Sure, nothing beats homemade soup. But sometimes, time and circumstances dictate a canned substitute.
According to the folks at Campbell's, this is especially true during January. The company notes that American consume 57 million gallons of this comfort food during the first month of the year. And, it notes, different parts of the country are partial to different flavors of soup. The most popular soup in Salt Lake City is Cream of Chicken. Favorite soups in other cities include:Louisville: Chicken Noodle
Seattle/Tacoma: Cream of Mushroom
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre: Tomato
Minneapolis/St. Paul: Cream of Celery
San Antonio: Chicken With Rice
Memphis: Vegetable Alphabet
Boise: Vegetable Beef and Bean with Bacon
Cleveland: Vegetarian Vegetable
Baltimore: Black Bean
New Orleans: Chicken Gumbo
San Francisco: Chicken Alphabet.
If you want to dress up your canned soups to make something more unusual, Betty Crocker's "Best Recipes For Soups and Sandwiches" offers these suggestions:
- Combine 1 can of Bean with Bacon and 1 can of Vegetable. Mix with 2 cans of water.
- Combine 1 can Cheddar Cheese and 1 can Split Pea with Ham and Bacon. Mix with 1 can water and 1 can milk.
- Combine 1 can Chicken Noodle and 1 can French Onion. Mix with 2 cans water.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon curry powder to 1 can Cream of Chicken.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves to 1 can Tomato soup.
- Combine 1 can Tomato with 1 can Beef Noodle. Mix with 1 can water and 1 can milk.
- Combine 1 can Tomato with 1 can Chicken Gumbo. Combine with 1 can water and 1 can milk.
- Use your imagination to come up with other combinations your family might enjoy.