amy’s Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque is $4.79 for a 12-ounce, non-concentrated, can. Campbell’s goes for about $1.20 for 21.5 ounces (after diluting the concentrated can). So I was being generous, the good stuff is around 8x more than Campbell’s.
The deal with the Progresso soup is that you have to take them out of the can and let it sit for a few minutes, then stir and start to heat. Yes too much sodium but I am trying to make a quick meal. Doctor them up with cheese on top.
My worst grocery lately was a tube of turkey burger with taco seasoning. I thought it would be good for burrito fillings. It was like an uncooked hot dog puree of questionable heritage.
If you have to do canned soup, Progresso is usually the best, except for their “light” varieties. Those are pretty flavorless, except for the salt.
And, to add my own soup horror story, the Panera broccoli cheddar soup they sell in most grocery stores in no way resembles the stuff they serve in their restaurant! Not sure why it’s so different, but the grocery store version has a very odd smell, slimy texture, and has very little actual broccoli. It was so awful, I’m not sure if I’ll ever even order the restaurant version again. Do not recommend!
Because you have to start with tomatoes bred for flavor, not tomatoes bred for highest production and for shipping ability. In tomatoes, flavor and the ability to be dribbled across the floor without bruising don’t go together.
(They don’t go together in strawberries, either; or in a lot of other things. You might get away with the potatoes, though – they do bruise, but nowhere near as easily.)
Depending on the children, that could be extra-appealing. I personally prefer them over sliced green beans.
I’m not fond of Campbell’s tomato soup, although I will eat it. Panera’s tomato bisque is pretty good; I buy it when the grocery store marks down short-dated containers.
I need extra sodium, so that isn’t an issue for me.
It’s kinda disturbing that they would allow someone to use their branding, but not maintain any quality control on the actual product. Not sure how that became a thing, when I used to work in marketing, protecting your brand was a serious thing. This would not be how it’s done.
I don’t use Campbell’s cream soups any more, because there’s something in them that makes them sit in my stomach like concrete. I don’t have the same issues with store brands, or Amy’s or other brands.
Not necessarily. There are some chains where what they’re serving you in the restaurant is, literally, the exact same product they sell in grocery stores. They’re just plating it for you and microwaving it.
