I love good soup. Nothing better on a cool or cold evening, afternoon snack, full on meal. It's probably my comfort food. I make killer soup. Unfortunately I only make it in one size. TOO MUCH.
Cambles has been canning soups for a million years, but anymore, their stuff is nasty. Can I can/jar soup in single serving mason jars and be able to store them on a shelf long term? I don't really want to use up freezer space if I don't need to.
Anyone tried it? What is the shelf life?
I am also interested in this subject.
I know it can be done, my mother in law does it. Shelf life has proven to be "extended", I've never come across one that's had a problem when sealed.
I'd imagine it's not much different than canning tomato sauce. My parents did that a couple of times back in the 80's. Buy a basket of tomatoes, cook up some home-made sauce, then can them in mason jars. When in doubt - google.
I've done whole tomatoes, pickles, hot peppers and pickled okra before, but never a soup. Keith, does she leave in the "soft" parts. Rice, noodles, etc? A lot of what I have read says leave that stuff out, which kind of defeats my propose. I'd like to grab a jar, heat it, and eat it. Not half make a soup.
I thought this was google...
Find a big canning pot, boil the jars, fill with soup leaving 1/2" or so, boil again with product in the jars, install lids while hot, set on shelf, enjoy.
Interesting- Googling all talks about pressure canning, but I know Mom never used the pressure cooker...I never got sick and died...
I was just thinking the other day how much canned soup stinks as I threw out half of a can of clam chowder that pretty much had zero taste at all
In reply to nepa03focus:
I opened a can of Campbell's fancy vegetable beef for dinner night before last, took one bite, dumped it in the sink and cooked.
The wife roasted a chicken last night. The carcass is turning into soup as we speak. Hence the question. 
I have actually dehydrated some of this before. It didn't turn out too bad after re-hydration.
I'll be trying it again on my next camping trip.
This is relevant to my.interests as well as I got two hambones and some root.veggies gonna be some.soup.soon.
Go to your favorite general hardware store and pick up the Bell canning book.
It's one thing to can things of high acid (jams, jelly, tomatos, pickles, etc), but canning low acid stuff is a lot harder. To the point that you should use a pressure cooker.
The "easy button" is freeze it. We've done that a few times, and loved it. There are a lot of choices in stuff you can freeze it with- zip lock bags, sealed bags, up to the buy containers and rubbermaid stuff.
Yah, easy button is pour it into gallon ziplocks and freeze it. Good for six months to a year easy.
Yes, you can can soup. I did some gumbo today. Made up a big pot, ate some, put some in fridge for next week, and canned 3 quarts in the pressure cooker. I have never kept the canned soup for more than 6 months, but we can tomatoes, etc. all the time and have kept that for 2 years. I would recommend using a pressure cooker rather than the old water bath method.
In reply to alfadriver:
I'm preparing for the end of times. The freezer probably won't survive and I'll really need my comfort foods then.
Zip locks is how I put up the last batch and it does work but, I've also got a pressure cooker and like trying new things.
No reason you can't freeze it in the mason jar as well, if you have the wide-mouth square sided ones. There is a trick about on their sides or not on their sides or something, but not a big deal.
Otherwise the disposable plastic containers with the screw-top lids, by Ziplock I think, are perfect for freezing soup. Three minutes at 60% power, shake, loosen lid to vent, 3 minutes on high and you can eat out of the container. I had Chili tonight that we made in October sometime and has been in the freezer since.
In reply to Toyman01:
As a child of a fall/winter canning kitchen, I can give you some direction.
Soup is considered Low Acid, so it needs to be pressure canned which is different than standard canning.
If you are truly interested in this, get this book: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
It will give you everything you need to know.
People are scared of pressure cookers, but I've used one numerous times and as long as it's locked, you have nothing to worry about. They usually have a pressure relief valve that allows it to vent in case the pressure gets too high.
Toyman01 wrote: I've done whole tomatoes, pickles, hot peppers and pickled okra before, but never a soup. Keith, does she leave in the "soft" parts. Rice, noodles, etc? A lot of what I have read says leave that stuff out, which kind of defeats my propose. I'd like to grab a jar, heat it, and eat it. Not half make a soup. I thought this was google...
Yup, it's full blown soup. I've been over there when she had the pressure cooker rocking, so I'm guessing that's what was going on.
lots easier .. we freeze individual servings of home made soup … you just can't use glass for the containers
I make a GREAT veggie soup and have tried canning it a few times. Every time it blows up. Maybe pressure canning was the answer. 
Dan
This is relevant to my interests, but I've never tried to can soup before. Freezing soup usually results in throwing away ancient ice blocks after months of "oh, I don't have time to THAW it" go by, so I've given up on that. There are a bunch of sites that say to not use rice, pasta, or barley when you can soup, but I was able to find a University extension site that gave a "why" for that: According to http://extension.psu.edu/food/preservation/news/2012/making-soup-safely that stuff interferes with the absorption of the heat which could create pockets of basically unpreserved food where botulism could bloom.
Toyman01 wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I'm preparing for the end of times. The freezer probably won't survive and I'll really need my comfort foods then.
If that's the case, you HAVE to get a pressure cooker. If you can find an older one, a few simple (and reversable) changes, and you have a still. Small, sure, but think of the brew you can make... 
In reply to wae:
OK, that makes some sense. Everything I found said don't do it, but no reasons. I still wonder why the heat would't penetrate. Campbell's seems to be able to manage it, so it can be done and I don't buy the "home canner can't do this." Maybe it's difficult or not practical but I don't buy can't.
I actually have that book, I just don't have a pressure canner.
Now I really want some of that soup! 
In reply to Toyman01:
I saw a lot of that too and I can't stand the whole "Never Do This!!" with no reason attached. While looking this up, I think I read somewhere that when it's done commercially, they cook the soup in the cans, add preservatives, and then pressure can them to keep anything bad from happening. If botulism is one of those things that you can't really test for until after you're on your deathbed, I'm guessing they're being way overly cautious.
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