There’s nothing better than a bowl of hot soup to warm you up on a cold day. Soups can be easy and quick to prepare, as well as very nutritious. Here are the top reasons we love soup:

• One pot meal. Soups can be made in just one pot, either on the stove or in a slow cooker. This means fewer dishes to wash after dinner. 
• Great for leftovers. Soups are easy to reheat for tomorrow’s lunch. But they can also be made into a whole new meal for dinner the next day. For example, turn last night’s chili into chili mac! Top some cooked whole grain pasta with the leftover chili, low-fat shredded cheese and diced onions. Or use individual leftover ingredients to make into a soup. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat or freeze them within 3-4 days. 
• Freezable. Soups freeze really well. You can make a big batch of soup and put half (or more) in the freezer. Then, pull it out for dinner on a busy night in the future. To freeze the soup, put it in a shallow, flat container (so it cools quickly). Leave some room at the top for the liquid to expand as it freezes. Label the containers with the name and date it was cooked. Plan to use the frozen soup within 3-4 months. When you’re ready to eat it again, reheat till it’s boiling.  
• Customizable. Soup recipes can be very flexible. If you’re missing an ingredient, or it calls for something you just don’t like, you can usually swap it with something else. For instance, use beans instead of meat, chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, or canned or frozen vegetables instead of fresh. You can even use whole grain barley instead of noodles made from refined grains. Try adding an extra vegetable that’s not in the original list of ingredients to get another serving from the vegetable group. Which leads us to our next point… 
• Meet your MyPlate goals. Soups can cover several MyPlate food groups in one meal. Think about a vegetable, barley and chicken soup: it has a serving from three different food groups! Pair it with a piece of fruit and a glass of milk and you’ve got all five groups in one meal. 
• Diverse. Soup recipes come in all types of flavors, textures, and cultural influences. You could have a different soup every day of the week and never get bored with the possibilities. 
• Budget-friendly. Deliciously filling soups can be made with inexpensive ingredients, maybe even things you already have in your fridge or pantry. Check out this Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup. Soups are also budget-friendly because they can feed many people with one dish.  
• Quick and easy. Most of the soup recipes on our website only take about 30 minutes to make. This means you can have dinner on the table in a snap. 

Now that you’re in the mood for some comforting and tasty soup, go to our soups page to find your favorites to enjoy this winter!