Lunch Ladies: Soup's on!
04:04 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 24, 2006
After a long, hot summer, the temperatures finally dropped, making the Lunch Ladies hanker for the warming comfort of a hot bowl of soup. We noticed that there were lots of soups out there, and we can’t try them all. We just scooped up what grabbed us and gave them a try. Some we liked and some we didn’t. Some came in containers that made us want to give up and head to the vending machine.
Coming soon: hot tea
Tomato puree, diced tomatoes, cream, evaporated can juice, onions, sea salt and spices
Price: $2.29 at Whole Foods
Portion size: 1 cup (two servings per container)
Looks/smells: Bright red in color and smelled like comfort food.
Texture/taste: Sweet and salty.
Kimberly: This was one of the best tomato bisques I have had in a long time. Plus the calories were low, and Amy was kind enough to include salt for those of us who like it a little salty.
Gretchen: Mmm, a grilled cheese sandwich with Light Velveeta would be the perfect match for this soup.
Score: 5 out of 5 lunch bags
Web site: www.amys.com
PER SERVING: Cal 120 (5% fat); Fat 3.5 g (2 g sat); Chol 10 mg; Sodium 680 mg; Carb 21 g (Fiber 2 g; Sugars 14 g); Calcium 8 %; Protein 2 g; Weight Watcher Points® 2
Water, onions, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, cannellini beans, carrots, celery, tomatoes, spinach, macaroni, olive oil, sea salt, garlic, balsamic vinegar and spices
Price: $2.29 at Whole Foods
Portion size: 1 cup (two servings per can)
Looks/smells: Smelled like feet.
Texture/taste: Tasted like pig slop.
Kimberly: Egads! This soup didn’t look good, it didn’t smell good, and it didn’t taste good. We don’t like to hate on Amy’s but this soup was nasty.
Gretchen: It was green, greasy and smelled liked Easter egg dye.
Score: 1 out of 5 lunch bags
Web site: www.amys.com
PER SERVING: Cal 130 (8% fat); Fat 5 g (.5 g sat); Chol 0 mg; Sodium 680 mg; Carb 19 g 9 Fiber 4 g; Sugars 6 g); Calcium 6 %; Protein 5 g; Weight Watcher Points® 2
Water, carrots, onions, green beans, tomatoes, white beans, celery, kidney beans, pasta, corn starch, evaporated cane juice, canola oil, salt, onion powder, garlic and spices
Price: $2.99 at Whole Foods
Portion size: 1 cup (two servings per container)
Looks/smells: Pumpkin colored.
Texture/taste: Tasted a little bland.
Kimberly: This was OK but not great. Maybe a few more spices would help.
Gretchen: My reaction would be, “Oh @#%&*, I brought soup for lunch.” I would immediately head for the company cafeteria where I’d buy the extremely fattening cheeseburger and tots. I advise you to avoid all that and bring your own homemade, less-scary soup instead. Or try one of my new favorites: Progresso’s Vegetable Classics Minestrone or Tomato Rotini.
Score: 2 out of 5 lunch bags
Web site: www.healthvalley.com
PER SERVING: Cal 100 (2% fat); Fat 1.5 g (0 g sat); Fiber 5 g; Chol 0 mg; Sodium 480 mg; Carb 20 g; Calcium 4 %; Protein 4 g; Weight Watcher Points® 1
Water, tomato paste, cream, evaporated cane juice, starch, salt, onion powder and garlic powder
Price: $2.99 at Whole Foods
Portion size: 1 cup (two servings per container)
Looks/smells: Looked orange.
Texture/taste: Tasted sweet.
Kimberly: Not nearly as good as Amy’s.
Gretchen: As the Martians on Sesame Street would say, "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you must watch this video.)
Score: 3 out of 5 lunch bags
Web site: www.healthvalley.com
PER SERVING: Cal 110 (5% fat); Fat 3.5 g (2 g sat); Fiber 3 g; Chol 15 mg; Sodium 300 mg; Carb 17 g; Calcium 4 %; Protein 3 g; Weight Watcher Points® 2
Noodles, soybean paste, sugar, rice wine, sea vegetable, yeast extract, onion, shitake mushroom, tofu, maltodextrin, spinach, guar gum
Price: $2.50 at Whole Foods
Portion size: Half a bowl or about 77 g
Looks/smells: Brownish broth with bright green scallions.
Texture/taste: Noodles are thick and soft.
Kimberly: This was good stuff. The noodles were filling and the ingredients melded together perfectly. While the Ladies were sampling this soup, Gretchen had an out-of-character, Jessica Simpson-moment and asked whether she could eat the soup with chopsticks.
Gretchen: How exactly are you supposed to pick up those fat, slippery noodles with a spoon? If I can’t use chopsticks, can you give me a spork or something? Anyway, this soup was tasty in an extremely onion-y way, but the effort we had to put into the preparation wasn’t really worth it. There was too much measuring and mixing going on.
Score: 4 out of 5 lunch bags
Web site: www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/ExecMacro/anniechun/home.d2w/report
PER SERVING: Cal 110 (2% fat); Fat 1 g (0 g sat); Fiber 1 g; Chol 0 mg; Sodium 450 mg; Carb 23 g; Calcium 2 %; Protein 3 g; Weight Watcher Points® 2
Noodles, fish sauce, fresh chili pepper, evaporate cane juice, onion, lime juice, salt, canola oil, ginger, mushroom extract, tamarind, yeast extract, garlic shrimp extract, citric acid, green onion, maltodextrin, bok choy, tofu, red pepper, shitake mushroom guar gum
Price: $2.50 at Whole Foods
Portion size: Half a bowl or 77 g
Looks/smells: This smelled a little sour.
Texture/taste: Spicy hot.
Kimberly: I liked this soup better than Gretchen did because I liked the chili pepper, but didn’t think it was as good as the miso soup.
Gretchen: Our co-workers were not happy with the foreign smell coming from the break room. Annie should change the name from “Thai Tom Yum” to “What the Hell is That Smell.”
Score: 3 out of 5 lunch bags
Web site: http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/ExecMacro/anniechun/home.d2w/report
PER SERVING: Cal 150 (1.5% fat); Fat 2 g (0 g sat); Fiber 1 g; Chol 0 mg; Sodium 730 mg; Carb 30 g; Calcium 2 %; Protein 5 g; Weight Watcher Points® 3
 | The Lunch Ladies dish about healthy dining options for the workplace every other week. • Free e-mail newsletter: Sign up for previews and extras | View newsletter archives • Want a Lunch Ladies T-shirt or lunch box? Visit the Break Room store. |