The other day I bought a four pack container of Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix. Within minutes of opening the container, a box which held four individual packages of Vegi Soup mix (vegetable soup mix), I was ready to start making soup. I tend to be a very skeptical person when it comes to pre-packaged soup mixes, finding them full of salt and terrible flavors. I generally make homemade vegetable soup but I’m trying to build up my pantry staples so that we have emergency food supplies on hand.
Since food prices have also soared, I’m hoping that we can save time, money and gas by having foods on hand. This product is going to be a regular part of our food supplies. Everyone loved it!
I was pleasantly surprised to discover Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup. I have very little free time so it was nice to put a pot of this soup on the stove, let it simmer for about an hour, go about my usual daily schedule and have dinner ready and waiting for my hungry family
Here are the details about this product – along with my recipe and variations:
Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix – Appearance and Price
Although I later discovered that I could have bought this at my local grocery store, I did buy mine at Amazon at www.amazon.com
You’ll have to put the title of the product in the search form to find it. The price? Right now, it is $16.88 for a box containing four 28 ounce (1 lb, 12 ounces) packages of soup mix. That comes out to $4.22 a package which is an amazing bargain for a product which is ready to prepare, no extra ingredients necessary.
There was no extra cost for shipping either. All in all, a good value and even less than what it cost at my local grocery store! I’d consider this a recession proof price and an excellent product to have on hand for tough times like a recession or (gulp) Depression.
Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix – Ease of Preparation
I will get to the ingredients and nutritional information shortly. However, I did want to stress the ease of preparation first. To make this, the package instructions direct cooks to simply add one part Bob’s Vegi Soup Mix to four parts water. I mistakenly assumed that I had to add four cups of water to the entire package of soup mix. Wrong!
I ended up adding at least 8 cups of water to the package, plus one can of chicken broth. Vegetable broth also works, as I made another batch of this soup, using only vegetable broth. Even with all that added llquid, the soup was nice and thick.
After adding the package ingredients to the water and broth, I simply let it simmer, stirring now and then. After tasting, I decided it needed some salt so I added that. The result? A satisfying, delicious and very cheap soup, one that got raves from my family . They came back for seconds- and thirds.
Bob’s Red Mil Soup Mix – ingredients
Green and yellow split peas, barley, lentils, alphabet pasta made from whole wheat flour, spinach, tomato, celery, onion, beets and garlic. As noted, this product does not seem to contain salt and you’ll want to season it to taste. For those on a low-salt diet, this could be an excellent choice.
Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix – nutrition and calories
Each 1/2 cup of this soup contains 330 calories. However, I want to stress that the soup is rich, hearty and satisfying. There are sixteen servings per bag and if you wanted to eat more than 1/2 cup, you could easily feed eight people. We had enough left over to have plenty for lunch the next day and still be able to freeze another meal’s worth of soup for a family of three or four. That is very economical.
Total fat is only 2 grams and each serving has 8 grams of fiber, plenty of fiber. Each serving also has 22 percent of the Daily value for Iron.
Bob’s Red Mill Soup Mix – variations
After cooking this soup as directed on the package, I decided to try some variations. Next time, I did add a bit of Mrs. Dash’s seasoning to this as well as a trace of salt. I also added some chopped, dried basil and one can (12 ounces) of diced tomatoes, undrained. We had some fresh celery and I chopped up about a cup of that and added it as well, along with some fresh, chopped garlic. Finally, at the end, I added fresh parsley, chopped. This upped the flavor appeal but I want to stress that my family loved it the first time around as well. You really can’t go wrong with this and can adapt it to your tastes.
Bob’s Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix – suggested side dishes
We ate this with some sliced strawberries, a green salad and buttered bread. Everyone was satisfied.
Bob’s Red Mill Soup Mix – overall rating
I went from skeptical to completely pleased with this soup mix. It tastes just as delicious as my own homemade version of vegetable soup. Because food prices seem to be going up all the time, I’d suggest having a few container of this in your cupboards or food pantry. Then smile as you watch your savings grow and your food budget stay nice and low.
