Soup up your menu with Chunky soups. They can be expensive, but like all things at the grocery store, they do eventually go on sale. Keep an eye out for when they do go on sale and stock up. Not only do chunky soups make great comfort food lunches on cold winter days but they also make for an excellent dinner base on days when you forgot to take meat out of the freezer for dinner.
Rice
Any chunky soup that contains rice can be used to create an easy one pan dish. By adding 2 cups of water, a bullion cube, and 2 cups of rice you can easily feed a family of four a quick and nutritional meal that contains both meat and vegetables without much hassle.
Noodles
Any chunky soup that contains noodles is also simple to turn into a meal. You can add an extra cup of water and a package of ramen noodles to bulk up the servings to feed a family of 3. You can also add regular macaroni or egg noodles etc, instead of ramen noodles, and boil until the noodles are done. You can either serve as a soup or thicken the broth to make it more of a casserole type dish.
Other
General chunky soups that don’t contain either rice or noodles, such as chunky beef vegetable can also be bulked up into a meal by adding water, boullion and either mashed potatoes or stuffing cubes.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. A little creativity can help save a trip to the local fast food restaurant or a call to the nearest pizza place on those nights when you are stuck for dinner ideas.
