Canned soup!

rowan said:

I'm shocked! I usually make my own soup but last lot ran out last night and I was too hungry to wait after coming in from walking the dog, so had a tin of Heinz Chicken and Sweetcorn soup.
I was 11.7 before the walk, and 17.7 aound 2 hours after the soup! It was 25 carbs a tin, and I've about a dozen tins of various flavours that I bought before joining here. I think I'd best look for the local food bank to donate them, can't see me risking those numbers again!

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There's normally wheat/gluten,potato starch, sugars in these soups. We have to be so careful

Yes, tinned soup isn't wise without first checking the label. Far too much flour and very often potatoes. Sweetcorn isn't a wise choice either! Shame because as you say, it is always a handy quick meal.

rowan said:

I'm shocked! I usually make my own soup but last lot ran out last night and I was too hungry to wait after coming in from walking the dog, so had a tin of Heinz Chicken and Sweetcorn soup.
I was 11.7 before the walk, and 17.7 aound 2 hours after the soup! It was 25 carbs a tin, and I've about a dozen tins of various flavours that I bought before joining here. I think I'd best look for the local food bank to donate them, can't see me risking those numbers again!

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I have researched the Heinz Range quite extensively and half a can is the most you should have. Cream of chicken is your best bet. 9.3g of carb per half a tin.

s_k_s said:

I have researched the Heinz Range quite extensively and half a can is the most you should have. Cream of chicken is your best bet. 9.3g of carb per half a tin.

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I cant eat many of the soups because I'm Coeliac, but I have home made spinach, cabbage, mushroom, carrott, and onion soup in the freezer, colour is not so pleasing on the eye, but the taste is lovely

I had my homemade French Onion this lunch time. Delicious and packed with onions, not like the tinned varieties.

Me too, but there again all soup does!

@rowan, make your own in a big batch and freeze some, that way you can control what goes in the soup.

rowan said:

Yes I usually do, a huge panful, but as I said I ran out last night and was too hungry to wait to make more..

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Good stuff

rowan said:

Onion soup for me screams out for fresh crusty white bread, so I'm not having that for a while

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Cheese on top, quick grill. I've liked that ever since we read a novel at school about a whiskery old man eating onion soup with melted cheese on top, and the stringy cheese stuck in his moustache.

I usually make a big pot of vegetable soup a couple of times a week. My husband, who is very sick, can only take liquids now and was brought up on soup made by his mother in the good old days - before tinned soup and before any welfare system supported poor families. So - soup it is. I used to put potatoes and other root veggies in but since I am now trying to go low carb I am using lower carb veg. When mealtime comes around I strain out the liquor and feed it to him in a feeder cup (so it has to be a thin broth) and I have a relatively dry vegetable stew. I can eat this without bread but I do need 2 bowls at a sitting to feel reasonably satisfied.

Today I ran out of soup or the makings of a pot of soup and had a tin of oxtail soup in the cupboard, so I strained this out and gave it to my husband but I thought it tasted awful - nothing like the oxtail that I make on the odd occasion. He wouldn't have anything to do with it and ended up with some Procal and an Ensure plus pudding instead. I dug some pork ribs out of the freezer and roasted those off for me - feeling a bit sick right now - too fatty.

Back to the drawing board then, just as soon as I can get into a shop (we live 7 miles from the nearest town and I've managed to sprain a cruciate ligament so driving and walking are severely restricted for now). When I get some vegetables, is it allright to put in lentils, peas etc and still think it low carb? And how about bouillon powder which is recommended by the dietician? (I may have to used something in the absence of sufficient vegetables to make a stock.)

@Annb Sorry to hear about your husband but you've come up with a good compromise for you both soupwise! I use lentils with discretion and test. Cooked to stay whole they are better than mashed. Peas are dodgy but not impossible. Stock cubes generally frighten me because of the chemical ingredients as much as any lurking carbs but I do use an organic low-salt chicken one.

The stock powder I have in the cupboard is an organic vegetable one, so minimum chemicals, I hope. Since we are now virtually living on vegetable soup (2 meals a day) I'm concerned about a lack of protein - hence the question about pulses. I think I'll have to chance it. I don't think it matters too much to my husband - it's just a question of keeping him comfortable until the end, but if I'm low carbing and not taking much fat (no gall bladder), I don't think low protein as well is a very good idea. There's always breakfast, of course.

I may be on a losing wicket here anyway - looking back I have had problems with sugars (and tested for a reason, although nobody seems to have thought about diabetes) since the late 1970's but was only diagnosed in 2005, when I started testing after going to the doctor and asking "Am I diabetic?". Then I was put onto Metformin, which never has agreed with my digestive system, and when I went to have .a colonoscopy in 2006 I was taken off of it and put onto insulin, since when my blood sugar levels have never been under control - most often too high, occasionally low enough to make me feel odd but rarely within the target range. And all the time, the weight piled on. Hence the low carbing and the minor exercise which led to my cruciate ligament deciding not to work for me any more. I was put back on the Metformin, but never taken off the insulin.

I don't know if it's too late after all these years, but I have to try something.

I do admire your calm practical approach in the face of such difficulties. You can only do your best and I believe that's all that's necessary. Perhaps concentrate on being as well as you can while you care for your husband. Keep us in the loop.