Our winters here in Northern California are milder than anywhere I have ever lived. We don’t get snow at our house, but we do enjoy a rainy season. I love having four seasons, even if they aren’t as extreme as in many places.
One of the best parts of cool weather is soup.
Seriously! Soup warms you from the inside out.
And what’s even better is that soup is super easy and super frugal. And recipes are optional.
Unlike many frugal folks out there, I don’t ever freeze soup. I’ll tell you why and what I do instead! In fact I even made a video for you!
Why I don’t freeze soup
Before you start getting defensive about your freezer full of delicious soupiness, I’ll tell you that there is nothing innately wrong with freezing soup. At all!
I don’t freeze soup because of the sheer quantity of soup required to feed my family.
We eat a lot. A LOT!
My kids are all under ten, but they are very active and have big appetites. My husband is 6’7″ and has a hollow leg.
I saw some yummy looking soups frozen in quart jars on Instagram the other day. It would be perfect for a small family, a couple, or individuals, but there is no way that would work for my crew.
The containers would have to be really big, taking up a lot of freezer space, or there would have to be a lot of quart jars, also filling the freezer.
What I do instead
Instead of freezing soup, I freeze the ingredients for soup. Having the main ingredients ready to go in the freezer makes the assembly super speedy. In fact, the time it takes me to make soup from scratch isn’t much more than it would take to thaw and warm a frozen soup!
Three ways I freeze soup ingredients to save time and money
1. Chop and Freeze Veggies
I like to make versatile “soup kits” to freeze. My typical soup kits have celery, carrots, onions, and garlic in them. That way I can use them for Chicken Noodle Soup, Potato Soup, Vegetable Soup, or a new mystery soup variety.
My typical mixture is 4-6 stalks of celery, 6-8 carrots, 1-2 onions, and a few cloves garlic. No blanching necessary for soup veggies. Just chop and freeze! I chop the veggies small because my kids are little. Veggies hide better (are harder to avoid) that way.
I usually add 12-16 cups of liquid (broth or water + bullion) with this amount of vegetables. Of course that might change depending on what else I’m adding. For example with potato soup, I add lots of potatoes (which I peel and cut fresh), so I add more liquid than if I’m making chicken noodle soup.
On a night when I’m in the kitchen making soup, I just chop several freezer bags of veggies at the same time. That keeps my freezer stocked with soup veggies that are ready for a night when I need to make a dinner quickly.
2. Precook and Freeze Meat
Chicken and ground beef are my go-to meats for soup (actually for everything). I buy meat in bulk when I can.
I usually freeze the (very large) chicken breasts two per freezer bag. I also do a couple of slow cookers full of chicken breasts when my chicken order comes in. I shred the cooked chicken in the crock pot, then freeze the shredded chicken for soups and casseroles.
The ground beef now comes divided into 1 lb packages. I used to divide it up myself, but now Zaycon does it for me. I like to brown a lot of ground beef at the same time, then freeze it cooked. It’s handy for throwing into taco soup!
Another benefit of having soup meat pre-cooked, is that I can make part of the meal meatless. I have one child that doesn’t eat meat, so when I cook soup, I pull out a bowl or two for her before I add in the meat.
3. Cook and Freeze Beans
I have a whole post dedicated to how to cook and freeze dry beans so I won’t go into all of the details here. Suffice it to say that is healthier, more appetizing, and cheaper to cook dry beans than use their canned counterparts.
When I make white chili or taco soup, having beans from the freezer is just as easy as opening cans of beans, but without the slimy liquid from the cans!
What about cans?
I do occasionally use canned ingredients. If I use anything canned, I just leave it in the can until I make the soup. It would be silly to open a shelf-stable can and then take up freezer space with it.
There you have it!
For us, freezing ingredients for soup instead of the soup itself works best. Ingredients take up much less space in the freezer than soup with the liquid included, especially when it takes a lot of soup to feed your family.
Even if freezing whole soups isn’t your thing, freezing ingredients might be! Throwing together a soup takes barely any time at all when I have the meat and beans pre-cooked and the veggies chopped. Having the ingredients frozen is so versatile, too! I’m not limited to one kind of soup, or soup at all, for that matter!
