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Healthiest store-bought soups?

  • 13-10-2009 01:40PM
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,802 ✭✭✭


    Hi guys

    Now I know the answer is going to be 'home-made', but I've a very hectic job and make a healthy dinner every day but rarely get the time to make soups (which I generally have for lunch)

    I'm also a veggie...

    Anyone have any good suggestions?

    Thanks a mill ;)


Comments

  • Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    Cully and sully soups are on the pricey side but they're about the most unprocessed ones out there. The mushroom and tomato soups are especially yummy. Gluten free too.

    Having said that it's so easy a massive batch of soup and freeze it in portions.

    Give it a try, you might surprise yourself!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 468 ✭✭snowy2008


    baxters all the way, yum!!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,114 ✭✭✭corkcomp


    i would avoid the cully + sully ones like the plague! - they have loads of salt and are high in cals .... I find the avonmore ones to be the best i.e. they have the least added ingredients apart from veg...


  • Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    corkcomp wrote: »
    i would avoid the cully + sully ones like the plague! - they have loads of salt and are high in cals .... I find the avonmore ones to be the best i.e. they have the least added ingredients apart from veg...

    :confused: where are you getting this information from?

    Take the chicken and veg soup:

    Cully and Sully: 49 Kcal/100ml Sodium 0.24 g

    Avonmore: 56 Kcal/100ml Sodium 0.24 g


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,114 ✭✭✭corkcomp


    :confused: where are you getting this information from?

    Take the chicken and veg soup:

    Cully and Sully: 49 Kcal/100ml Sodium 0.24 g

    Avonmore: 56 Kcal/100ml Sodium 0.24 g

    im surprised it took you so long to dig out that info, cully and sully soups have more salt than the avonmore ones on average - i just looked in the fridge and the avonmore mushroom has only 0.6g salt per 100ml (that is salt not sodium values) - any cully and sully soup ive ever looked at had more cals and salt than avonmore ones! avonmore do a tomato soup which is only 80cals per 300 ML .... dont you think it would be more constructive to let the OP buy their favourite soup in both brands and then make a decision on nutritional values? i would also advise looking at the full list of ingredients on both brands and then making a decision on which one has the most added crap!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,057 ✭✭✭MissFlitworth


    If you like curry type soups Tesco do a lovely Puy Lentil & Vine Ripe Tomato soup in their chilled fresh soups, it's part of the Finest range. It's more like a stew than a soup really, very hearty and filling and. Think it works out at about 230 calories for half the tub/300ml which is a really nice size for lunch. Not so sure bout salt content but it is really really tasty and veggie.


  • Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    corkcomp wrote: »
    im surprised it took you so long to dig out that info, cully and sully soups have more salt than the avonmore ones on average - i just looked in the fridge and the avonmore mushroom has only 0.6g salt per 100ml (that is salt not sodium values) - any cully and sully soup ive ever looked at had more cals and salt than avonmore ones! avonmore do a tomato soup which is only 80cals per 300 ML .... dont you think it would be more constructive to let the OP buy their favourite soup in both brands and then make a decision on nutritional values? i would also advise looking at the full list of ingredients on both brands and then making a decision on which one has the most added crap!

    :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 582 ✭✭✭Thoushaltnot


    Well, I just posted elsewhere these 3 vegan options;
    Tesco's Vegetable Mulligatawney soup
    Tesco's Mediterranean Vegetable soup
    Tesco's Mexican Chilli Bean soup

    Be careful with Avonmore - they add chicken stock in a few of their soups that look veggie. :eek:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,386 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    corkcomp wrote: »
    it would be more constructive...
    Both of you please keep this thread constructive and not have it degenerate into another bitching match.
    It's more like a stew than a soup really, very hearty and filling and.
    This is what I find with many products. The "low cal" or cheaper versions are often simply just watered down. I remember getting a WW ready meal and half it evaporated in the microwave! Many of those "finest" own brands soups are very dense and packed with ingredients. So the cals & salt might be higher simply since they are not watered down. Ingredients & calorie lists can be very telling. AFAIK they do not have to declare the water content but you can sometimes make an estimate looking at the nutritional info, or totting up % of other ingredients if listed.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,114 ✭✭✭corkcomp


    rubadub wrote: »
    Both of you please keep this thread constructive and not have it degenerate into another bitching match.


