Those lunch prep soups!





I like a good routine but I easily get bored if I have to eat the same thing every day. This week I found some interesting recipes in the September issue of Shape magazine. These are make ahead soups and they function like a cup-a-soup. After all the initial prep work is done of course, all you need to do is pack one of these bad boys in your lunch and just add hot water and voilà! Fresh soup for lunch! 

There were three recipes: a Moroccan Chickpea Soup, a Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup, and a Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup. Each soup contain veggies, a starch, and some protein. They were fairly easy to prep, each container took at most five minutes. 

Below are my reviews for each soup. During my next meal prep marathon I will reuse this idea using my own spin on some classic soup recipes. 


Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup




Layers (top to bottom):
  • Crushed Peanuts
  • Chopped Basil
  • Cooked Shrimp
  • Red Bell Pepper
  • Shredded Carrots
  • Grated Ginger
  • Curry Paste
  • Coconut Cream
  • Vermicelli

This soup was pretty tasty although I think my water needed to be hotter as the vermicelli still had a bit of a bite to them. The mix of coconut cream and Thai curry gave it a really nice flavor. This was our favorite one of the three.

Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup


  
Layers (top to bottom):
  • Lemon Half
  • Chopped Basil
  • Shredded Chicken
  • Roasted Zucchini
  • Cooked Orzo
The dill added a fun flavor. Letting the lemon infuse added some depth to the flavor. Next time I would grill the zucchini instead of roasting them because they got a little on the mushier side. This one came in second.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup




Layers (top to bottom):
  • Chickpeas
  • Chopped Tomatoes
  • Shredded Carrots
  • Chopped Swiss Chard
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Ground Cumin
  • Vegetable Bouillon
  • Dry Couscous
My jar was too small! I didn't account for the couscous puffing up so I didn't really have room to mix up all the ingredients so I ate most of the chickpeas plain and then mixed the rest up. This Moroccan Chickpea Soup had good flavors and was quite filling. It turned out more like a regular dish than a soup. My husband wasn't a fan, he though it tasted like dirt :-S

Stay tuned foe next weekend's post where I will share my own recipes for some lunch prep soups.

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