How about you?
- Do you freeze soup? What kinds?
- What are your secrets for freezing soup ingredients?
I commonly freeze soups and curries. And I commonly throw out veggies that have gone bad. I need to rescue them before they go bad and store them in the freezer. Thank you for the great tips.
Yes! Rescue those veggies before they die! 😊
I do something similar, after cooking vegetables in a pressure cooker, I freeze the concentrated vegetable water to use in soup stocks later, also after a roast chicken, put the bones/frame in a pot or pressure cook the left over meat falls off-and makes great soup stock-leave overnight in fridge, then skim any fat off the top andI freeze it. When I cut a whole pumpkin, I put some pieces in the freezer to use later, and/or boil some-then freeze the pulp. Round containers such as margarine pottles are ideal for putting pumpkin pulp and stock into-they stack well in the freezer, I use a permanent marker to write the date and the contents on the lid, can take out one or more of these out of the freezer when needed. I freeflow freeze whole tomatoes when they get a bit soft to eat raw, keep these in a bag in the freezer, easy to grab how many I want to add to meat dishes, or a tomato, onion fry up on toast, and/or make tomato soup. Easy to add dried lentils, peas etc, to the soup when ready to make it.
I make soup a lot and keep a jar or two in the freezer but I’m definitely going to chop soup veggies to freeze too!
I love the idea of doing this so that I can buy big bags of the organic onion, carrots and celery and not waste anything. I buy mostly organic for the “dirty” root veggies.
I have a separate freezer and I just got a food saver so I see lot of chopping and freezing in my future!!
Thanks for the great tips!
No crying for me thanks to the Twista chopper
I love your ideas but I don’t freeze soup because the potatoes come out mushy in the soup when heated up. But I like the way you freeze the rest of the soup mix. Thank you
Awesome idea! I have frozen bell peppers, onions and celery to have on hand already chopped, but the soup kit is even more practical. Thank you!
I just love your tips on freezing the different parts of the soul instead of one pot at the time . It makes more sense to do it this way. Now I can make smaller bags of cut up vegetables . I also liked your idea about cooking the meat then freezing it . By cooking the meat first and then freezing it I can use both for different meals,instead of only using it for soup. I am going to be busy when our new freezer comes. Thank you so much for some great ideas. Jan
Why even cut up vegetables when you can save the time and buy one that is already frozen? Then you can make soup when ever you get the urge.
I also make soup kits. We’re so smart! Mine start with cooked chicken breast that I cool, then tear into strips and chop. Add chopped onion, celery, and garlic, parsley, and pepper. I just barely cover this with chicken broth in quart freezer bags which I stand up in a square container to freeze. (The broth keeps the ingredients from drying out.) Once this is frozen I add frozen green beans at the top of the bag, then they can be laid down to stack. These are the soup starter packets. To finish the soup I just add a box of broth and fresh chopped carrots to a pan with the frozen starter packet. Cook until the carrots are almost done then add a couple of handfuls of uncooked noodles for about 8-9 minutes. Super easy! I like the idea of using cooked navy beans and tortilla spices for a easy tortilla soup. I haven’t tried this yet but saw it was mentioned by another commenter.
By the way, beware of using dry beans in the crockpot. Some beans need to boil for an appropriate time (depending on the bean) to avoid food poisoning. The crockpot doesn’t get hot enough.
I have had much success with dry beans in the crockpot. After soaking, I add them to the crockpot with the broth first and cook them with the bay leaves and garlic for hours (3?) until they are done, then add the rest of the ingredients. 😉
I just stumbled across this post and love the suggestion. We love to rely on soup during our Ohio winters, and when I make it at home, I make plenty for leftovers and to freeze in single serve bags for my college aged daughter. Because she has limited cooking space (and skill) right now, she LOVES getting frozen bags of soup she can just throw in the fridge to defrost during the day and heat up easily for dinner. It makes her feel a bit like she’s home enjoying home-cooked meals with us! And it gets her eating healthy, non-processed, warm and cozy goodness!
