My favourite free from soup and bowl meals

This is a really hard one for me as it’s a real struggle to find good, free from and healthy soup and bowl meals.

I love to make my own but it’s not always possible due to time constraints and energy levels.

So for those days when you want a warming soup and want to just open a can or a pouch, here’s my top allergen free options.

It’s definitely a challenge to find suitable products that are free from all my allergens and I often have to shop around, finding some things in one shop and some in another. I can never ever find everything I want in one shop.

I‘m allergic to wheat, dairy, soya and nuts (anaphylactic reaction) and can’t have tomato or celery due to milder reactions, it’s really hard to find a safe option.

So here, in no particular order, are the soups that I’ve been enjoying and some others you might like to check out.

1. Suma tinned soups – I have tried a few of these and love them. At the moment I’m trying the Spicy Lentil soup and since it’s free from wheat, dairy, soya, celery and tomato. Be aware that some of their soups do contain soya protein.
2. Free & Easy soups – My favourite is the Organic Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato & Turmeric Soup Vegan, ingredients: Water, Butternut Squash (11%), Sweet Potato (10%), Carrots, Vegetable Bouillon (Rice Flour, Sea Salt, Maltodextrin, Onions, Yeast Extract (Gluten Free), Carrots, Sunflower Oil, Turmeric, Parsnip, Mushrooms, (Mushrooms, Shitake-Pilze), Herbs, Concentrated Vegetable Juice (Carrot, Onion) Pumpkin Spices Garlic), Rice Flour, Kibbled Onion, Apple Juice Concentrate, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Ginger Powder, Curry Powder, Turmeric (0.04%). They also do Green Pea and Mint and Carrot and Coconut soups. They’re all really good.
3. SOUPOLOGIE – Cauliflower Kale Black Garlic – Water, Cauliflower (26%), Leeks, Kale (3%), Rapeseed Oil, Vegetable Stock¹, Garlic, Salt, Black Garlic (0.2%), Nutmeg, Black Pepper. ¹Rice Flour*, Sea Salt, Maltodextrin from Maize*, Vegetables 8.3% (Onion, Carrot, Parsnip, Pumpkin)*, Yeast Extract, Sunflower Oil*, Turmeric*, Mushrooms (White Mushrooms, Shiitake)*, Parsley*, Concentrated Vegetable Juice (Onion, Carrot)*, Lovage*, Garlic*, Fennel Seeds*. *Organically grown ingredients
4. Biona – Organic Spiced Pumpkin Soup ingredients: water, pumpkin*, lentils (red)*, leeks*, onions*, mango purée*, carrots*, rice starch*, sea salt, corn flour*, yeast extract, indian curry*, corn maltodextrin*, celery*, onion powder*, garlic*, lovage*, black pepper*, laurel*, turmeric (curcuma)*, horseradish*, nutmeg* * = from controlled organic farming
5. Auga – Organic Three Lentil Soup Vegan, ingredients: Water, organic various lentils 12% (green, red, brown), organic carrots, organic potatoes, organic spices, organic rice flour, organic paprika, organic rapeseed oil, sea salt.
6. Glorious Super Foods – Thai Carrot Soup – I’ve only ever round this in Morrisons. Be aware that some of their soups do contain milk and tomato, so always check ingredients. Ingredients: Water, Carrot (34%), Onion, Coconut Cream (5%) (Coconut, Water), Leek, Potato, Red Pepper, Ginger Puree, Sugar, Coriander, Vegetable Bouillon (Salt, Maltodextrin, Potato Starch, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Vegetables (Onion, Parsnip, Parsley), Sunflower Oil, Spices (Lovage, Turmeric, Pepper, Garlic, Mace, Nutmeg), Spice Extract), Cornflour, Salt, Red Chilli, Rapeseed Oil, Lime Juice, Lemongrass, Garlic Puree, Ground Spices (Coriander, Cumin, Cayenne), Galangal, Spirit Vinegar
7. BOL – Garden pea and spinach powder soup – Really taste and whilst pricey, it’s a huge tub that lasts me two meals. Ingredients: Water, Peas (27%), Cannellini Beans (9%), Courgette (7%), Potatoes, White Onions, Spinach, Basil, Coconut Cream, Garlic Lemon Juice, Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Seeds, Mint, Salt, Bicarbonate Soda, Black Pepper, White Pepper

You could also check out the following, if you have less allergies than me they might be OK

• Amy’s Kitchen – tend to all have tomato and or celery but are gluten and dairy free so worth checking out
• Clearspring – they do lots of vegan soups
• Just Wholefoods soups – contain celery

Free From Bowl meals

I have to say I don’t really buy many products that constitute a ‘bowl meal’ like this at all so I will look forward to the Free From Food Awards judging to discover who has entered. What constitutes a ‘bowl meal’?

I have just ONE product that I buy that I think fits the ‘bowl meal’ category.

Tesco Free From Chicken and Mushroom noodle pot.

It’s gluten, wheat and dairy free.

Ingredients: Dried Rice Noodles (66%) [Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch], Maltodextrin, Potato Starch, Flavourings, Sweetcorn, Chicken (0.9%), Onion Powder, Mushroom, Garlic Powder, Mushroom Extract Powder, Chive, Colour (Curcumin), Ground Black Pepper.

Has anyone else tried this? Flavour wise it’s OK, although I’ve never found any actual chicken in it! But it’s VERY hard to eat without slopping dobs of the sauce everywhere and getting the pasta out is hard work.

I pimp this up by adding extra sweetcorn, snip in some slivers of Violife cheese which is divine in this and also add things like watercress, spinach etc. I then put in an bowl so I can eat it more easily. It’s a great quick fix meal for days when I’m working and am just too busy to fix a healthy lunch.

I also do buy many of the soups listed in my roundup list above and also make my own soup in huge batches, but what I’ve realised is that there is a huge gap in the market here for healthy, tasty, free from bowl meals.

What’s a normal free from lunch?

Most of my lunches do come in a bowl. I make salads, bento mixes with what’s left over, often have a portion of last night’s meal, cook a jacket potato, have some soup etc. There are loads of different options for me but it’s very rare that I have a sandwich, the normal traditional lunch. Mostly because the wheat free bread I buy isn’t great in sandwiches.

Where did they go?

Writing this blog has also made me mourn some lovely products that seem to have disappeared, including the wonder ilumi pouch meals which I loved so much. They made loads of curries, soups and meals as well as gravy that really became regular options for me, but sadly they are no more. Also Look What We Found who did similar pouch meals and soups – whatever happened to them? Occasionally some of their range can be found in Aldi and Lidl but they’re hard to find, and the products I like, and that were suitable for my allergies, seem to have been discontinued, including the lovely Pea and Ham soup.

Free From Food Awards 2022 – Soup and Bowl Meals sponsor

I thought it would be fun to test my knowledge of this area of the free from aisle in the supermarket. I often find that because I cook so much from scratch at home that I’m so out of touch and discover loads of new things during the judging sessions. If you’re not familiar with the Free From Food Awards, they are an annual awards ceremony that rigorously tests, tastes and judges all the entrants in numerous categories from plant milks to Top 14 free. I am so proud to be sponsoring this category this year and can’t wait to see who enters. I would like to share also that the wonderful FFFA teams agreed that my sponsorship could be made as a donation to a charity of my choice and I chose to donate to The Anaphylaxis Campaign, it seemed the obvious choice.

Visit the Free From Food Awards 2022 to find out more.

What are your favourite free from soup and bowl meal options? I’d love to hear what you love and have you tried any of the above?

You can find quite a few of these soups and meals on the realfoods.co.uk website.

Photo by Alesia Kozik from Pexels