On Instant Lunches
As a kid, my family went skiing every Saturday, all winter, without fail. Despite the difficulty of getting 4 kids out of bed early and ready for a big ski day, my parents pulled it off. My dad had a pretty well organized system to get all four of us kids, with all of our gear, into the car early in the morning, ready for the day. Somehow the lunches got packed too (thanks mom!). It takes a plan, hard work, and some tricks to keep a large family going! Our lunches often included a Maruchan Instant Lunch, which was awesome on a cold day.
Not so awesome was my realization as an adult of the lack of nutrition in one of those cups, along with MSG, “spices,” and whatever other toxins leached from the styrofoam into your “broth.” PS: I don’t blame you mom! And I hope my kids don’t go over my mom record with updated standards either…
Don’t you wish there was a real food, nutritious option that was also easy and delicious? I know, me too. That is why I designed these GAPS Instant Soup Cups!
What I LOVE about GAPS Instant Soup Cups
- Kids and adults alike have fun with creative combinations and assembling their own instant lunch!
- You don’t have to have the same huge pot of soup for 3-5 days…
- These cups have a fresh taste, and the veggies are tender but not overcooked.
- Customizing cups is easy for all kinds of food preferences and intolerances!
- Once you spend a little time making them, you have lunches for up to 5 days from the fridge!
- You get your meat and meat stock in an easy, fun, delicious way!
- They are pretty. I find food more enjoyable and appetizing when it looks attractive 😉
GAPS Instant Soup Cup Tips
- To make sure your soup is warm, follow these steps:
- Run warm or hot water over your mason jar before adding stock, if possible (if the jar is super cold, start with lukewarm water and get progressively hotter to avoid cracking the jar.)
- Put a coozy on your jar. The top part of a worn out wool sock works great too!
- Make sure the broth/stock is as hot as possible when you add it.
- Don’t fill your jar more than 1/3 full with meat and vegetables.
- If you like your veggies fresher or more crispy, just put them in raw.
- If you like your veggies softer, you can use frozen or dehydrated veggies, slice them very thin, or parboil/saute them before putting them into cups.
- You can do any veggie, spice, herb, and meat combination to create your own soups, but here are three ideas for specific soup recipes that I hope you’ll enjoy!
GAPS Instant Soup Cups
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 soup cup 1x
Description
A fun way to have ready made, customized GAPS lunches for the whole family!
Ingredients
Beef Pho Zoodle Soup Cup (makes 1)
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 1 small star anise
- sliced jalapeno to taste
- 1 tsp sliced green onion
- 2 tsp chopped cilantro
- 2 tsp chopped basil
- 1/3 cup zucchini spiral noodles
- 1/2 cup cooked beef
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced bell pepper
- wedge of lime or lemon
- optional: 1/4 tsp fish sauce, 1/2 tsp coconut aminos
Savory Chicken Zoodle Soup Cup (makes 1)
- 1/2 cup cooked shredded chicken
- 1/3 cup zucchini noodles
- 1/3 cup thinly peeled or grated carrot (use a potato peeler, or use frozen carrots)
- 1/4 cup frozen green peas
- 1/8 tsp thyme
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- optional: 1/4 teaspoon sea vegetables
Mexican Spice Soup Cup (Makes 1)
- 1/4 cup thinly peeled carrots
- 1/2 cup cooked chicken or beef
- 1/4 cup frozen squash cubes, cooked white beans, or frozen cauliflower rice
- 1/4 cup chopped avocado
- 1 Tbs tomato sauce or paste
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp chopped green onion
- 1 tsp chopped cilantro
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- jalapeno slices to taste
- Wedge of lemon or lime
- Optional: 1 tsp 24-hr GAPS Sour Cream
All cups need 12-16 oz of salted meat stock (chicken for the chicken cups, beef for the beef cups). The meat stock can either be heated to a simmer at the time of using the cups, or brought in a separate thermos (make sure it’s piping hot and rinse the thermos with hot or boiling water before putting the hot stock in).
For recipes to make meat stock, see this article.
Instructions
- Get out pint or quart sized mason jars and lids. Wide mouth jars are a bit easier to work with.
- If making cups with the whole family, put all the ingredient options in little bowls for family members to choose from in customizing their cup.
- Layer each ingredient in the jars. Put the lid on.
- Store jars in the refrigerator until ready to use (up to 5 days).
- If you want your soup to be very hot, rather than just warm, use a larger size jar and only fill about 1/3 with ingredients. It will be a bit more stock-ful than the other soups, but a great way to get your meat stock in! Or, on the day you want to eat the soup, dump the cup into a saucepan with the stock in the morning and bring to a simmer. Then pour into a good thermos that has been rinsed with hot water.
Notes
- Use dehydrated, frozen, sauteed, or par-boiled veggies if you or your guts prefer them to be well-cooked rather than more firm.
- Use a coozy or the top of a wool sock to keep your soup warm.
- You could also make these in a food flask such as Hydroflask.
- Goes well with GAPS sides such as Nutbutter Bread, Cardamom Currant Muffins, hard boiled eggs, 24-Hr GAPS Yogurt with berries or honey, and fermented veggies.
