Soup Season: How to Batch-Cook Without the Mess

The first truly cool weekend of October is when most of us switch over to soup. A big pot of chili, chicken soup, or lentil stew can cover two dinners and a few lunches, which is exactly what you want when the evenings get dark early. The hard part was never the cooking, though. It is the twenty minutes of chopping at the start, the stove you have to wipe down afterward, and the leftovers that get pushed to the back of the fridge. Here is how to make all three easier.

Get the Chopping Done in One Pass

Soup is mostly knife work. Onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, squash, and whatever else needs using up. Doing it by hand is fine for one pot, but it is the step that makes people order takeout instead.

The Pro Chef 5 In 1 Cutter handles slicing, dicing, julienne, and strips without swapping blades, and the thickness adjusts from 0.1mm to 8mm depending on whether you want chunky stew pieces or a finer mirepoix. The feeding port is 3.9 by 4.7 inches, so larger potatoes and tomatoes go in without quartering them first. It comes apart with one click and is dishwasher safe, and it folds down to about 13.5 by 5.5 by 2 inches, which matters in a crowded cabinet.

Stop Cleaning the Stovetop Every Time

Stock and bean pots boil over. It usually happens in the ninety seconds you step away, and then you are scrubbing starch off the burner instead of eating.

A Boil Over Spill Stopper sits on top and gives the foam somewhere to go. It fits pots from 5.9 to 10.24 inches, handles temperatures from -40°F up to 482°F, and doubles as a steamer insert when you want to cook squash or greens on the side. It also works as a vented microwave cover for reheating, and as a trivet when the pot comes off the heat. One note from the listing worth repeating: do not slide it around while the pot is actively boiling, and give it about five minutes to cool before you move it.

Store It So It Actually Gets Eaten

Batch cooking only pays off if the second and third meals get eaten. That usually comes down to whether you can see the food and whether the container was easy to cover.

• Cool the pot before it goes in the fridge, and portion it into bowls you would actually serve from.
• Cover bowls, mugs, and cut squash halves with Reusable Silicone Stretch Lids instead of hunting for a matching lid. The six-pack covers 2.5, 3.5, 4.4, 5.3, 6.3, and 7.8 inch openings, stretches over odd shapes, and stacks flat in the fridge.
• They are rated from -40°C to 230°C and are fridge, dishwasher, and microwave safe, so the same lid goes from Sunday night to Tuesday lunch. Leave them unsealed when you reheat.
• Label the oldest container so it gets used first.

A Simple Sunday Rhythm

Prep all your vegetables at once, start the pot, cover it, and clean the board while it simmers. Portion it out as soon as it has cooled. The whole thing is maybe forty minutes of actual work for several meals, and the kitchen is already clean when you sit down.

Browse the full VIGOR kitchen collection to set up your soup season rotation.