Will everyone have room in their freezers for 8 quarts of soup?

Good point. I believe they will. All of us have stand-alone freezers and many have second refrigerators with freezers.

One minor wrinkle that I see is that all the members may not have a soup pot big enough for 8 quarts of soup.

As far as I know, the disposable freezer containers--which are great! I think they're Glad--come in 3-cup and 8-cup. The three cup containers are great for two meal sized portions of soup, and are very easy to handle. The issue would be if you want two days/four servings (assuming husbands/wives)=12 quarts including some to keep but even though everything is bigger in Texas, Ci_lantro has a point. Plus, it's a lot of work. That wouldn't be an issue for me--I regularly make that much soup--but I think might be too much for your group? Especially if any are old enough to be bothered by the weight. You could also start small with one of the 3-cup containers each, which would solve all of the problems, and if people didn't like a particular recipe, there wouldn't be more lingering in the freezer.

WAIT!! I think I analyzed that wrong. You were thinking one quart=2 servings for 2 people? If that's the case, I suggest trying the three cup containers and see if that isn't enough for everybody. Throw in a crusty roll, etc., and it's plenty enough for dinner for two, especially when one of them isn't a young man doing labor all day (I've never found a bottom for them (handy if you want your table cleared), though young women working as hard seem to get full...).

It's more of an issue to get going on, though there are some contraptions that help the filling, but another option is zip bags (the press kind, not the slider) or vacuum sealer. This does require some extra freezer space, since the point is to use large bags and lay them flat to freeze, so they can be stored standing in a box, and chosen like file folders.

An advantage of freezer bags is that they can be recycled and replaced, making less of an onus on cleaning and keeping the containers.

The really big thing is making people sign up for a type of soup and stick to it, and have a list of what everybody is bringing available, perhaps online, so that if someone has to change (if the main ingredient isn't available or something) it can be done without duplications. The worst thing I can think of is if everybody brought lentil soup. Or even if half brought lentil and half brought navy bean. Both are good soups, but while I could eat a good minestrone twice a week forever, even with some beans in it, I could not face that many legume soups! I'm sure others feel the same way about tomato soup or chicken soup.

There might also be some logistics about the swaps. Will the soup keep frozen in an ice chest through travel and the meeting? Maybe it would be better to have a swap day halfway through the month where everyone meets at the most central area and swaps soup, then goes home. It could be done in a mall parking lot or similar, where there's plenty of open space. That only works if everyone is committed and prompt, however.

If the soup is going to sit through the meeting, it would be better to bring it fresh, and let people freeze it when they get home. But that means making the soup a day, or maybe two, before the meeting, which may be inconvenient for people's schedules.

The good news is that the soup containers will keep each other cold. Maybe do a test run with containers of frozen water, in the ice chest, in the car, in the Texas Summer sun, for the length of the drive and meeting. If they don't stay pretty much complete I can't imagine everyone wanting to carry all the ice chests inside, and then the hostess has to have a place for them, and put down towels and all that. You probably already know this, but warm things are good ice chest insulation, so down coats and comforters, or puffy poly ones, heavy beach towels, quilts, etc., covering all around your ice chest, will keep it cooler longer.

I love this idea! I hope you get the logistics worked out and it's a great success!

I freeze all my soups in glass jars. Has worked great for years. I have a manual defrost kept on the coldest setting. Thicker stews like chili, go in ziploc freezer bags. Mason jars are fairly cheap and used with white plastic caps, which are bought separately.

I answered Ci and now it's gone! Oh, well. Ci, you bring up a very valid point - size of pot. I have a 9 qt Dutch oven and a 20 qt stockpot, so I'm set. We have had the cookbook club going for almost 3 years now. We rotate having our monthly luncheon in each other's homes. My observation is that all 8 of us have well-stocked kitchens. If not, it wouldn't be hard to cook the soup in two pots.

plllog, yes, I was thinking 1 quart for 2 people as a meal. It might work to have 1.5 cups as a serving. I'll throw that out when we discuss it at the luncheon.

We all have good coolers and ice packs. We all live close to each other. The fartherest we travel is 10 minutes. I don't foresee leaving the coolers in the car, although where to put them during the luncheon does need to be considered. At most of the houses, we could stack them in the laundry room. I can confidently say that at least 3 of us have laundry rooms with tile floors. I suspect the other 5 do also. That is pretty standard in this area. At least we don't meet in the worst of the summer, July and August.

When I make and freeze soups, stews, and spaghetti sauce for my own use, I often portion it into Zip-Lock bags, freeze it flat, then store it standing up. On rare occasions, I've had a bag spring a leak. For that reason and to promote uniformity of portion size, we are considering containers.

