Dried Vegetable Soup Base
A quart of dried vegetables, a bouillon cube, and hot water. The soup you build the rest of dinner on.
- calories
- 260
- weight
- 2.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Dried vegetable soup mix | 3/4 cup | air-dried, not freeze-dried; it rehydrates slower but weighs less |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable bouillon cube | 1 cube | check the label if you need it gluten-free |
| Instant potato flakes | 2 tbsp | thickener |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried parsley and black pepper | 1/2 tsp each | |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Drop in the vegetable mix and the bouillon cube.
- Simmer 10 to 12 minutes on the lowest flame that holds a bubble. Stir now and then so the carrots on the bottom do not scorch.
- Pull a carrot out and bite it. If it still crunches, give it another three minutes and a splash of water.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the potato flakes, then the oil, parsley, and pepper. Salt at the end, since the cube already brought some.
- Let it sit covered for two minutes. It thickens as it cools.
Dried vegetables are the cheapest weight-to-volume trade in a food bag. A quart pouch of mixed carrot, celery, onion, and cabbage weighs a few ounces and turns into several dinners once water goes back in. The catch is time: air-dried vegetables need ten to fifteen minutes of actual simmering, not a two-minute steep, so plan the fuel for it.
The potato flakes and the oil are what make this a meal instead of hot vegetable water. Flakes give it enough body to coat a spoon, and the oil carries most of the calories. Without both you have a nice broth and an empty stomach an hour later.
Packing
Vegetables, bouillon, potato flakes, and seasoning go in one bag at home. Oil rides in a dropper bottle. Repackaging out of the mylar pouch into single dinners is worth the ten minutes.
Variations
- Add a foil packet of chicken or a handful of TVP in the last five minutes for real protein.
- Half the water and twice the potato flakes makes it a stew you eat with a spoon standing up.
- A tablespoon of instant hummus powder stirred in at the end thickens it and adds body.
https://motherearthproducts.com/products/dried-vegetable-soup-mix