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.
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!
Stockpile Stew
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
- 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
- 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!
- Crockpot Freezer Meals
- Crockpot Turkey Tacos
- Crockpot Apple Butter
- Skinny Lasagna Soup
- Crockpot Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili
- Green Chile Chicken Chili
- KMac’s Crockpot Gumbo
- Mexican Chicken and Roasted Tomato Soup
- Mama Sue’s Kitchen Cabinet Gumbo
- Stockpile Stew (7 Can Soup)
- Slow Cooker Mock Gumbo (WW friendly)
- Slow Cooker Venison Stroganoff
- Slow Cooker Venison Swiss Steak
- Rustic Italian Chicken Stew
- Green Chile Chicken Chili
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
