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

[sprigatito]

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.

I do make my own but I have a big bowl. With bread.

But how calorific can a few vegetables, water and a bit of stock powder be :)

I start with half, then always reheat the second half and finish it.

i don’t have anything with it though, just soup.

A whole can or only half of one of the big tubs / Covent Garden style. But with big hunks of bread. And cheese. And pickles. And various other things that I won’t call picky bits to avoid distressing you all.

I love the M&S soups if I’m on my own at home. No way could I have the whole thing. They’re very filling (to me).

@Catwoman8 I've been back down the google rabbit hole for salt. Nearly 3g in a whole carton! I tend to eat weetabix for breakfast and home cooked tea so the odd one with bread would average out less than 6g salt a day. I'll stick to my big flasks of homemade I think 😋

I’ve only ever eaten half. At home 2 of us share a carton but I mainly use the cartons at work and they last me 2 days. It pretty much fills my bowl and definitely feels like a decent sized portion. Lots of people at work also have half a carton and I can’t say I’ve ever noticed anyone have a full carton.

The plastic ones from the fridge section? Half a portion with two slices of toast

Maybe even one slice these days. Depends how hungry I am

Yes, with bread, as a lunch.

Or on a 5:2:day.

Even a full carton wouldn't feel like an evening meal for me, though.

Definitely a whole one

The only fresh shop bought soup I like are the M&S ones and they’re huge! It’s always half a carton but I rarely have soup for dinner.

The whole thing. With two thick slices of nice white bread and a whole truck load of butter.

And yes I do need to lose some weight. Oh well.

Are you talking about my post on the pearl barley soup thread?

I did specify I was talking about the 600ml big cartons and also specified that for me personally I cant take too much liquid so was just talking personally.

Most people would have a tin (400ml) or the covent garden cartons (400ml) in one go

I would go for half the big cartons, its about a mugfull.

You know everyone has different capacities dont you?

There are people here who have soup with NO BREAD?! faints

I’m sorry if I made you feel got at, I wasn’t meaning to be horrible! I’m not sure if your post was one of the ones I saw, there have been several. I’m just still really surprised (and a bit crestfallen, if I’m honest!) that eating a whole carton of soup can be considered excessive. I eat every scrap and I’m still hungry.

😲 That's a LOT of salt!

I have half a carton with toast or bread.

I tried eating half a carton and was ravenous. The calories aren’t that much for a whole carton either. I tend to have one for lunch with a couple of slices of bread and that gets me through to dinner.

I think the Covent Garden cardboard cartons are the wrong size. Half is too little but a whole is too much for lunch. I have half of one of the plastic tubs and this is a nice sized bowl.

Well I dont feel got at, I was just wondering

In no way did I imply in my post that a carton was excessive, I was trying to help the OP calculate the liquid content of the soup she was wanting to make and was calculating out portions and happened to mention that its either 4x400ml or 4x300ml and use the big cartons as a reference point

Its not excessive if thats the meal you want. Its just soup!!

I personally struggle with large amounts but also I cant take in a lot of liquid which is just me, its fine for others.

And on the salt point raised in other posts, salt is flavour, I use quite a lot of salt in my cooking, salt and fat is flavour.

I usually only have half a carton of soup at a time, but I have it with loads of bread thick with butter and often cheese as well.

I’ll have a whole carton but don’t eat bread or anything else with or after it.

I have half but it's because I get bored of the same flavour and texture, by the time I'm half way through I don't want anymore of the same.

Yea I do but I’d never have a soup carton as a main meal and I don’t have it alone. I usually have half for lunch at work and will have with some toast or crusty bread with cheese, some yogurt, a piece of fruit and maybe some chocolate. I get bored of things quickly and only have half hour break so probably wouldn’t finish a full carton for that reason

I’d serve half if I had a carton of soup but I don’t buy it, dd makes it. I have about 3 ladles and am bored after half of it.
I just find soup a really dull meal so generally avoid it as much as possible!
Dh will sometimes buy a carton for lunch and eat the lot with bread too!