Nothing against your basic argument, Schmooser, but I've a question about this line: "especially when my freezer and fridge are low on supplies." Doesn't that apply to canned goods as well?
I don't know how it is by you, but around here if I'm in a too busy to shop/cook mode, it isn't a one-night thing. So, if you haven't had a chance to shop for awhile you tend to go through the pantry items lickity split.
More seriously, have you considered canning your own soups? That, to me, is the best of both worlds. Not only do you always have your favorites on hand, with just the ingredients you prefer, you can have built-in portion control based on the jar sizes you use.
Stocks can readily too, which frees up some of that tight freezer space.
You do need a pressure canner for this, because few soups are acidic enough to process using other means. But the pressure canner is one of those tools that pays for itself fairly quickly.
If I'm low on fresh food and ingredients, it doesn't mean that I'd be low on canned items. You see, I generally don't shop at supermarkets. The local, organic farmers' market is my preference, so items like cans of soup can hang around for quite a while. I usually shop for fresh ingredients several times a week, and don't inventory meat, fish, or produce for more than a couple of days. But there are some days I don't feel like shopping, or can't shop, and it would be nice to just heat up a can or box of soup. For me it's usually a one or, at most, two day thing. Often I'll add ingredients to the soups I have been buying - using the soup as a base and then dumping in vegetables, meat, herbs, etc. But every now and then I get in a bind, and just popping open a can of soup and not fussing would be very nice, unfortunately, most commercial soups are pretty bad, and that's why I asked for good quality possibilities.
No, I've not thought much about canning my own soups, but I've certainly made plenty of soup and stock that has been frozen.
However, not all soups freeze well, or as well as I'd like. Having home made stock on hand means that I can whip up a soup by just tossing in some vegetables, meat, grains, beans, or whatever, but my life is such that I don't always have everything I want on hand, and I won't go into details here about my personal life to explain my circumstances. All I want is a few suggestions for soups that others like and that I may not be familiar with to try.
Honestly, I'm not too interested in canning, at least I haven't been in the past. Nonetheless, even if I had a freezer filled with soup, etc., I'd still want a few cans of soup around.
