Soup Jars: Healthy, Wholesome Meals Made Simple

Soup Jars: Healthy, Wholesome Meals Made Simple

Ready to enjoy a comforting bowl of homemade soup without the hassle? These soup in a jar ideas are perfect for layering delicious flavors while practicing portion control, allowing you to easily prepare, store and enjoy deliciously healthy comfort food at work, school, home or in the great outdoors.

Meal Prepping Soup in a Jar

The first and perhaps most obvious way to use jars in your soup prep is for easy storage. You can pre-cook your soup and add single servings to your jars for easy travel and reheating. Freezer-safe jars can be labeled and stored away for later, allowing you to save money on ingredients by buying in bulk and adding to your soup stockpile with every meal you make. Before you know it, you’ll have a frozen selection of soups for lunches, quick meals, sick days and more. Just reheat and enjoy.

How to Make Soup in a Jar

water, pho-inspired soup that can be cooked in the microwave. You can also layer pre-cooked ditalini with sun-dried tomatoes and chopped veggies for an instantly comforting Italian veggie stew. Or get creative, choosing ingredients that’ll cook quickly for healthy and homemade alternatives to instant soups.

This is also an opportunity to experiment with leftovers. Save on meal-prepping time, effort and cost by transforming a basic protein and veggie dinner plate into a savory soup. Simply cut your protein into bite-size pieces and store your leftovers in jars. You can add microwave rice or noodles, leaving room for broth or bouillon cubes and water. This allows you to stretch your meals throughout the week while cutting down on food waste.

Batch Prep and Canning

Batch-prepping and canning soup at home is a great way to have ready-to-eat meals on hand. If you’re new to home canning, make sure you’re following tested recipes and guidelines for proper food safety.

You’ll need a pressure canner or a water bath canner, depending on the soup’s acidity level. You’ll also need a canning funnel, a ladle, a jar lifter and clean cloths in addition to proper canning jars. Be sure to sterilize your jars prior to canning.

Fill the jars using the funnel and ladle, leaving the headspace recommended in your canning recipe. Remove any air bubbles by gently running a non-metallic spatula along the inside of the jar. Apply the lids and rings and wipe the jars clean before processing the jars. Cool and store for ready-to-enjoy soups.

Dry Soup Mix Jars

You can create beautifully layered dry soup mix jars for easy pantry meals or to give as cozy homemade gifts. Using dry ingredients like split peas, lentils, dried herbs, bouillon cubes, bay leaves, noodles and more, it’s easy to create perfectly portioned soups. Just add the ingredients to a saucepan of hot water for a deliciously comforting meal.

Keep these jars in your pantry for easy meal prep and pair with fresh ingredients like celery, carrots and beef or chicken. Use larger canning jars for family-sized soup mixes. Not only will the layered jars cut down on wasted pantry space and beautify your shelves, but they’ll allow you to take quick inventory of your ingredients (so you can grab fresh additions like produce and poultry when they’re on sale for quick and delicious meals).

These dry soup mix jars make great gifts for housewarmings, care packages and gift baskets. As a bonus, include our chocolate chip cookie mix in a jar for a delicious DIY dessert.

Looking for More Canning Jar Ideas?

Try more delicious jar recipes like our Mason Jar Layered Taco Salad, Apple Pie in a Jar, Hot Chocolate Cookies in a Jar and more. Plus, get organized with our brand- new printable weekly meal planner. Visit our blog for even more fresh meal prep inspiration.