Homemade Cream of (Anything) Soup!

I really try to use only real food in my cooking. This is not to say that I don’t sometimes reach for a processed or pre-packaged ingredient, but in general I try to avoid them. In some cases this means added expense, but usually it leads to a more frugal meal plan! Such is the case with cream of (anything) soup. And, have you ever looked at the ingredients in a can of condensed soup?! Not the most appetizing ingredient list!

I don’t use cream of soup very often, but there are times when I want to make a casserole, and it calls for a can of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken or cream of (anything) soup. Your recipe might call for white sauce or bechamel sauce (I think this recipe would generally be considered a medium bechamel, based on the ratio of liquid to roux). Incidentally, this can also be used to make homemade mac and cheese, though I prefer a thinner bechamel when making macaroni and cheese. But I’m getting a little sidetracked now, aren’t I? The sauce itself won’t freeze well, but if you are doing a big freezer cooking day you can multiply the recipe to use in multiple dishes. Recipes made with this recipe typically freeze just fine!

Try this DIY homemade no-cans homemade cream of anything soup in your next casserole recipe!

A quick note – I originally drafted this post over 2 years ago (I have drafts even older than that…obviously blogging isn’t a top priority for me haha). Since then we discovered that our 2 younger kids have some pretty extreme food sensitivities, and can’t have any gluten or dairy (among others). To make this allergy-friendly you can simply substitute the flour for a GF flour blend and the butter for another fat (duck fat works well). And, instead of dairy milk you could substitute a dairy-free milk or simply use more broth. I’m planning to use this recipe for green bean casserole for our upcoming Thanksgiving dinner (I used it last year, and I think it tastes much better than using canned soup.) I will try to post a photo afterward! I’m posting this now mostly because I use my own blog sometimes to remind myself of recipes when I’m cooking lol.

A similar recipe can be found in The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy. I bought this book back in 2003 (the length of time I’ve been freezer cooking shows my age a little, doesn’t it? lol) , and it isn’t as fancy a recipe book as some you might find, but it has some good recipes and great charts, information, and tips for freezer cooking!