Oh wow, just noticed you are making all of these yourself? They all would benefit from a few things waiting until the heat and serve time...a half hour before party time. (keeps cooking during the party even on a simmer) Cheese, cream/milk, coconut milk, herbs, etc. Basically anything that is added last in the recipe that says "add last and bring to temp and serve". Canned corn is kinda dead tasting and usually full of sugar. Frozen, added morning-of, would be better. Puree half of it for creamed corn. Side bowls of fresh herbs, limes, cilantro, grated cheese, croutons, toasted slices of baguettes, tortilla chips...even if it is already in the soup, folks like to customize their bowl, :) (tortilla added to the soup gives a nice flavor and breaks down in the broth and really good, but adding half later is nice for the texture) Almost all soups freeze just fine as leftovers cooked all the way as a recipe even with a pasta or rice...but do taste like a leftover. Holding off an ingredient or two will give it some freshness, like the chopped kale or fresh chopped tomatoes. When i thaw leftover soups, i always dig in the fridge and look for something fresh to add, like a fresh frozen salsa, pesto, shelled edamame... You are on the right tract by holding off what makes sense. Keeping the list and menu planned and organized for what goes into where and when can be tricky. (imagine what a restaurant chef goes through all day, every day! yikes) -don't mean to be anti-canned goods, but most of those recipes passed around are coming from the big manufacturers of processed foods, so the same flavors can be made with much fresher ingredients without the chemicals and fake flavors.

Here are a couple of my favorites. Both could be made with ground turkey or chicken. Vegetable Burger Soup makes 10-12 servings 1 lb. ground beef or pre-cooked frozen ground beef 2 lbs. can stewed or diced tomatoes 1 1 lb. can tomato sauce 4 cups water 2 10 oz. pkgs mixed frozen vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, green beans) 1 envelope dry onion soup 2 t. sugar - white or brown Brown beef and drain off fat if using fresh. Thaw beef if using frozen precooked. Add rest of ingredients to soup pot or slow cooker. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer one hour if in pot on stove. Cook on low for 8 hours if in crock pot. I add diced cooked potato cubes to this after thawing the soup and before heating. Sometimes cooked potatoes become soft with freezing. You can use diced fresh onion if the onion soup is too salty. Taco Soup I used less meat and it was great; subbed some bulk sausage for some of the ground beef. I did not include the can of hominy. You could use no salt versions of the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Not sure what you could sub for the Ranch Dressing or taco mix. Maybe garlic and parsley for the Ranch and chili powder for the taco? 2 pounds ground round 1 large onion, diced 1 packet taco seasoning 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch original dry mix salad dressing 1 can kidney beans (with liquid) 1 can pinto beans with jalapeños (with liquid) 1 can yellow hominy 1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel) 2 cans stewed tomatoes (I use Mexican stewed tomatoes) 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 1 cup of water Cook beef and onion until beef is browned, drain excess grease. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.

I think you can. My husband always makes a double batch of potato leek soup and that also has cream in it. We freeze it in Tupperware containers. The trick though comes when defrosting it - you need to do it slowly. We usually let it sit in the refrigerator for a day or on the counter for a couple of hours until it softens. Then we microwave it on a low temperature setting and stir often until completely defrosted. Then I heat it to the desired temperature on a higher setting.

Freezes great. May look a bit different when thawed, meaning not your first soup, but it might need a wiz in the blender or a stick blender. I like to heat and blend with something fresh like parsley or cilantro, or a topping of yogurt mixed with a bit of feta or goat cheese. No need really but just to boost the freezer flavor if it gets a bit separated. Usually heat in a sauce pan takes care of that. Some nice toasted croutons or toasted slices of bread. Even just a half cup of milk or coconut milk adds a nice flavor boost. Freeze in pint containers so you get more meals out of it.