    This is what I find with many products. The "low cal" or cheaper versions are often simply just watered down. I remember getting a WW ready meal and half it evaporated in the microwave! Many of those "finest" own brands soups are very dense and packed with ingredients. So the cals & salt might be higher simply since they are not watered down. Ingredients & calorie lists can be very telling. AFAIK they do not have to declare the water content but you can sometimes make an estimate looking at the nutritional info, or totting up % of other ingredients if listed.

    I know what you are saying re the watered down version, (a bit like some products being filled with air or somehow bulked out, while having the same or higher cals per 100g) however, if I buy 300ml of soup and say it is 160cals and buy a low fat or light version that only has 80 cals, does it really matter if it is watered down, as long as there is no additional sugar / salt or additives?? at the end of the day the values per 100ml might be the same if they were not watered down but its irrelevant as most people will still only consume one 300ml ??


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  • Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    rubadub wrote: »
    Both of you please keep this thread constructive and not have it degenerate into another bitching match.

    Believe me, I had no intention, soup usually isn't a contentious subject ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,386 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    corkcomp wrote: »
    if I buy 300ml of soup and say it is 160cals and buy a low fat or light version that only has 80 cals, does it really matter if it is watered down, as long as there is no additional sugar / salt or additives?
    I see what you are saying, I am making people wary of marketing strategies and how to really look for value for money. You advised the OP to look and compare nutritional info and I agree and am just giving warnings on what to actually look for on these labels.
    corkcomp wrote: »
    at the end of the day the values per 100ml might be the same if they were not watered down but its irrelevant as most people will still only consume one 300ml ??
    But the person might go and eat something else, left hungry from this "healthy" soup when really it would have been cheaper to buy the more expensive one and dilute it down themselves, or just eat the 300ml and not be hungry for other stuff afterwards. It might also have had less additives per 300ml when diluted down to the same level as the other. If it is simply a starter then yes they might just set amount regardless.

    The OP made no mention of calorie counting etc. But many people do find this form of watered down portion control works for them, like people in the WW thread saying aero, wispa, curly wurlys are "low in points", when really they have as many as other chocolate bars per 100g, but are just puffed out in size.

    You can buy unsalted or low salt passata (sieved tomatoes) fairly cheaply and could use them to dilute down premium soups. Many of these come in reusable microwaveable containers too, with good lids, for storing ones you cook yourself. Or you could dilute down the thicker stew ones with tomato.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,536 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    rubadub wrote: »
    But many people do find this form of watered down portion control works for them, like people in the WW thread saying aero, wispa, curly wurlys are "low in points", when really they have as many as other chocolate bars per 100g, but are just puffed out in size.

    I agree completely. Lookign at 100g values is only good if you no what 100g is.

    The aero is a prime example, people in "packets" not grams.

    I bring a tomato soup, and a tin of tuna in spring water(whole not chunks) for lunch 2 or 3 times a week.
    This comes to c.200cals

    If I brought, a cream of tomato, and tuna in olive oil, it would likely double the cals and would really fill be any more.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭ladyA


    I think Avonmore are shockingly processed. If you made vegetable soup at home it would never taste like that gloop. I really don't believe the list of ingredients. (Many studies point to the inaccuracy of labelled food ingredients and all you need is good tastebuds to determine if this is the case).

    Cully and Sully Carrot and Honey is one of the better more widely available varieties. There are good more expensive varities around - Laragh Stuarts, Ron and Bens, ITSA4 etc.

    If you are in Dublin, Blazing Salads on Drury St. have a nice soups in their freezer but these will set you back around 3.65


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,802 ✭✭✭beks101


    Thanks guys for all the suggestions.

    I stopped off at Tescos after work yesterday and ended up going for Tescos Mexican Chilli Bean and the Puy Lentil & Vine Ripe Tomato from their Finest range...

    As mentioned, it was quite heavy and stew-like, but ingredient list looked pretty natural to me and 0.1g sodium per 100g. Half a tub comes to 180 cals. And tastes delicious!

    Might try out a few of the Cully and Sully range too and I'm a huge Blazing Salads fan too so will definitely see what they have to offer too.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 462 ✭✭lizzyvera


    Making your own is less hassle even than going to the supermarket. I made a big red lentil, onion, potato and carrot soup with ginger, chilli, mustard, cumin, turmeric and fennel and a splash of oil for this week. Cook it on sunday, blend it and leave it in the fridge in the blender. I don't even peel the carrots or spuds or ginger. It's no effort.

    Shop and restaurant soup is always manky.


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