Have you found a replacement for Zaycon Foods yet?
This is a great idea if you make the same soup a lot. I tend to chop and freeze my veggies individually so that I can be more diverse where I use them. At the end of the week, I dice and flash freeze anything that we can’t use before it goes bad. Then I’ll dump the loose veggies into ziplock bags. They are easy to pour and measure out smaller amounts as needed that way.
My family loves soup and we have it at least once a week. My trick for soup is that I take all the leftovers from the last week out of the fridge and put it on the counter. I separate it into things that would go together, dump it in a pot, and tell the kids we are having soup. I’ll add a liquid and fresh, canned, or frozen whatever to it to make it taste correctly. If there is more leftover soup than what people will eat for lunch the next day, I freeze it on quart /pint containers like what you would get from a Chinese take out (I’ve been known to make a 20qt pot of soup upon occasion).
I love the bean trick and I’ve used it for years. If I’m making chili in the slow cooker, I just soak and cook the beans in it the night before. Then I can just dump the rest of the chili ingredients right into the pot and keep going for dinner.
We tried Zaycon, but the meat did not taste any different from what I usually get from my local supermarket. About once every three months or so, I can get ground beef for 1.99lb in 1 or 10lb packages from Kroger, Aldi, or Lidl. Chicken goes on sale slightly more often with boneless breasts being about 1.29lb or better. I just seriously stock up when it goes on sale.
You gave us a great tip, so I will offer one, too. If you put a folded dish towel under your cutting board it will stay in place. You can also use a rectangle of that rubbery shelf liner the same way. The board won’t slip and rotate under your knife, thus avoiding possible injury!
This is a great idea. Love it.
The way I froze soup was in freezer bags. Put the bag in a container and fold the sides over so it doesn’t fall over, then fill. As I closed it, sucked out most of the air. Finish sealing the bag and then laid it flat on a cookie sheet. Froze them and after piled them up in the corner of the freezer. We did this alot when working in the restaurant.
When u need it, rip open the bag into a microwaveable bowl and thaw or into a pot ND thaw.
Never thought of your soup kits for the extra ingredients but didn’t want to make up that much soup ahead. Loving it!!! Thank you
I’m late to the party but I just wanted to say I love the videos you are doing and I love looking at that super cute baby! I do freeze ingredients for, not just soup, but everything. I have ziplock bags of chicken, ground beef, peppers, onions, etc. basically all the regular things that appear in lots of recipes. I try to make it a point when I chop onions since it’s just as easy to chop few more, I’m already crying anyway, to store in the freezer. I store the bags sorta thin and flat so if a recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of onions, I can just break off a small portion then zip it right back up. I make beans exactly the way you do and store them in meal sized portions in the freezer, also. I do sometimes freeze already made soup because we have a lot of freezer space but, like you, when I freeze it in bags big enough to feed our family they are big and awkward to thaw without any mess. Your post makes me want to make some soup!
Thanks for your sweet comment Jennifer! 🙂 I am the same way with onions! I always cry so I want to just do the onions all at once and get it over with. (Or if my hubby’s around I have him cut them for me!)
Being a lover of curries, I have taken to chopping up my bulk bought onions with chillies, as well as my tomatoes and freezing them flat. In that way I have my curry base ready. Garlic is also peeled and frozen. Been doing so since lockdown last year, and I have no wasted tomatoes. Should I need some for a salad, I will pop over to the supermarket for a few
That’s a really good idea. I do freeze soup, but then there is only 5 of us so I can make a big batch and freeze half in tubs. My husband likes soup for lunch when he works from home so it works well for him. I’m going to give the chop and freeze ingredients idea a try as well though. Thanks.
I wish I was better at prepping, but I love the ideas. I also think freezing soup can be messy–much easier to freeze the ingredients.
We never have enough soup left to freeze either. Besides, I tend to forget about things like that in the freezer. We do keep lots of raw materials on hand though!
I started freezing beans after reading your post about it, and I love how convenient it is. My husband and I got an Instant Pot for our anniversary last year and it is the most wonderful appliance. I can cook beans so much faster than I could before. While it used to take me an entire day to cook a batch of beans, I can now cook 3 or more batches of beans in one day. It is such a time saver and 100% worth the investment.
