Soup as a meal? Following on from another post

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Just that really.
There seems to be very conflicting thoughts on soup as an evening meal.
We quite often have soup, with hotdogs, burgers (yep you read that right, thanks mum ) or toasties.....

This is my favourite soup in the world. And what we have for a couple of meals a month during winter.

It's definitely a meal.

www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipes/italian-polpetti-soup-55814d9afd2cb9bd158b4567

Chicken broth or tinned tomato soup.... needs bread and toasties on the side. Although I might defintiely try with hotdogs. That sounds a family winner!

I have (usually) home made soup for lunch a couple of times a week, with hummus on toast or a cheese sandwich. Soup is lush.

I have this argument with my husband all the time!
He says it's a perfectly acceptable evening meal. I say it's a lunch or a starter!

When it's got a scotch egg in it.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/01/scotch-egg-is-definitely-a-substantial-meal-says-michael-gove

Totally acceptable meal. We have soup and toastie Monday most weeks as it's easy on the first day at work. We do only do home made soups though, bulk cook and freeze. The freezer currently has Christmas soup (turkey, trimmings, veg) sweet potato and chilli, and mushroom and tarragon. This weekend I will make pea and ham hock. Yum. Very filling with the cheese and ham toastie on the side. Next stop, leek and potato. I do have to keep an eye on it though as at one point a while ago we had 17 portions of various things in there and it was a bit out of control.__

I don't understand why people say soup is suitable for lunch but not dinner?

Why? Surely it's all just food? If people think soup is somehow insufficient to be eaten in the evening, why not try eating more at lunchtime, so you're not ravenous and in need of a large/heavier meal later on?

I don't know. Substantial in terms of volume, content or size of pieces of food contained within?

If you make a bean and sweet potato soup and leave it chunky, it somehow counts as more substantial than if it's blended smooth according to some people, despite it being exactly the same food? Makes no sense.

@GorgeousLadyofWrestling I like the chicken and mushroom one that's got rice in it- utterly delicious and yes it could be a meal with some decent bread

@hryllilegur my H has ramens or laskas at least twice a week. I'm not keen on soup with noodles but he would eat it every day

I'd say if it has a source of protein in such as chicken, lentils, chickpeas etc

Nah, definitely not. Lunchtime, yes. Dinner, no. In fact, I’ve got a gorgeous homemade leak and potato soup in the freezer. Might have that for lunch.

My father makes the most amazing mouth watering soups I've ever tasted. Try as I might, mine never taste as amazing as his, particularly his French onion soup, served individually with a slice of cheese on toast floating on top.
Absolute heaven and a meal on its own.

People are even more weird and rigid about what constitutes a ‘breakfast food’
i find.

I can imagine some of the people horrified by soup for dinner would be aghast that my DS (13) regularly eats leftovers from last nights’ dinner for breakfast before school. Today’s breakfast was macaroni cheese with roasted tomatoes and chorizo.

I do the same and always get comments at work along the lines of 'WHY are you eating spagetti bolognese for breakfast!!!!'. I don't like sweeter foods or cereals and am bored rigid by eggs. Leftovers work for me and then I usually skip lunch.

What is a 'soup'?

There's vegetable broth, there's chicken pasta soup.,... There's a huge difference in terms of nutrition.

Homemade soup is a substantial meal, especially with bread or sandwich along side, perfectly fine for dinner.

The only tinned soup I entertain is Heinz cream of tomato with a cheese toastie, this is fine for lunch for everyone but I would only have it for dinner if I was eating alone.

Thanks to this thread, I made a pot of soup this morning. Very nice too. Some posters here seem to think this is a first step to canonisation. Saint Gasp0de of the Celeriac Soup has a certain ring to it, I suppose.

Soup to me just means a very liquid savoury concoction served in a bowl and consumed using a spoon (I can't bring myself to say either eaten or drunk there, they both seem wrong). Sandwich covers a similarly wide range. Could be very nutritious, e.g. hummus, falafel and salad, or could be less so, e.g. jam sandwich.

We often have soup as a main meal but it is home made and very hearty. DH does a brilliant minestrone or a kale and ham hock or green veg with pesto and garlic croutons.

Can I just say that I am currently an expert on soups. Am on a soup diet after surgery.

I made a load of different ones before going in, but I'm getting a bit fed up of those, so ordered in some shop 'fresh homemade' soups for something different. All I can say there is nothing fresh or homemade about them, they taste like a version of tinned soup to me.

They are keeping me alive though, so that of course, is a bonus. So from my expert opinion, homemade can definitely be classed as a meal, but the bought kind are very watered down and a bit tasteless so the extra toastie or decent bread on the side is a must. Not that I can have the extras as yet , but have a feeling I won't be awfully keen to try them when I'm over this ordeal.

My soup maker definitely came in handy though, it's a gadget I don't regret buying.

The Latvians love a dessert soup.

in fact, three courses of soup would probably be a Latvian delight. 😁

We usually have it for lunch. Made leek and potato this morning. Had veg (with chickpeas in it) from Monday to Wednesday. Very handy for baby too with some mash! Can't see anything wrong with having it for dinner

I posted on the other thread my adult children view mums tomato soup as the ultimate comfort food.

Dd3 requested it for her 18th birthday dinner (in Denmark living with my sister) d sis requested the recipe and made it for her.

So yes in our house soup is a meal.

To the poster who claimed its a starter for a reason. Chicken is also on the starters regularly as is quiche and tarts. Doesn't =they can't also be a main.

Possibly because people may not have the opportunity or time to have a hearty or heavy meal at lunchtime. Lunch for me was frequently on the hoof (not very healthy I know, but that is what happens when working for NHS) and there was no way I would be able to eat a substantial meal at lunchtime due to lack of opportunity and time. On the days I did have time, I wouldn’t have wanted to have to work all afternoon with an overly full stomach either.

A smooth soup in a flask was far easier to eat/drink, than something that required heating or a spoon and made the difference between eating and not eating.

Whilst all food is food, different forms of the same thing can work in one setting/occasion, but not in others.

I have used up left over cooked veg and meat from a roast meal liquidised into stock to make a "soup" the following day served with bread.So do not see why it is not a meal in itself.