Kettle Chicken and Potato Soup
Boiled water, a soup packet, and a pouch of chicken. Dinner in the time it takes water to boil.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 103
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 7 min
- water
- 500 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
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant soup mix | 1 packet | chicken noodle or cream of chicken |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/3 cup | |
| Foil-pouch chicken | 5 oz | pouch, not can, for weight |
| Freeze-dried peas or corn | 1/4 cup | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Boil 500 ml of water. Pull it off the heat.
- Stir in the soup mix and the freeze-dried vegetables. Cover and wait three minutes so the vegetables rehydrate.
- Add the potato flakes a spoonful at a time, stirring, until it thickens to a chowder.
- Squeeze in the chicken pouch, add the oil and pepper, stir, and eat.
This started as a power-outage plan: a kettle, boiling water, and shelf-stable food that asks nothing more of you. On the trail that describes every dinner already, so the only real change was cutting the water down to what one pot holds and swapping canned chicken for a foil pouch.
The potato flakes do the structural work. A soup packet alone is thin and gets cold fast; flakes turn the same water into something with body that holds heat while you eat it. Fat and protein come from the oil and the chicken, and both go in last so nothing sits over heat and turns stringy.
Packing
Soup mix, potato flakes, vegetables, and pepper go in one freezer bag at home. The chicken pouch and oil bottle ride separately.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a pouch of tuna or a handful of chopped jerky.
- Freeze-dried fruit and an oatmeal packet in the same pot makes this a breakfast instead.
- Half the water gives you something closer to a mash than a soup.
https://thesurvivalmom.com/emergency-cooking-power-outage