by Carla Raley

Created on: August 08, 2009

With winter approaching, homemaker minds tend to start running towards hearty, hot meals for her family. Homemade soups are often at the top of the list of family favorites. And with a little planning, they can be made with a minimum of time and trouble.

Spend an afternoon frying hamburger meat, and divide it into family size Ziploc freezer bags. Include the things you usually like to use to spice your meat when you fry it, like salt, pepper, garlic and onions. With this already cooked and ready in the freezer when you need it, plus the things you usually have in your fridge and pantry, you are ready to make several kinds of soups.

Hamburger soup: this one is really easy, and very, very good tasting. Put your already cooked hamburger meat in a pot, and add a couple of cans of tomato sauce. Then add whatever you have on hand. Corn, potatoes, carrots, celery, any one, some or all of these, plus whatever else your family enjoys can be added into the soup. You can use canned or frozen mixed vegetables. If you are out of potatoes, or if you just prefer it, add rice instead. Sample the soup, and add spices as needed. This soup is ready quickly, but is much better if you let it simmer for a while to mix the flavors. Add a good loaf of fresh bread or crackers to eat with it. Cornbread is also good to eat with this soup.

Taco soup: this is another favorite and a quick soup. Once again, put your already cooked hamburger meat in a pot, but this time add a can or two of rotel tomatoes. Mix in some corn, and when it's hot, melt a big chunk of Velveeta cheese in the soup. Serve this with tortilla chips.

Pizza soup: this is an unusual soup, but very good. Put cooked hamburger meat, sausage, and/or pepperoni into your soup pot. Add canned spaghetti sauce and some tomato sauce or diced tomatoes, and just enough water to make it the consistency you like. This soup will be a little thick. Add sliced olives and some mixed vegetables if you want. You can add some cheese directly into the soup, or have shredded cheese on the table to add when you serve the soup. Have a lot of hot crusty bread to dip into the soup to eat it. Children love this!

Another good meat to have on hand already cooked is chicken. Roast or put into your crock pot several at a time. You can also stew them. Add salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary, onion or whatever else you like to have on your chicken. Once it's cooked and cooled, debone it, and place it in family

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