Friday, January 8, 2010

The Campbell's soup challenge


I used to eat tons of Campbells soup growing up, and now I don't touch the stuff. Why? Because, I've learned, I can't pick up a can of Campbell's soup without finding some sort of junk in it. Every single one of their soups has AT LEAST one of the following elements that I routinely AVOID when buying food:

  • Hydrogenated oil
  • High Fructose Corn Syrup
  • Monosodium Glutamate

Even with some of their "natural" brand, they are still sneaky enough to add MSG in the form of either autolyzed protein or yeast extract, both being things I avoid.

So my challenge is, does there exist ANY Campbells soup product that doesn't contain one of those three things? Honestly, I don't think so. I've read through all of the labels and each soup has at least one of those.

Even the HEB brand of cream of mushroom soup, that I used to buy, now has an MSG-derrivative in it (for a brief window of time, the soup didn't have it.) which is really too bad.

So, much like my burrito wrap dilemma of a previous post, I'm actually resorting to making my own soup/soup stock for recipes. For dishes that call for cream of mushroom/cream of celery, I use the following:
  • 1/2 cup or so of whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • quarter stick of butter
  • Some diced onion/garlic (whatever your own preference is)
  • Some salt/pepper/assundry spices
It's strange, but using that as a base, then combining with chicken/veggies/whatever, I can actually make a half-decent soup component to a meal/casserole.

Anyhow, Campbells people: I'll keep reading the labels, and maybe someday you'll surprise me with a REAL natural soup, and not just a pretend natural soup like you carry now.

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