3 Freeze-Dried Soup Kits for Fast Dinners

A little planning during your growing season pays off later: dice and freeze-dry a soup's worth of vegetables now, and you've got a shelf-stable kit that turns into a real dinner in about 10 minutes — just add water, a protein, and some bread.

Grow It Now, Soup It Later

Vegetables that hold up especially well in a soup kit include tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, peas, green beans, butternut squash, pumpkin, potatoes, onions, and corn, with oregano, marjoram, and basil for seasoning. Whether you dice and combine everything before freeze-drying or freeze-dry components separately and mix them later is really just a matter of preference — both work.

When you're ready to eat, rehydrate the kit, stir in a protein like canned beans or leftover cooked meat, and serve with bread for a complete meal in a fraction of the time a soup normally takes.

Hearty Vegetable Soup Kit

• 4 cups mixed freeze-dried vegetables (zucchini, corn, carrots, green beans, potato)
• 2 cloves garlic, sautéed in olive oil
• 1 small onion, sautéed with the garlic
• 1 cup tomatoes
• 1 vegetable, beef, or chicken bouillon cube
• 1 cup rice, orzo, or dried pasta
• 1 cup dried beans
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon basil

Dice the vegetables and freeze-dry them together with the other ingredients. To serve, rehydrate with 4 to 6 cups of water in a stock pot, simmer, and season to taste.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup Kit

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 2 ripe bananas
• ¼ cup shaved coconut

Lightly sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil, combine with the remaining ingredients, and freeze-dry. To serve, simmer in 6 cups of hot water, purée until smooth, and garnish with salted cashews.

Cold Watermelon and Ginger Soup

This one's a warm-weather departure from a traditional soup kit, but it freeze-dries and rehydrates just as well:

• 8 cups diced watermelon, about ½-inch pieces (roughly 1 pound)
• 1¾ cups granulated sugar
• ¾ cup water
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 8 fresh mint leaves
• 3 cups crushed ice
• ¾ cup diced honeydew melon, chilled

Freeze the watermelon for about an hour. Simmer the sugar, water, and ginger for 2 minutes, then purée the frozen watermelon while slowly adding the hot syrup. Stir in the mint and top with the chilled honeydew before serving.

Building Out Your Kit Rotation

If you're growing your own soup vegetables, go ahead and plant a big garden covers how to plan for a harvest big enough to freeze-dry into kits like these. Rehydrating freeze-dried fruits and vegetables and rehydrating freeze-dried full meals, breads, and cakes both walk through getting the ratios right once you're ready to cook. And if you liked the idea of pairing sauces with produce here, 5 sauces to take grilled vegetables further is worth a look for another way to use a big vegetable harvest.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make a freeze-dried soup kit?
Dice your chosen vegetables (and any other ingredients), freeze-dry them together or in components, and store the kit until you're ready to rehydrate it with water and simmer.

How long does it take to make dinner from a freeze-dried soup kit?
About 10 minutes — rehydrate the kit, add a protein like canned beans or leftover meat, and serve with bread.

What vegetables work best in a soup kit?
Tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, peas, green beans, butternut squash, pumpkin, potatoes, onions, and corn all hold up well, along with herbs like oregano, marjoram, and basil.

Can you freeze-dry a cold soup, or does it only work for hot soups?
Both — the cold watermelon and ginger soup in this post freeze-dries and rehydrates just as well as the hot vegetable-based kits.