You also hit on exactly a point that is going to need some refinement - how do we not have everyone make a similar type soup each month. Like you, I'm not a bean soup fan, although having a bowl of it from time to time is okay. But if everyone decided to make a bean-centric soup one month, I'd be up a creek. So, do we have 8 rough categories of soups (beef, chicken, pork, legumes, vegetables, __, __, and __) and have one assigned each month? Or maybe just claim one on a first come basis (ex. when I claim legumes, no one else can claim legumes for that month)? Any suggestions for 3 more categories?

Bumblebeez, my first thought for containers were wide-mouth Mason jars. For me two things argue against the jars, their weight and the possibility of their getting broken and needing replacement. However, I'd like to know more about it for my own use. Are there special freezer jars or do you just use the regular Mason jars but with the special caps?

My co-conspirator and I think this will be great. Not only will I update y'all as we go, I'll probably be asking for soup recipe suggestions!

I use the regular, wide mouth mason jars with white screw-on caps. I've never cracked or broken a jar or cap. Can't say that about anything plastic, which does crack eventually.

I keep all my specialty flours in the half gallon jars too, and they fit perfectly on the freezer door. Never a breakage but I don't drop them either.

I agree about the weight of mason jars. I've dealt with ice chests with a similar amount of water in less glass and it was killer just to shove it along, let alone lift in and out of the car. I don't recommend it for even seven quarts. Especially since you're bringing them in. Bringing them in would be another reason to go with the three cup freezer containers. They don't shatter the way regular polypropylene containers do when you drop a frozen one full of ice block soup. That's experience talking. I did once break one, but it was a big crash onto concrete, not just a drop, and I think it landed on the corner with force going everywhere. I'm sure the jars work great at home, especially if you have a good grip. :)

Question: In the cookbook club, are you reading (cooking?) and reviewing cookbooks, like in a regular bookclub? Or is the hostess making tasters of recipes she's sharing with the group for you to make cookbooks for yourselves, or what?

I ask because this is similar to an organizational potluck, and I'm an old hand at those. If you're reading cookbooks, and all good cooks (which I think you must be, besides avid (i.e., there's no, "Oh, no! We're at Marjorie's again this month!), then I think it would be fun to each make a soup inspired by the book, either a recipe in it, a takeoff of it, or a soup that's made from an entree recipe or other non-soup thing. As you said, have categories that can't be duplicated unless everyone agrees--like a tortilla soup with chorizo and and a broccoli bacon soup might both be allowed, even though they're both pork.

Otherwise, the hostess or leader can make a list of the types of soups--or even have twenty slots to choose from--and people can sign up and use any recipe they want.

Or maybe get a couple of those cookbooks of nothing but soup and work your way through them, each member chooses from lots with the page numbers on them. Or the hostess finds a bunch of good sounding soups on the web, prints them, and passes them out to make for the next meeting.

There are all kinds of ways of doing signups so that it's fun and still gets the job done.

I wouldn't _assign_ soups, I'd just suggest categories and let people choose them on a first in, best dressed basis. We used to do this when planning group meals and it worked well. If you can't think of eight different categories (I can't), you could allow some categories to have duplicates (eg two beef, two chicken or two vegetable or whatever) and ask those choosing a category to name the soup they're making so the second choice is sufficiently different.

Our cookbook club chooses one cookbook to cook from each year. The first year we chose a really challenging cookbook written by a top-notch chef. Everything was made from scratch, to the point of almost having to butcher your own meat! Because that book had been so demanding, we decided to take a breather and chose a Junior League cookbook for the second year. This is our third year. The time to choose a book coincided with the publication of Ina Garten's Cooking for Jeffrey , so that is the book we are cooking from this year, although we are having to supplement some categories from other Ina Garten cookbooks.

There are 8 members, 8 courses, and we meet for 8 months a year. The courses are specialty cocktail, appetizer, soup, salad, main dish, side dish, dessert, bread and wine. We have a spreadsheet showing who is responsible for which course each month. The hostess for the month chooses the main dish, then we each try to choose a complementary dish from our category.

"Bread and wine" always goes to last month's hostess. Being hostess is a big undertaking. We all set beautiful tables with pretty linens and fresh flowers. Sometimes the table is set quite formally, sometimes it is casual, but it is always special. The meal is served in courses.

Because our luncheons are so structured and because we work our way through a cookbook each year, I think we are more likely to get participation on the Soup Club component if each member is allowed to choose from her own soup repertoire.

plllog and colleenoz, I like the idea that you both had of allowing up to 2 soups per category. I think that will work great!

