Easy No MSG Instant Soup Mix

Here’s an easy no msg instant soup mix post. “Easy” because I care about that kind of thing. “No msg” because blah. “Soup” because yum. “Instant” because quick.

Souper’s on, my friends.

Yum.

I love soup. I’d marry it in a heartbeat if I wasn’t already committed to Handsome Dude and pie. Soup in the spring, in the summer, in fall, and winter. It’s comfort food in a variety of flavors and consistencies. Unfortunately, it’s not something we can just buy right off of the shelf in a packet or a can because of monosodium glutamate. MSG is not my friend — it’s ubiquitous. You’ll find it on ingredient lists under a variety of monikers. Tricky little monster.

Homemade sit-and-simmer-in-the-pot soups because the house smells wonderful and there’s always enough to last me for two weeks eating a bowl of soup every day because that’s just how I roll. BUT they are time munchers and sometimes I just want a quick bowl/mug of soup.

There’s a faux Ranch Dressing mix recipe in my drawer that I’ve used for years. It’s scribbled on a bright piece of yellow paper and I have no idea where it came from. None. Zero. Zilch. We add it by the teaspoonful to a cup of sour cream and use it for a dip. It’s tasty. It has never occurred to me to use a slightly modified version as a base for soup. Until now.

This is the easy no MSG instant soup mix recipe which is a slightly modified version of the yellow paper recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need for the mix.

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Easy No MSG Instant Soup Mix

2/3 cup dried, minced onion
2 tsp onion powder
3 tsp parsley flakes
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp celery salt
[not celery seed -- I tried both and prefer celery salt -- unless you crush the celery seed]
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 Tbsp chives
Mix spices in an airtight container.
Add or omit any spices. If you like spicy, add red pepper flakes or chili powder. Curry is delicious as well.
I always double or triple the recipe when mixing it up and store it in the spice cupboard.
3.1
https://sweetcreekmoon.com/easy-no-msg-instant-soup-mix/

Add or omit any spices. If you like spicy, add red pepper flakes or chili powder. I’ve added curry before and it’s delicious. I always double or triple the batch when mixing it up and then store it in an airtight container in the spice cupboard.

It’s stored in an air-tight container in the cupboard unless we’re hitting the road and I need easy-to-use packets for a trip. I had visions dancing in my head of me whipping out a packet of soup when everyone else on the plane was asking for coffee or tea. There would be hot water on the plane — and now there would be a soup packet.

Putting the packets together

Handsome Dude inadvertently purchased these portion pack snack size bags awhile ago. They turned out to be rather inconvenient for snacks and were just there–sitting–in the drawer. Doing nothing. Except sitting in the drawer.

These were unintentionally perfect for the soup packets.

Here’s what you’ll need.

— the portion pack snack size bags
[Use the sandwich bag ziploc size if you’re including the noodles in the packet. More on that later.]
— the Easy No MSG Instant Soup Mix
— up to four kinds of freeze dried veggies you want in the soup packet
— a teaspoon
— a 1/4 measuring cup
[you’re using the portion pack snack size bags because of how they’re oriented not so much for the measuring indicators though they would be great in a pinch]

Here’s the 411 on the veggies — they’re freeze dried.

I eat those peas right out of the can. They are that delicious.

Freeze dried worked perfectly. Frozen in your freezer veggies or fresh veggies will work as well. If you’re not traveling.

T H R I V E

That’s the name of the product I’m using and just to be perfectly, absolutely clear y’all I don’t sell the product. I don’t and won’t receive any free products to tell you this. [If you have my name for Christmas, though, let’s talk.]

That aside, may I kindly just tell you that this is the first food storage system [and we’ve tried several] that works splendidly. I use what I buy. There’s no chance I’ll end up throwing away 4,000 lbs of anything [oh, I’ve heard the stories] because it doesn’t get used. I’m consistently, constantly rotating the food.

I love Thrive. I thrive on Thrive. [Yes, I’m smiling.]

By the way — if you were going to choose a dried raspberry to pop in to your mouth right now, which one would you select?

We have both of these in our house which made it easy to compare. I’m not even going to tell which one is the Thrive freeze dried raspberry because you’re probably sensing it.

Back to the soup

I used a combination of 1/4 cup each of freeze dried peas, cauliflower, corn, and broccoli.

It was like an assembly line. I put 1/4 cup of peas into each of the 20 bags followed by the corn, the broccoli, and the cauliflower. There’s no magic about the order the veggies were added to the bag. Once that part was completed, I placed the bags in a container — open side up, like baby birds waiting to be fed — to make it easier to add the spices. The bags supported each other. [Did you ever in your life want to be more like a bag than you do right now?] I held the spice mix in one hand and the teaspoon in the other.

Helpful hint

Make sure that you shake, stir, or whisk the spice mix as you add it to the veggies. The smallest particulates (thank you Handsome Dude for enhancing my vocabulary) will settle quite naturally into the bottom of the container and you’re going to want all of the goodness going into each packet — not just the stuff on top. It worked for me to simply shake and measure a teaspoonful. Shake and measure a teaspoonful.

Use a teaspoon of soup mix/packet unless you want more or less flavor.

Zip those bags closed and you are set.

Some quick info about noodles

Use about 1 cup of dried noodles per serving.

Though this soup is tasty without them, noodles are easy to add.

I randomly chose two different noodles hoping to find one that cooked quickly [it’s for instant soup], divided easily into single – serving portions, and didn’t taste yucky.

Surprisingly, both types of noodles required 10 minutes in hot water to cook.

They both taste about the same.

The big difference [and believe me when I say it was a big difference] was in how easily they could be divided into single – serving portions.

Or not.

Seriously. I began with the noodles on the right just because it seemed they would be the easy winner, but noooooo. They look like they’ll snap in half like a dried twig, right? No. Bendy, bendy like a skinny little piece of wire. I tried hackin’ and sawin’ at ’em with a butcher knife. Ineffective. Handsome Dude finally brought in the chainsaw.

I jest about the chainsaw part but the rest is real and true.

Don’t believe for one second that those single – serving portions came without a price.

~grin~

Cooking time was the same. Both types taste like rice noodles that basically absorb the flavor of the broth they’re in.

These simply didn’t require a chainsaw to separate into single servings.

Boom.

1- It’s easy.

2- Handsome Dude loves it.

3- We use whatever freeze dried vegetables we have in the pantry so there’s no mad dash to the store.

4- It travels well.

5 – I can use the Easy No MSG Instant Soup mix as a dip with plain yogurt or sour cream.

That’s a win straight across the board.