Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup

This Vegetable Beef Soup recipe comes to us from the family cookbook of Sharon, one of our bloggers. This recipe was passed down to Sharon by her mother, and Sharon has passed it down to us, and now, we’d like to pass it along to you because you are all important members of our Emergency Essentials family. This recipe has only been made using fresh ingredients . . . until now. I accepted the challenge of making this vegetable beef soup using ONLY freeze dried veggies and meats. The results? This is probably one of the tastiest vegetable beef soups that I’ve ever had! Here’s how you make it: Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup ½ C Provident Pantry™ Beef Broth (Vegetarian) reconstituted (or 8 tbsp. broth powder to 8 cups water) 1/2 C Provident Pantry™ Tomato Powder reconstituted (or 4 tbsp. powder to 1/2 cup hot water) 1/3 C Provident Pantry™ Chopped Onions ¼ C Provident Pantry™ Freeze Dried Celery (if you like celery, go ahead and add more) 1 C Provident Pantry™ Freeze Dried Roast Beef Steak 1 C Provident Pantry™ Tomatoes 3 tbsp Provident Pantry™ Carrot Dices 1/3 C Provident Pantry™ Potato Dices ½ C Provident Pantry™ Freeze Dried Sweet Corn ½ C Provident Pantry™ Green Beans 1 C Provident Pantry™ Egg Noodles Also add your choice of the following: 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 1 teaspoon Provident Pantry™ Dried Basil Leaves, parsley, or Provident Pantry™ Italian Seasoning; Provident Pantry™ Dasher Seasoning, ½ teaspoon Provident Pantry™ Garlic Salt, a dash of cayenne pepper, or a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan Cheese. Directions

1. Reconstitute 1 cup roast beef steak, 3 tbsp. carrot dices, and 1/3 cup potato dices according to directions on each can.
2. Cook 1 cup egg noodles according to directions on the can. When tender, set aside.
3. Fill your soup pot with 4 cups of reconstituted beef broth and ¼ cup reconstituted tomato powder (Save the other 4 cups of beef broth and ¼ cup tomato powder to add if soup gets too thick later)
4. Add 1/3 cup chopped onions and 1/2 cup water
5. Add 3 tbsp of reconstituted carrot dices
6. Add 1 cup of reconstituted roast beef steak
7. Add 1/3 cup of reconstituted potato dices
8. Let simmer for 5 minutes
9. Add ¼ cup celery (not reconstituted) and ½ cup warm water
10. Add ½ cup green beans (not reconstituted) and 1 cup warm water
11. Add ½ cup corn (not reconstituted) and 1 cup warm water
12. Add 2/3 cup tomatoes (not reconstituted) and 1 cup warm water
13. Add seasonings (I added Dasher Seasoning, Italian Seasoning, and Garlic Salt)
14. Simmer uncovered for 10-20 minutes (or until all items are tender)
15. Add egg noodles and extra broth and tomato powder (to taste) or to thin the soup if it is too thick

Serve with crusty French bread or Mountain House Pilot Crackers. This soup is also good for leftovers and can be frozen to serve another time.

Variation: Stew!

Sharon’s original recipe said to add all the ingredients into the broth mixture without reconstituting them. However, I learned the hard way that some dehydrated foods (like carrots, potatoes, and egg noodles) can suck up a lot of water, making your soup become a stew! So if you want to make a stew, simply add all of the ingredients into a pot of 4 cups (or 8 cups if you want a lot of stew) broth mixture and DO NOT reconstitute them before putting them into the mixture. We hope you enjoy cooking and eating this Vegetable Beef Soup as much as we did! Have any of you ever tried making soup from food storage? Do you have any recipes for soup that we should test out? If so, please send them our way in the comments section of this post. -Angela