What about these categories: beef, chicken, pork, vegetables, legumes, and ethnic, with 2 or 3 allowed from each - whatever it takes to get to 8.

Colleenoz, I've never before heard the phrase "first in, best dressed" before. It made me giggle! I use "first come, first served," but I like yours better!

btw, my category for our cookbook club last month was Soup. I made Summer Borscht. It was delicious!

So how about a rule that the recipe NOT come from the book you're all cooking out of, since soup could be a course for the luncheon (which sounds fabulous, btw).

I can come up with plenty of categories so you don't have to double up. And since you're doing cook's repertoire I think the rule should be that the stock is dealer's choice unless it's specifically chicken, beef, veg, etc., as part of its nature (i.e., chicken stock for chicken noodle soup, but okay to use veal or turkey stock for tortilla soup). Is there such a thing as pork stock?

Potential Categories:

• Beef

• Chicken

• Sausage (any kind of meat)

• Bacon/ham/pork

• Single vegetable (doesn't have to be vegetarian, and can have supporting veg and meat, but broccoli soup, cauliflower soup, asparagus soup, etc., where the dominant flavor is the specific vegetable.)

• Chowder or bisque (requires a lot of stirring while heating, or freezing without the cream/milk, so maybe put that to a vote)

• Asian (e.g., miso, lemongrass)

• Fruit (maybe not for main course dinners)

• Bean

• Pea or lentil

• Potato/tuber

• Mixed vegetable

  ETA: Tomato soup could also be a whole category!

Like Bumblebeez, I often freeze in glass jars. Some of the canning jars say canning/freezing right on them. I don't use the white plastic lids, as I've found those leak when tipped, I just use the rings and flats that come with the jars. The freezing jars have a "fill line", and I don't over fill because the contents expand. I had one break when I was freezing quarts of apple cider, but that's the only casualty. I also freeze jam in the small half pints.

Annie

64 glass jars might be quite a big box...or several big boxes. You can buy those cardboard freezer containers made for icecream. A restauraunt supply place will have them.....they stack, you can write on them, they're fairly cheap ( but not reusable).
I sure wouldn't worry about 7 quarts of soup packed in a cooler thawing during an afternoon meeting.
To avoid having lots of the same type of soups during a season, like squash and pumpkin in the fall and asparagus in the spring and chili in the fall....I would assign a color....Like green....you might get cream of spinach, Italian wedding, asparagus, split pea etc.....then assign red....tomato basil, beet borscht, roasted red pepper, chili...etc. And include a "multicolor" theme...maybe call it "multicolor with meat from a 4 legged animal" and multicolor with fowl....and another category "stuff that swims"....giving clam chowder, fish chowder, shrimp bisque, she-crab soup etc.
Sounds like fun!

LindaC and plllog, you've both come up with interesting categories. plllog, I had responded to you and it apparently didn't post. I don't know if there is a gremlin living in my ipad or what is going on. That is twice on this thread my responses haven't posted!

Does anyone have any experience with these containers? They get good reviews on Amazon.

I sure have gotten them from a deli....and reused them....work fine. But be sure people know not to microwave food in them.....and they are cheaper than the cardboard ones.
I have gotten some square plastic reusable containers that are great....but I can't find them to buy.

LindaC, I hope our folks know not to microwave in them, but I've been surprised before. I'll remind them. Thanks for reminding me.

Actually for initial purchase, there isn't a lot of difference between the plastic containers above and these cardboard containers. But on a per use basis, I think the plastic ones will be cheaper.

Some time ago, I found square Rubbermaid 5.2 cup containers at Dollar Tree. I believe they were 2 or 3 for $1. They have held up well. I haven't gone to our local Dollar Tree but when I look at their website, they are selling something that looks similar but isn't Rubbermaid.

There are a lot of containers that look like that soup container, so make sure to read the details carefully. The plastic one you posted is polypropylene which is the same thing that the supermarket containers are made of, and is the most food safe plastic we know of, especially for hot and cold. New Rubbermaid brand is probably fine (#5=PP=polypropylene), but just don't do soup in any other kind of plastic. Any other maker with the #5/PP mark should be fine, but dollar stores often get goods that are mislabelled, which is why they're cheap, so make sure you trust the bona fides.

The deli style ones are fine if your ladies don't have hand issues. The ones with the good seals can be a bear to open. The part you just lifted reseals! And they're very flexible, so if you have a good grip on a full container, the soup can slosh out. The ones with the less good seals leak and can be a real mess. They also don't stack really well until frozen, though probably fine against a wall. I don't know how they do when dropped frozen, however. That was the issue wasn't it? The price is great, but the only ones I have experience with freezing soup in and dropping.

