Campbell’s Chunky Savory Vegetable Soup Review

Canned soups are not my first choices for the healthiest and freshest meal courses.  But this Campbell’s Chunky Savory Vegetable Soup isn’t bad, considering that it is canned.  It’s less than $2 per can and contains way more vegetables than broth. It’s hearty for a vegetable soup.

 

Benefits, Advantages, Pros, and Features

  • The pull-top lid facilitates easy opening, without a can opener. The printed instructions on the lid for opening are easy to read and understand.
  • The Campbell’s brand is so well established that you can usually find at least some of the Chunky Soup line at any grocery store, large or small. This is one of the flavors carried most by the largest number of stores.
  • Plenty of potatoes and peas here to satisfy bigger appetites.
  • This is a surprisingly filling soup, even though it contains no meat, but not as satisfying as some meaty soups.
  • No additional water is required to reconstitute this soup.  This is not a condensed soup product.  Aside from heating it, what comes in the can is ready to eat; a hallmark feature of the entire Campbell’s Chunky Soup line.
  • You get a montage of vegetables and spices in this soup, which enhances not only its flavor, but its nutritional qualities as well.  It’s quite the hearty lunch or snack.  The label says that it “eats like a meal,” and “fills you up right.”  Generally, I agree.
  • The steel can is recyclable.
  • I’ve kept this canned soup for two years in a cool place in my pantry or basement, and it still tastes and looks fine.
  • The soup is low-fat, which not only reduces the calorie content, but makes bowl and pan cleanup easier.
  • It has over eight vegetables and spices, for a multitude of pleasantly complimentary flavors.

 

Disadvantages, Concerns, Problems, and Cons

  • High sodium soup at 770 milligrams per serving.  There’s also a bit of high fructose corn syrup here too.  Get rid of that, please.
  • As this product is canned, the vegetables inside are pre cooked.  This mitigates the fresh vegetables taste significantly.  Most of the bright colors of the vegetables as well as their signature crunches disappear.  Aaaah, the price of convenience I suppose.
  • This soup has a bit of high fructose corn syrup.  Get rid of that, please.
  • This product contains no meat (neither beef nor chicken).  So it’s not as filling as I woould like.  However, eating the whole can, which makes a rather large bowl, satisfies my hunger for two to three hours anyhow.  The addition of a little beef would likely add an hour or two to that.  But then, that’s what they do in their Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup product.
  • Once opened, the lid as well as the can have sharp edges.  It’s easy to cut yourself on them if not being extremely careful.  Eliminate those sharp edges please.
  • I would not heat this soup in the can it comes in however, as this might expose you to dangerous chemicals found in the can’s inner liner.
  • This product may not be suitable for vegetarian or vegan diets, as the can makes no claims that it is suitable.  Currently, there appears to be no non vegeterian ingredients in this product.  But recipes can change without notice.  So check the label each time you buy this.

 

Preparation Instructions

Do not add water.

Stove Directions

  1. Open the can and dump contents into a medium sauce pan.
  2. Place pan on stove.
  3. Heat over medium to medium-high heat until the soup just starts to boiling.  However, to prevent messes, do not bring to a full, rolling boil.
  4. Stir occasionally (once every minute or two) while heating.
  5. Once the soup is hot, remove from stove, and latle into soup bowls and enjoy.

Microwave Oven Directions

  1. Put contents of the soup can into a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl or two single-serving microwave-safe bowls.
  2. Heat with the high power (100%) setting for 2 and 1/2 to 3 minutes.   Times vary depending on the microwave oven being used.  Experiment with yours to determine  ideal heating times.
  3. Once heating is complete, let stand in the microwave oven for a minute or two, to allow any boiling to stop and the heat to evenly distribute itself throughout the soup.
  4. Remove the bowl(s) from microwave oven.  Take care, as they’ll be quite hot.
  5. Stir the soup several times.
  6. Then, serve and enjoy.

 

Ingredients

Water, carrots, potatoes, celery, tomato puree (water, tomato paste), peas, green beans, diced tomatoes in tomato juice, corn.  Contains less than 2% of the following: modified food starch, salt, vegetable oil (corn, cottonseed, canola, and / or soybean), yeast extract, high fructose corn syrup, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, dehydrated onions, spice extract, dehydrated parsley.

 

Nutrition Facts

  • Serving size: 1 cup (240 millilitres).  Servings per container: about 2.
  • Calories: 110.  Calories from fat: 10.
  • Total fat: 1 gram, 2% DV.
  • Saturated fat: 0.5 grams, 3% DV.
  • Trans fat: 0 grams.
  • Cholesterol: 0 milligrams, 0% DV.
  • Sodium: 770 milligrams, 32% DV.
  • Total carbohydrate: 22 grams, 7% DV.
  • Dietary fiber: 4 grams, 16%.
  • Sugars: 6 grams.
  • Protein: 3 grams.
  • Vitamin A: 80% DV.
  • Calcium: 4% DV.
  • Vitamin C: 0% DV.
  • Iron: 4% DV.

 

Product Rating

Though any fresh vegetable taste is non-existent in this product in my opinion, and the sodium content quite high, I still like how fast and easy this vegetable soup is to prepare, as well as its cheap price. So I’d rate it at 90 out of 100.

 

Where To Buy Campbell’s Chunky Savory Vegetable Soup

Look for this soup in the red can with the white lettering, pull-top lid, and a picture of a bowl of this product on the front at your favorite grocery store, big or small.

 

References

 

Revision History

  • : Adjusted category and tag assignments, fixed typos, and added white space.
  • 2012-07-06: Originally published.