I hardly ever have canned soup — I find it pretty easy to make from scratch, if I have the time. But I just tried some Progresso chicken with rotelli. I enhanced it with leftover chicken breast, and added water, but I still found it too salty, and the carrots and the noodles too mushy. I suppose that overcooking is inevitable with canning, but if this is the best (and they certainly price it that way), what are the rest like?
13 thoughts on “Progresso”
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I can get Progresso for little over a buck a can if I buy a big pack at Sam’s Club.
This was purchased at Costco, but it’s still more than the other soups.
Canned soup is great! Just so long as you don’t try to, you know, actually eat it…
But it does make a pretty decent paperweight. 🙂
Try the Minestrone.
As canned soup goes, they’re still better than most.
Why does the phrase “soup to nuts” come to mind when I read about Rand’s culinary misadventures? ;/)
I wouldn’t call it a “misadventure,” unless you’re going to say that of anyone who opens a can of soup. I did improve it, I’m sure.
I’m with Rand in that canned soup can be a decent starting place if you’re in a hurry. But you don’t need to start with Progresso, Campbell’s Cream of Chicken or Celery or Shrimp are perfect for tossing in a few leftovers.
Campbell’s is usually pretty good, but still pricey.
I do most of my food shopping at Aldi, and their line of canned soups are pretty good. Not as good as Campbell’s, but at $1.20 a can versus $2.60 a can for Campbell’s (at Shoppers’ Food Warehouse), what the heck. Yeah, it’s probably too salty, and has all the “wrong” things in it, but you only go through life once.
If I want noodles in soup, I’ll make my own pasta. Anything canned is going to be soggy as hell anyways. I’d only use canned if the starch was rice, which is a lot harder to screw up.
If you find Progresso salty, try Campbell’s Select Harvest soups, they’re low sodium and are generally less screwed up than most others, and taste pretty good, which tells you its not overcooked in the can.
Most of them contain MSG which gives me the itches and twitches. Homemade is so easy plus the clean-out-the-fridge soup can be quite good.
I 2nd the Campbell’s select harvest. The New England Clam Chowder is pretty good. Also the Chunky Soups are good if you want a big pile of processed protein. A few shots of tobasco and your set.
Oh, and if you are a real guy anyways, you should be eating Dinty Moore beef stew, chicken noodle soup is for sissies.
Progresso isn’t really top-of-the-line. They range from bland to oversalted with a brief arc through “watery”. Campbell’s Chunky is generally better.