Soup Decline

[talon]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L2HD20100222

Well, there are several reasons for this, I'm sure. Not the least of which is just how expensive canned soup is and how cheap and easy it is to make. I don't know about other parts of the country, but when the cheapest can of soup (not on sale) exceeds $1.00, then I'm far less likely to buy it. I'm sure there are plenty of others who once relied on inexpensive canned soups to fill their larder who have now stopped buying because canned soup isn't cheap anymore.

Few survivalists rely on canned soups for long term storage, preferring to store freeze-dried or dehydrated foods instead from which they can create soups.

The fact that many canned soups are extremely high in sodium is another deterrant to buying canned soups and this is especially true of the cheapest soups.

It doesn't take much or long to cook a customized delicious soup: some broth or stock, a few veggies, maybe a bit of meat, add some herbs for additional flavoring - all of which can be scavenged from leftovers or the pantry and tossed in a pot for a lovely quick supper or lunch.

I made a pot roast last night, with roasted carrots, potatoes, and celery. Tonight it becomes beef stew. I'll add corn and tomatoes to it and have a really good soup in just a few minutes - faster than finding the can opener and opening and heating a can of over-salted, expensive beef stew.

When I bake, roast, or grill chicken, I save the carcass for stock and freeze the stock. Then, when I want soup, all I have to do is plop a few cubes of frozen stock into a pot with some shredded left over chicken meat, a carrot, and some rice or pasta. A squeeze of lemon and some parsley and it's a better soup than I've ever found canned - and ready in just minutes.

So, yeah, Campbell's soup sales are down, and so's their stock (pun intended).

Blame it on people who've discovered just how easy it is to make soup.

Comments

[senmut]

+NODS+

My GF makes the best soups, and I can't see eating soup from a can hardly at all any more.

[havocthecat]

I grew up eating homemade soup, and have yet to understand why anyone would want canned soup, other than for convenience's sake. (I'm sure other people have perfectly good reasons for wanting it, but, personally, thanks no.)