The price is the best part, however. It's much easier to ladle soup into a shorter, wider container, as well as easier to stack and store, and rectangles taking less space than rounds. If you're not using specific for freezing containers, you could just use the regular disposable ones. Even the discount house brand ones are polypropylene, at least that I've seen, though some of the cheapies are thinner and might crack more easily. Others are the exact same quality as the name brand ones.

I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be freezing something like a brothy soup in the paper ones. I've used them for other things. They're worthy but can leak. The paper's rigidity breaks down, as well. If thin soup is chilled before it's put in the paper, it might hold up better. They'll probably work if people don't mind taking extra care, and making sure they don't fall over. At least they'll be frozen during transport. Perhaps set in a pot to defrost.

Thanks, plllog. I'm trying to make sure that we are only buying products that are BPA-free. I would also prefer made in the USA.

The Reditainer Extreme Freeze Deli Container gets good reviews for rigidity. The few reviews that complained of the container collapsing or not holding its shape turned out to be counterfeits made by a different company. Reditainer has an entire page on its website devoted to fighting counterfeits and showing how to tell the difference. It also states which seller on Amazon is approved to sell its products (Clear Lake Enterprises).

I'm waiting on a response from Reditainer about the capacity of their one quart container after leaving the recommended 3/4" head space.

Good point about opening the containers. I don't know anyone in our group who specifically has hand issues, but even if you don't, sometimes those things are a bear to open!

The Rubbermaid that I happened upon at Dollar Tree was a fluke, I believe (or maybe counterfeit. Who knows!). I can find the same Rubbermaid containers at Amazon and Wal-Mart but they are 4/$11-12 which is a great deal more than I paid.

The paper container was intriguing for the simple expedient of being able to write on it. But because it is a single use item, I suspect our group will reject it. Nevertheless, we are going to have to remind everyone to label their soup. I'm sure we've all been ready for chili only to discover that we've actually defrosted spaghetti sauce - or vice versa!

Don't over think this....
All the containers I have bought at Dollar Tree worked fine....even for multi uses....except when I dropped one while frozen.
Yes the round plastic will collapse a bit when you pour hot stuff into them...but surely all your group are not idiots and know their way around the kitchen and won't pour boiling soup into a container and then try to put the containers of very hot soup into their freezers...will they?
And the paper containers hold liquid just fine, have you never had soup as a carry out from a restaurant? Chinese take out? Hot and sour?
As for 8 quart containers being impossibly heavy....that's 2 gallon containers of milk....I can carry that....can't you?
A quart of soup is a nice amount...enough for 2 with maybe someone's lunch the next day....or in the event of a rich creamy soup like a shrimp bisque....enough for company as a first course.
Places that sell soup- for take out ( anyone watch Seinfeld/) sell it in quarts or pints......go with the quart!

The easiest way to label the soup is to use masking tape. You can also use a Listo wax china marker or sharpie right on the container and remove with alcohol. You might want to pass out masking tape and sharpies with the containers. You can even give each participant her own color so you'll know at a glance who made what.

The Reditainers do sound like a good idea. I'd just test freeze and drop some before committing a lot of money to them. Being freezer containers, I'm sure they'll work well in the freezer, but that doesn't mean they're designed not to break like the Glad ones, which is where this discussion started. Unless you found mention of that in your research?

I also stand by what I said about them being harder to fill. You have to hold on because they tip easily, and they stand tall enough above the counter to make the angle awkward. Add to that that the opening isn't much wider than the ladle, and it's just more likely to be messy. Your experience may be different, but I just find them a pain.

But I also like to think things through well and plan and get it right the first time...

HAHA! LindaC, your comment about knowing enough not to put boiling hot soup in a container brought to mind an example of incredible stupidity. When I was still college-age, my roommate and I fried something. Off hand, I can't remember what but it doesn't matter. I wanted to pour up the hot grease immediately and be done with it. So, I grabbed a large styrofoam cup and poured hot grease into it. The only good thing I can say is neither of us got burned, but I did have one helluva mess to clean up. Lesson learned the hard way!

Well, after all the head-scratching, soup-soul-searching, container-shopping, and consequence-predicting, the idea fell flat. No one was interested in a soup swap. They might want to do it once, but certainly not every month. If or when we do it, 3 cup amounts found greater favor than one quart portions. We are going to re-visit the idea in September. Quite frankly, once seems hardly worth it to me. But if that is the consensus of the group, I'll participate.

FWIW, my local grocery had the Rubbermaid 5.2 cup containers on sale yesterday. A package of 4 containers was $2.50. Way cheaper than Amazon!!

Timing is everything!