While my Dad is in the hospital, I am making soup for the freezer. I want to use a low salt soup base. Which kind do you use?

When I don't have any of my own, I use the small frozen containers of Perfect Additions unsalted chicken stock. I get it at Whole Foods here. It's quite good, and very concentrated.

If you make your own, just don't add any salt to your usual recipe. Getting used to unsalted (or very sparingly salted) food is a matter of a few meals.

On my way home from visiting my Dad in the hospital, I checked out six brands of soup stock -- none were low-salt.

I'll try another store tomorrow.

Marion - in a pinch (i.e. no time to make my own and none in the freezer) I'll use Campbells low salt low fat broth (the kind which comes in the tetra packs) although I suspect it would have far more salt than you'd want. I know that you're away from home so you don't have the options you might normally explore in TO (Whole Foods, Cumbraes, Pusateris, shops at market, etc) but is there a health food shop in the area which might carry a line of more healthy options?

quote:

Originally posted by JDeQ:
I'll use Campbells low salt low fat broth [...] although I suspect it would have far more salt than you'd want.

That's the point with store-bought low-anything foods: they are usually richer than you wlould need anyway!

For a really fast (vegetable) stock, I use carrot, onion, celery and garlic. Say, one large onion, two carrots, one or two celery stalks and one garlic clove. I put all of the vegetables in the robot and mince them to a very coarse texture: almost diced. I place the vegetables in a pan with two tablespoons of EVO oil and turn on the fire on its minimum setting. I let the vegetable mix to simmer, stirring, for a few minutes, until softened: if the veggies tend to darken, I add a tiny amount of water. After a few minutes, I add about 3 liters of water, a few parsley stalks (whole), 2-3 black pepper grains and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
After boiling the stock, I strain it to remove all of the vegetables, saving a little liquid to be served as an instant soup with all of the vegetables, if you like you can bring it back to the fire and add about 30 grams of spaghetti broken in 1 inch pieces, or the same amount of rice: comfort food!
You can also add other vegetables, treated as above, to vary the flavor of the stock: it's a very good way to use up those unedible leftovers of several vegetables like artichokes, broccoli etc.

To make a meaty stock, combine the same amount of water with the same amount of veggies and herbs as above and one beef kneebone and one chicken tight (do not remove the skin: it protects the meat). Bring to the boil and let simmer for a couple of hours, making sure to remove the scummy stuff that floats on the surface one or twice while boiling.
Remove the vegetables, throw away the herbs and the celery, save the onion and the carrot. Remove also the meat: the leftover bits from the kneebone can be eaten, but not all like them, the chicken can be now peeled, cut in pieces and served in a simple salad with the carrot and onion and a little plain vinaigrette (3/4 olive oil, 1/4 vinnegar, a pinch of salt). let the stock cool in the fridge overnight and the next morning remove the fat that floats on the surface.

Don't add salt until the stock is ready to be served: if you add it too early, it will concentrate and the result will be more salty than you expect.
Both stocks can be reduced by boiling further for freezer treatment: let them reduce to 1/2 or 1/3 of the original amount, freeze in ice cubes and stock (uhm...). To use them just add water and bring to boil.
You can make stocks in bulk (twice or trice the said amounts) while you watch the TV: they require very little work, since most of the time is spent just simmering on the fire. Make a lot and concentrate to 1/3 of the original: with 5 liters of water you can produce 4 liters of stock, that once concentrated will be just a bit more than a liter of stuff.

Alice, your suggestion is a good one and I will try it later this week -- at least, the vegetarian one.

The dietician recommended two salt-free brand names: Cyrches and Beaupre -- Quebec brands. I found Cyrches near the soy foods in one grocery store. I tried it, but the soup tasted flavourful, but flat.

Today, I tried a different approach. I made 1 litre of soup with just one cube of both (a cube has about 1000 mg of salt in it). It is delicious, but sufficiently unsalty that it will be OK for my Dad.

I have thus far made: potato and leek soup; broccoli soup; sweet potato soup; and carrot soup.

Next week, I will make soups with beans, pasta, rice, etc.

My parents are absolutely delighted to have me take over the shopping, cooking and cleaning up. I am very grateful to be able to do this for them, but I must admit that eating early dinner every evening is driving me slightly bonkers!

Hi Marion - how is your dad doing? Any ETA for Toronto?

Hi Liz! My Dad is home from the hospital. He is in so-so shape. He's well enough to want to be outdoors doing things; but he tires very easily. Under the circumstances, I am being flexible. I haven't decided when to go back to Toronto. Maybe 24-25 - but could be later, depending on my Dad's health.

quote:

Originally posted by MarionP:
[...] the soup tasted flavourful, but flat.

The flatness is probably caused by the fact that your tastebuds are used to a highier content of salt. As I said, salt is an addictive taste, but in a few weeks you will get rid of it and start taste things again. believe me, I use very little salt in my food and, I find it tastes better than more salted stuff (I do it because of this, I don't give a fig about health stuff ^_^).

Marion - when you're back we'll have dinner - albeit at a later hour than you might have become accustomed to!

All the best....................