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138 of 140 found the following review helpful:
 Having just eaten this for dinner, I have advice and raves May 14, 2008
By K. Corn
"reviewer"
First of all, don't be put off by the price. If you've kept track of grocery store receipts lately or the sharp increase in basic foods over the last year, you may see how this product could save you time, gas and MONEY.
At the time of this writing, it cost about $16.88 for four packages of this mix. EACH package easily serves 8-16 people with soup left over.
While the instructions note to add 4 cups of water or a water and broth combo, we quickly discovered we had to double or even triple the liquid added. No problem there, because we had more soup!
If you don't have fresh veggies or spices around, this will suffice as is and it is thick and satisfying. If you garden, you'll improve the taste by adding fresh chopped parsley, garlic and whatever veggies you want. A can of tomatoes (or fresh, chopped ones) does no harm. This is a mix you can play with, add ingredients and spices.
IMPORTANT: this is not a salted mix. It is full of split peas, barley, lentils, whole wheat pasta, dehydrated spinach, tomato, onion, etc. If you don't use salt, consider adding a salt substitute. I also added basil. It was delightful, quick and is now a pantry staple.
Nutrition: 330 calories (1/2 cup) only 20 calories from fat. Significant source of iron at 22% of the Daily Value. Protein: 20 grams. Fiber - 8 grams. Add some bread and you have a meal, rounded out with some greens, perhaps.
54 of 55 found the following review helpful:
 Superb soup that you can change umpteen times just by adding good things you like! Mar 27, 2008
By Gabriela Perez
"Oy! So many books. . . ."
I must admit that I didn't read enough to know what this soup would be like. What I mean is that I didn't really go through the product description as closely as I should have. I expected this to have a lot of dehydrated veggies in it, but alas--no such luck! That, however, is my deal, not the manufacturers.
This soup is mostly lentils, peas, and veggie pasta. Not a terrible combo, really. In fact, it's pretty delicious. When I saw the first bag I pulled out of the box, I thought, "oh, no. I'm going to have to WORK to make this soup taste good." I was wrong. Last night, I opened the first bag up and made a delicous soup with just the ingredients in the bag, some chopped garlic, some leftover sauteed chicken, and a chopped tomato. Talk about yummy! It was hearty, "clean" tasting soup. By that I mean that the flavors didn't glom up and become one huge mess. I could taste the lentils, the barley, the peas. And the chicken, which I used very little of, was enough to flavor the broth a bit. It was really the one tomato and the garlic that made everything come together, so my advice to you is to go crazy with what you add. My next batch will be made with onion/veggie stock and zucchini, carrots, and a bit of chopped spinach. I can't wait!
49 of 53 found the following review helpful:
 Not only is it not vegetable soup, it's not even soup. Jan 29, 2011
By Brad Willis
To begin, let me say that Bob's Red Mill makes quality products and this soup mix is no exception. The ingredients are all natural and organic and this is unquestionably healthy food. I've ordered a number of Bob's products and I think Bob's Red Mill is the kind of company that we should feel good about supporting.
However, not only is this not vegetable soup, but in my view, it really isn't even soup. It is a combination of lentils, split peas, barley and pasta alphabet letters made from some form of ground tomato & spinach powder or the like. But these alphabet letters don't taste like vegetables.
So, this is basically a mostly legume-based soup starter rather than a vegetable soup mix. If you cook this "soup" as directed, it will have essentially no flavor other than the very bland taste of the legumes that are present.
There is no seasoning whatsoever, no visible vegetables, and it does not taste like vegetable soup.
Now others have noted that you can add your own spices, seasonings, vegetables and meat and that's true. And once you do this, you might indeed have a very good soup, depending of course upon your cooking skills, or lack thereof.
But if you're not a good cook, and/or are unwilling to add your own seasonings and ingredients, then you will likely not have a good soup. Conversely, with most other brands I've tried, if you purchase soup mix and cook it, then you will indeed have soup. With this "soup" mix, if you purchase it and cook it, you won't have what I consider to be soup.
If you are planning on serving this "soup" to guests and you simply throw it in a pot and cook as per the directions, the end result will likely not be very good.
The bottom line is that this is a good soup base. But I don't think it should be called soup and calling it vegetable soup is even more of a stretch, because there are no visible vegetables or vegetable flavor.
5 stars for the ingredients which are organic, fresh and very healthy. But 1 star because most people would be unhappy with this "soup", if cooked as directed. So we'll average the 2 and give it a 3 star rating.
I can't tell you it's not worth buying, but if you purchase this, it's important to understand exactly what you are getting.
34 of 36 found the following review helpful:
A Family Favorite! Jan 04, 2008
By W. Rodriguez
"mediajunky"
I'm always on the lookout for meals that are palatable to my toddler and me and my husband. This product passed the test. My version involves beef broth, a can of diced tomatoes, and whatever veggies are in my crisper that particular day. Plus, one cup of this soup mix feeds our whole family with leftovers so one package goes a long way.
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Try my delish curry lentil soup crockpot recipe! Nov 23, 2010
By D. Meyer
"Fun Mom"
I take two cups of the Bob's Soup Mix and add eight cups of water or vegetable stock (or a combination) along with a package of the Kitchens of India Paste for Vegetable Biryani (and the flavor packet included) and put in a crock pot. Cook on high for 5 hours. Ladle about 2/3 of the soup into a blender and blend on high speed to make it creamy and put back in crock pot. Add half a bag of frozen peas/carrots mixture to the soup in the crock pot for about another 45-60 minutes. Ladle into a bowl and enjoy!
I have been searching for a great curry lentil soup and finally have the combination I love! I hope others will enjoy it, too!
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