Campbells Lentil Soup
 

I love the taste of this soup, but because of the sodium content, I always use 2 cans of water instead of just one can of added water when I make it. On this particular soup Fiber is 6 grams and Protein is 9 grams and 800 mg sodium. My question is this, if it has 800 mg of sodium and I dilute it with 2 cans of water when I make it, does that drop the sodium to 400 mg then?

My biggest pet peeve though is that why do they have to put MSG in all of their soups! Like we need any of that!!!! Arghhh...

I would say yes.

I read somewhere recently that new studies show that MSG is not as bad for us as everyone believes. I don't remember the specifics though, I'm afraid.

Lentil soup is really, really, really easy to make. And also cheap. If you don't like the sodium and the additives, maybe try whipping up a big pot of it and freeze in individual serving containers. Cheaper and healthier. :)

Since lentil soup has been brought up, I have a dumb question. I HATE peas, loathe them, despise them....green peas that is. Ick. I am shuddering now. Does lentil soup taste anything like green peas, or is it different. Is it split pea soup?

Like I said, dumb question. :-)

Thanks Baff, yeah I do make my own lentil soup sometimes and it does freeze well. But sometimes I just prefer a quickie meal when I don't have any more in the freezer and this tastes 10 times better despite the sodium!

midwife, the campbells kind tastes nothing like split pea soup, EWEEE I'd never eat that. This one in the can tastes like a real hearty vegetarian vegetable, it tastes way better than my homemade version.

Forgot to add lentils are not peas, they are small beans.

Ahhhh.....Thanks! Clearly I have been confused for years!

well I think if you eat the whole can you still get the 800 mg of salt AND you have to multiply it all by the number of servings too.

It's nutrition label math! My favorite!

Campbell's Savory Lentil Soup -

1/2 cup condensed has:

140 calories
.5 g fat
24 g carbohydrate
6 g fiber
8 g protein
800 mg sodium

Most soups have 2 servings per can (typically), so total for the can is:
280 calories
1 g fat
48 g Carbohydrate
12 g fiber
18 g protein
1600 mg sodium

If you diluted the can with one can of water, and ate half of it, you'd be getting the nutritionals listed first. If you diluted the can with 2 cans of water, and ate half of it, you'd STILL be getting the nutritionals listed first (but you'd be getting more volume, because of the extra water). The only way you'd be cutting the sodium per serving in half would be if you added 3 cans of water and ate a quarter of the resulting soup.

1600 mg sodium (in the can) / 4 servings = 400 mg sodium per serving

If you took the whole can, diluted it with 2 cans of water, and ate the whole thing, you'd be getting 1600 mg of sodium, no matter how diluted that sodium was.

Exactly. Even if you diluted it with three cans of water, yet you ate the entire contents of the can, you're still taking in the amount of sodium contained within the can.

Yum. I love lentil soup, but I've never tried Campbell's. I'm vegetarian though and I'm wondering if there's any chicken broth or anything. If anyone has a can and doesn't mind checking, I'd love to know if it's legal for me!
Thanks,
Tara

I have a can. No chicken broth, but it contains romano cheese made from cow's milk. Don't know how strict of a vegetarian you are or if you still eat dairy products or not. But that is the only animal product listed on the label.

Thank you all for clearing that up for me, wowsa was I ever wrong!!!

Good to know.... Thanks again smarties

Just a quick note that the soup companies are coming out every day now with lower sodium soups. Note that these are by no means LOW sodium soups, having 25 to 50% less, but every little bit helps. I don't know if Campbell's lentil is on the makeover list, but keep an eye out.

Anne

I'm eating mine right now and it's pretty tasty. Although I must sound a little arrogant right now and say my homemade lentil is way better ;)