Food Storage 2024 - haven't been to the grocery store since November, 2023 - it's now January 13, 2024
Mr. Husband had surgery yesterday and today I was determined to make some sort of hot, healthy soup for dinner. I was craving tomato soup and it just so happens our regular, go-to tomato soup is perfect for using food storage items because it uses canned tomatoes and canned milk anyway!
We've been making this one for years and it's a favorite. You can play with the amount of onions a bit, and you can add extra tomato if you wish. Food storage options if you don't have fresh onions, are to use reconstituted minced dehyrated onions - but only about 1/2 a cup re-hydrated since they are so tiny compared to the 3/4 - 1 cup a diced fresh onion would be. Tomatoes work best if a can of pureed or crushed, 28 oz. size but if you are blessed to have fresh tomatoes, just blend them up in the blender (instructions for easy skin removal at the bottom of the post) until you have about 28 oz. worth, more or less.
This is awesome with evaporated milk but you could use cream or half and half if you wished. I've made it in the past with regular milk as well although I used a little more flour to thicken. Since my original recipe uses evaporated milk and we are doing food strorage groceries right now it was perfect for tonight's dinner! Serving with grilled cheese made with my homemade bread and we still have American Cheese slices right now - although I will switch to freeze dried cheddar, reconstituted, later on when we are out.
Homemade Tomato Soup
1 T oil
3/4 c sweet onion, diced
3-4 cups worth of fresh tomato puree (approximately) or crushed or pureed tomatoes in a can - 28 oz.
1/2 t dried basil or about 1 teaspoon fresh, diced
3 T flour
1 3/4 - 2 cups chicken broth (bouillon, homemade or canned)
2 T sugar
12 oz. evaporated milk
salt and pepper to taste
In
a large saucepan, heat the butter and vegetable oil over medium heat.
Add the onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Add
the tomatoes and basil. Simmer about 10 minutes.
Combine the
flour into the broth and whisk or beat with a fork until smooth. Add to the soup,
stirring constantly. Simmer on low 10-15 minutes. Add the baking soda, sugar, milk and salt and pepper. Heat through and serve.
*Note: If you are using fresh tomatoes, plunge them into a
pot of boiling water for 1 minute, then into cold water and slip the
skin off before chopping up and adding them to your blender to puree.
If you are using canned, diced tomatoes you have the choice of blending
them smoother OR leave them chunky for a soup with body. If you are
using puree from a can, no need to use a blender at all.