That’s awesome! I am probably the only person who still doesn’t have an Instant Pot! Cooking beans fast like that sure makes it tempting though! Do you still soak them overnight? Or do you not need to soak beans with the Instant Pot?
You do not have to soak beans before cooking them in an instant pot. Love it! Never made beans because soaking was a pain and having to know ahead of time you wanted to make beans. Only made them once or twice in my life until discovering this method. So fast and easy!
You can also pressure can them raw without soaking, and have shelf stable beans with no weird ingredients and whichever spices you like.
This makes so much sense! Why freeze water and take up room in my already small freezer?? I’ll have to try this out!
Yes! It saves so much room in the freezer. Freezer bags are more space efficient than most soup containers too!
I like to make up a similar mix when I have extra carrots and onions from the garden. It is called “Mirepoix” and is onions, carrots and celery lightly cooked in a bit of oil/butter. I put 1-2 cups in ziplock baggies and freeze. It make soup making easier and takes up less space in the freezer. Also it saves time because I will cook a whole pot of the mix at once.
That sounds delicious Betsy!
Genius!! My mom used to this all the time growing up. Any leftover veggies were added to her soup tupperware in the freezer and when it was full we had soup! This makes me rethink my freezer meal days. I haven’t been as diligent with it, and maybe I need to get back in the habit.
The soup Tupperware for leftover veg is such a great idea! I love the idea for soup kits for the freezer too. I usually have a supply of cooked shredded chicken, but to add a few bags of ready to go chopped veg is brilliant. Thanks!
It’s such a time-saver! And there are fewer dishes to wash (cutting board and knife), which is equally wonderful in my book!
The “Soup Tupperware!” I love it! 🙂
We do the same thing. In general I try to avoid buying or storing liquids (except I buy milk, of course). It’s a handy shortcut money saver. Also, my new favorite things to freeze are lemon and lime halves and wedges. So much better than the bottled kind when I need a bit of juice for a recipe. They thaw fast too, which is good since I always forget until the last minute.
Good tip with the lemons and limes! I used to freeze them for smoothies and I’ve frozen the juice, but I that would be handy to have for when you just need a bit for a recipe. In fact I have some limes I could freeze now! 🙂
We only freeze soups if there are leftovers from when I make it. It stays in the freezer until I don’t feel like cooking another meal. Then I’ll defrost them all and let people choose what soup they want to eat.
Zaycon sounds like an interesting setup. The nearest location is a 1.5-hour drive each way so we won’t get to try it. At the Sam’s Club that is a 30-minute drive from us, you buy case sale meat. The chicken breast is $1.90/lb and you can get 38 to 96 lbs in the case. You just have to order ahead.
Freezing leftovers is a nice way to space it out so you don’t have the same things several times in a week!
I’ve never tried pre-ordering in bulk from Sam’s!
Well DUH! This seems like it should be common sense and yet it never even occurred to me! You can bet I will be doing this from now on. Thank you from both me and my freezer!
You’re welcome Jennifer! It’s such a time-saver!
This is such a smart concept! I don’t freeze soup, but now you’ve got me wanting to freeze some “soup kits” too. Right now, the only soup ingredient we have frozen is green peppers. When it became cold enough to take all of them in from the garden last fall, I cut them up and put them in the freezer. We use them in potato soup and chili. I’m trying to think of other meals to use them in because we still have a lot.
That’s great that you saved all of those peppers! I never cook with peppers because my kids freak out (so I don’t have any tried and true suggestions!). I can’t really blame them because I did the same thing as a kid!
I use bell peppers and poblano peppers in many soups. I prefer ripe bell peppers rather than green ones.
I really like them in corn chowder (Pioneer Woman has a great recipe. Just use part of the bacon fat to sauté your veggies; it’s quick and easy.), chicken soup, veggie soup, lentil soup, bean soup, just about any sort of soup. My partner’s not a fan of canned tomatoes so I sometimes use red or orange bell peppers instead of canned tomatoes.