Episode 101 Does Your Family Like Soup?

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As much as it pains me to admit, my family does not prefer soup. There, I said it. I really wish they loved soup as much as I do. One of my daughters is a big fan of soup, but the rest of my family would never choose it.

My friend, Steph Jenkins, of Cheapskate Cook makes soup for her family at least once a week and usually several times a week. It is a great way to stretch your food budget. It is especially frugal when you make your own broth from leftover meat bones and veggie scraps.

In Episode 75, The Emotional Burden of Feeding Your Family, I told the story of how I carefully served my husband the best part of a vegetable beef soup and he rejected it. As much as I want to have a family of soup lovers, I don’t. That means I have had to create some strategies to make soup a little more palatable for my picky family.

1-Serve soup with lots of carbs.

                I will make chicken noodle soup with lots of dried or frozen noodles. The big tip for adding noodles to soup is to cook them in a separate pot in broth or well-salted water. Noodles absorb liquid as they cook. When you cook them separately, it reduces the amount of broth they soak up in the soup.

                I will make some type of bread. I like to make corn bread, beer bread, or biscuits. All are quick and easy to make and are great alongside soup.

                If I make tortilla soup, I will serve it alongside some nachos.

2-Serve soup on a really busy night.

                When our family is extra-busy, they have less time to complain about what I made for dinner. Serving soup on busy nights works well because it keeps on the stove or in the slow cooker for a long time and family members can eat whenever they are home.

3-Add extra meat to the soup.

                My family is a little carnivorous. I often add extra round steak to beef soup, or an extra chicken breast to chicken soup. Having lots of meat and noodles keeps the pickier eaters in my family from complaining too much.

                This tip works really well if you have special dietary needs in your family where one person is eating keto or low-carb. You can make a big pot of soup, serve them mostly meat and veggies and the rest of the family can have it with noodles or bread.

4-Serve soup with sandwiches.

                I like to make sandwiches when I make creamy soups like my Asian Carrot soup, Pumpkin soup, or Tomato soup. I can have a little sandwich and a big bowl of soup. Other family members can have a little bowl of soup and a big sandwich. Even my pickiest eaters will dip a grilled cheese sandwich in a little bit of tomato soup.

5-Make soup just for your breakfast or lunches.

                I will often make a creamy soup with leftover veggies and eat it for breakfast or lunch. (I know it is unusual to eat soup for breakfast, but I have found it can be a great way to fuel me for the day.)

                I have one daughter that loves soup and she is home at lunch time. I will often make a big batch of soup and freeze it in mason jars. She can pull out a jar and reheat it in the microwave for a quick lunch.

I hope your family loves soup, but if they don’t, know you are not alone. Use a few of these tips to make it easier to serve soup to your family.

For a transcript of this episode click here.

Marie Fiebach is a married mother of four active kids. She helps busy families plan and execute weeknight dinner so they can recapture a little calm in the crazy. You can see her every week on KAKE TV’s Good Morning Kakeland or listen to the Feed Your Family Tonight Podcast.