Seattle Soup Wins As Stomach-Filler
With winter coming, we figured The Spokesman-Review’s reader food panel members could use a little meat on their bones.
So when we went shopping for the fixings for a stomach-warming soup and sandwich menu, we skipped the Healthy Choice selections for once in favor of a full-fat lineup.
The cheapest of the three chicken noodle soups we sampled, a standard Campbell’s condensed version, was by far the fattiest. There were tell-tale yellow flecks floating in the broth that surrounded skimpy chicken and vegetable pieces and skinny spaghetti noodles.
Another canned soup, from Progresso, was a marked improvement both aesthetically and nutritionally. But the clear (actually, kind of creamy) winner was the packaged soup concentrate from Stockpot, a Seattle-area company that started out supplying restaurants before launching a retail line earlier this year.
Found in various flavors in the refrigerated cases of some supermarkets (try Tidyman’s, Safeway or Costco), Stockpot mixes with water or milk to make a remarkably fresh-tasting soup. And ounce for ounce, it’s really not much more expensive than Progresso.
There was less to choose between the three brands of frozen ham-and-cheese pocket sandwiches we sampled, taste-wise or fat-wise.
All scored about the same with panel members, with the new Red Baron pockets standing out because of their low introductory price. So grab them while you can, and after that, you might as well get whatever’s on sale.
But if that happens to be the Healthy Choice pockets, you’re on your own.
Stockpot Classic Soups, Chicken Vegetable Noodle
Price: $3.29 for 10 ounces (makes 4 cups).
Nutrition: 70 calories (21 percent fat calories); 670 milligrams sodium per cup.
Taste: *****
Value: ****
Comments: “Smells more like homemade. Nice to see real veggies. Decent chunks of chicken. The broth is not watery. This is a good one!” - Sandi Kessler
“If I ever wanted to eat chicken soup, this is the best.” - Larry Kelly
Progresso Soup, Chicken Noodle
Price: $1.83 for 19 ounces (makes 2.5 cups).
Nutrition: 80 calories (19 percent fat calories); 750 milligrams sodium per cup.
Taste: ****
Value: ***
Comments: “One of the better canned soups I’ve tasted. Tastes much lower in sodium than it is. Highly recommend for you soup lovers.” - Ken Peters
“Nice big veggies, but needs more variety of them - just carrots and celery don’t cut it. Limp noodles. Not much flavor.” - Helen Span
Campbell’s Condensed Soup, Homestyle Chicken Noodle
Price: $1.13 for 10.75 ounces (makes 2.5 cups).
Nutrition: 70 calories (36 percent fat calories); 970 milligrams sodium per cup.
Taste: ***
Value: ***
Comments: “It’s got that ‘fake chicken’ taste - probably more economical than some.” - Madilyn Hutchison Foco
“Small chunks of chicken and veggies. Kind of greasy; leaves grease on your lips.” - Jarretta Manning
Hot Pockets Croissant Pockets, Ham & Cheddar
Price: $2.49 for 9 ounces (2 pockets).
Nutrition: 360 calories (44 percent fat calories); 710 milligrams sodium per pocket.
Taste: ****
Value: ***
Comments: “Too much crust … (but) best-looking crust. Cheese looks very real. Meat the best.” - Larry Kelly
“Quite salty - flaky crust.” - Madilyn Hutchison Foco
Totino’s Hearty Pockets, Ham and Cheese
Price: $2.49 for 9.5 ounces (2 pockets).
Nutrition: 320 calories (41 percent fat calories); 1,020 milligrams sodium per pocket.
Taste: ****
Value: ***
Comments: “Smoky taste. Flaky crust. Quite a bit of meat! Pretty good.” - Sandi Kessler
“Lots of ham, maybe a little too salty. Much too much of a smoke flavor.” - Ken Peters
Red Baron Pastry Pouches, Ham & Cheese
Price: $1.67 for 9 ounces (2 pockets).
Nutrition: 320 calories (41 percent fat calories); 980 milligrams sodium per pocket.
Taste: ****
Value: ****
Comments: “Lots of meat and flaky crust. Very good.” - Jarretta Manning
“Wonderful, wonderful! Perfect for an episode of ‘The X-Files’.” - Helen Span
, DataTimes