Well, its here – social distancing, community lockdown, and the random stockpile of items in your pantry due to the coronavirus. This Stockpile Stew, or Shut-in Soup as my mama calls it, will be a perfect way for you to use up two weeks’ worth of random things you still have left!

While I was not part of the toilet paper hoarding, I am totally guilty of grabbing everything I knew we would eat from the freezer section and completely refilling the freezer that we have been trying to eat down and do an annual (or 3 years overdue) defrost. I heard that there was a likelihood that we would be placed in a community lockdown and I started grabbing things like frozen lasagna, frozen enchiladas, Bertoli meals, PF Chang meals, frozen chicken, a tube of hamburger meat, frozen vegetables and even a tub of ice cream. I wasn’t sure how long we might be “stuck inside,” but I’m prepared.

Stockpile Stew is a perfect combination of canned ingredients and freezer finds to us up ingredients you already have at home. Shut-in Soup is easy to make and can cook on the stove top or all day in the slow cooker while you work or care for your family. #soup #stew #easydinner #cannedfoods #pantrymeal

What is the story behind Stockpile Stew?

I love meal planning and it has been fun each night to look outside and get creative with what I find in our freezer and combine it with something in the vegetable drawer, that is dwindling, and on our shelves. I learned to make this soup in college on a ski trip. We set it in the slow cooker before we hit the slopes and it was ready for us to warm up in the late afternoon. It is so easy and so flexible with the mix of ingredients. Frankly, I never stick to the recipe and it never tastes the same twice. But, its always filling, always easy, always convenient, and always warm in my belly!

As you read the recipe, don’t put yourself in a box. Think about what you may already have on hand or could substitute for one of the ingredients listed. And, if you have a fresh or frozen version of one of the ingredients listed, go with that instead. I would suggest staying away from green beans in your soup if you expect anyone to actually eat it!

Print Recipe

Stockpile Stew

Stockpile Stew or Shut-in Soup is a quick and easy recipe using pantry cans and leftovers you already have in your refrigerator or freezer. This soup can be prepared in a stock pot or slow cooker.

Course: Soup

Keyword: soup

Ingredients

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 can stewed or diced tomatoes
2 cans chili beans (or white, black, kidney, chickpeas, etc)
2 can whole kernel corn
2 can VegAll (mixed vegetables)
2 can minestrone soup
1-2 pounds meat – chicken, sausage links, or hamburger optional
1 cup pasta – spirals, bowtie, macaroni, penne optional

Instructions

Cook (brown) the meat.
In a crockpot, or stockpot, combine all the canned ingredients together. Do not drain.
If using a slow cooker, let the soup simmer on low for 6-8 hours.
If using a stockpot or dutch oven, combine the canned ingredients and meat. Allow to simmer for 1 hour.
Boil noodles.
In the crockpot, one hour before serving, add the meat and noodles.
Serve the soup hot with french bread, crackers, chips and top with a little cheese

Notes

This really is a free for all, do it as you are able type of recipe. Mix and match whatever you already have on hand in the freezer, leftovers in the refrigerator. or on the shelves of your pantry. The goal here is to use up extras and random things you already have instead of purchasing something new.

Other options:

saute onions or bell peppers
add potatoes or carrots
tomatoes – stewed, Italian, diced, Mexican, with celery, chili ready
any type of vegetable soup with noodles
no creamy base soups
red beans and rice

Meat

Chicken – ground, rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, white or dark meat
beef – stew meat, ground, brisket, steak
sausage – andouille, turkey, chicken, hot links, bouidan, smoked
turkey – ground, cup up leftovers, but not lunch meat!
pork – ground, ham chunks, maybe even leftover chops, but no lunch meat!
deli – I’ve used peppered pastrami before, actually it was my preference for this soup at one time

These are interesting times for all of us and feeding our own army all these meals is not our usual. What have you been making for your brood?

Try some of my other Slow Cooker favorites!