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Original poster

Do people REALLY only eat half a carton of fresh soup?

212 replies

sprigatito · 02/01/2026 20:00

I’m struggling to get my head around this! I’ve seen on MN several times lately that people eat half of a carton for a meal, and I know the calories are given that way on the packaging, so officially it’s a serving…but I’ve never met anyone in real life who doesn’t eat the whole carton! I’ve lost 4.5 stone this year and I eat soup most evenings for dinner. I don’t overeat generally. My soups are mostly homemade, but I do use fresh supermarket ones sometimes, and half a carton really would be a miserable little puddle in the bottom of the bowl! Is it really, honestly normal? And…why?

YABU: half a carton is ample. You’ve lost sight of what a normal bowl of soup looks like
YANBU: nobody actually does that. It’s soup, not golden syrup with extra chunks of pork fat.

OP posts:
Scarlettpixie · 02/01/2026 21:48

I do but would have bread with it.

musicforthesoul · 02/01/2026 21:46

The size of most of the fresh soup pots in the supermarket is a pet hate of mine, half a portion is way too little for me but a full one is often a bit too much.

Eyeshadow · 02/01/2026 21:46

I would definitely eat a whole one and regularly did at work when I was losing weight - it definitely worked as it takes a long time to eat and so you feel full.

I didn’t eat bread with it though but I could and would have if I wasn’t on a diet.

I’m not on a diet anymore so I might buy a tin of Heinz tomatoe soup and have 2 slices of bread and butter with it 😋

Squellyolwelly · 02/01/2026 21:44

My 4 year old son eats a whole tin of soup to himself with bread, I think he’d be offended if I only offered him half 😂

soupyspoon · 02/01/2026 21:43

SpicedAppleCake · 02/01/2026 21:40

Cully & Sully soups are nice @soupyspoon , I often buy them. I like their thai chicken soup. I haven't tried the smoked fish one you mentioned, I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.

Im definitely going to try that one, there is a Baxters Cullen Skink which I love but its tinned and expensive, this is a fresh one by the looks of it for the same price

Its not worth trying to make a smoked fish soup for one person, too much faffing with the fish.

CoffeeCakeAndALattePlease · 02/01/2026 21:43

DH and I share a carton between us but with some chunky bread & butter. Without that it wouldn’t be enough.

Denim4ever · 02/01/2026 21:42

Soup of the kind described is lunch, so definitely half.

soupyspoon · 02/01/2026 21:42

AhBiscuits · 02/01/2026 21:38

I really recommend a soup maker as an alternative. Lovely fresh soup in less than half an hour. I was definitely a skeptic at first but it's fab.
I set mine before going for a shower then pour it in a flask and take it to the office for lunch.

I have a soup maker and usually make my own but theres nothing wrong with the fresh soups, theres nothing in them I wouldnt put in my own soup

HausofHolbein · 02/01/2026 21:42

Half.

SpicedAppleCake · 02/01/2026 21:40

Cully & Sully soups are nice @soupyspoon , I often buy them. I like their thai chicken soup. I haven't tried the smoked fish one you mentioned, I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.

vanillalattes · 02/01/2026 21:39

Half for me, but I’d have it with bread, butter and cheese on the side.

itsthetea · 02/01/2026 21:38

It’s two portions but not huge calories so you need lots of cheese butties to make a meal with half a pot

AhBiscuits · 02/01/2026 21:38

I really recommend a soup maker as an alternative. Lovely fresh soup in less than half an hour. I was definitely a skeptic at first but it's fab.
I set mine before going for a shower then pour it in a flask and take it to the office for lunch.

FableLies · 02/01/2026 21:37

I remember as a child, a tin of Heinz soup fed two adults with sides of bread and a cuppa at weekends. Manual jobs. Why isn't it the same now? I make my own so no idea on quantity.

soupyspoon · 02/01/2026 21:37

Remember a lot of 'serving suggestions' are so that they can claim a particular proportion or level of salt and fat and calories in a product. Its not borne out of an acutal expectation of what fills someone up.

The cartons of soup people are referring to are things like this

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/265287542

cramptramp · 02/01/2026 21:31

I’ve never seen a carton of soup. But I know that on a tin, the serving suggestion is half a tin. I have one skinny friend who says she only eats half a tin, but I think half a tin of soup would need about 10 slices of bread with it to make it filling enough.

AngelsWithSilverWings · 02/01/2026 21:27

I eat half a Covent Garden soup carton with two buttered ryvita for lunch quite a lot. DH has the other half with a couple of slices of buttered bread. It would never occur to me to eat a whole one.

soupyspoon · 02/01/2026 21:26

Bloody hell, Ive learned something tonight

So I was looking at soups at Tesco online for this thread

Firstly of course theres a massive difference between the fresh soups and how filling they would be, you cant compare some lacklustre carrot and coriander with the sweet potato and coconut, the latter would be more filling.

Same as the tomato and basil (a total cop out of a soup if you ask me, I hate seeing that on a menu), compare that one to the chicken and mushroom, the latter again being far more filling

But I see the covent garden ones are 560g, I thought they were 400g. 560g is an odd size to me, neither here nor there

I also see that Tesco do a Cully and Sully brand (never heard of them) and they do a smoked fish soup, that would be gorgeous

But I am verily shocked, really shocked that a PP is right, the tins of Hienz, say they serve 2 people!!!!!

Drind · 02/01/2026 21:26

Tallypoo193 · 02/01/2026 20:09

Lunchtime I would eat half a carton with a slice of bread. Main evening meal, without bread - maybe the whole thing?

One carton of soup as your whole evening meal?!

SpicedAppleCake · 02/01/2026 21:25

I would have the whole carton/tin. The ones I buy are 400g.

AhBiscuits · 02/01/2026 21:24

I agree that the tubs are an annoying size. They should be 400g or 800g.

Livingthebestlife · 02/01/2026 21:23

We have small soup bowls, don't want to get too greedy, everyone would just fill those big bowls up here, they hold maybe 2-3 table spoons of soup, I can feed the whole family for 2 days with one carton. Wouldn't have bread, that's just gluttony and those calories 😧😧😧

averychoc · 02/01/2026 21:22

I’m on Mounjaro and I would eat a whole carton of Covent Garden.

Occasionalsnaccident · 02/01/2026 21:21

Half a carton isn’t quite enough but as per pps a full one is a bit too much with bread. It also doesn’t fit comfortably in my bowls so I have to have a gravy boat on the side to top up. This issue has largely stopped me from buying them though so that’s a plus! I try to freeze a couple of portions whenever I make a batch of soup and this seems to work well

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