Reduce sodium by making your own soup

Learning to make soup is not difficult. Try perusing your recipe box, food magazines, or some of your cookbooks, and you will surely come up with plenty of ideas for making homemade soup. The beauty of homemade soup is that you can literally take any basic recipe and tweak it based on what ingredients you have on hand. You can make adjustments if you have specific nutritional requirements, such as reducing salt.

There are few foods you can make that are as inexpensive as soup. Most soups start with a broth, broth, or vegetable base. To that you can add chunks of meat, poultry or fish, vegetables, beans, lentils, or whatever combination of grains you have on hand. Making soup is also a wonderful way to put leftovers to good use. Soups are suitable for almost any meal or snack. They freeze quite well, so this is an opportunity to prep meals ahead of time.

If you’re short on cooking time but want to eat healthier, try making a pot of soup on your day off. A good plan is to make a large pot of a different soup every week or so. Have enough on hand for a couple of meals during the week. Freeze the rest in smaller containers, preferably 1-2 serving containers. By making a different type of soup each week, you’ll soon have a good selection in your freezer to choose from for a quick lunch or dinner. You can bring your single serving of frozen soup to work with you and enjoy a good healthy meal just by heating it up.

When you make your own soup, you will probably have a more nutritious product that does not contain added sodium or preservatives. Some commercial soups may be low in calories, but they can have 1000 mg (or more) of sodium per serving. Even many of the low sodium varieties can have 450 mg. sodium, and that may be too much if you need to monitor your salt intake. When you make your own soup, you can control the amount of salt that goes into your soup without compromising taste.

If you’re really pressed for time, try using low sodium broths as a base to make a great soup. Adding vegetables, beans, lentils, or whole grains to soup adds lots of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Broth- or broth-based soups are generally lower in calories, and depending on what you add to the soup, you may be able to create something quite low-calorie.

Soups provide a feeling of fullness and can help control hunger. People who regularly incorporate soup into their eating plan tend to consume fewer calories in food. Consider a homemade soup as a snack or appetizer for dinner. This could help you avoid overeating at dinner.

There are few things that can go wrong when you make soup. Try using a slow cooker or just simmer over low heat on your stove; Give it time. The more you make soups and broths, the more skilled and creative you will become with the task. An investment of a little of your time can produce something satisfying, healthy, and wonderful. Proof!