We Tried It: Campbell's Select Harvest Light Soups
By: Stepfanie Romine,
SparkPeople Blogger
9/29/2008 1:11 PM
: 184 comments
If you've watched TV in the past few weeks, you've likely seen the commercials for Campbell's Select Harvest soups. A pretty red-haired woman wears a blindfold and tastes two soups.
When she tastes the competitor's soups, she says she tastes sodium-something-something-ate and MSG. Campbell's tastes like 100% natural white meat chicken and spinach grown on a south-facing slope. (In another commercial, she tastes carrots from a particular farm and natural, lower-sodium sea salt from northern waters.)
This week we tried some of the Campbell's Select Harvest Light soups. (There's also a Select Harvest line and a Select Harvest Healthy Request line that's 98% fat free with lower sodium natural sea salt. Confusing, eh?)
What Campbell's says:
"Introducing new Campbell's Select Harvest soups, made with delicious ingredients like farm-grown vegetables, wholesome grains and 100% natural white meat chicken — with no artificial flavors or MSG. Savor the goodness."
What we say:
These soups taste good! The nutritional facts are stellar: In the Italian-Style Vegetable, there are just 50 calories a serving, no fat, 13 g carbs, 4 g fiber and 3 g of protein. But there are 480 mg sodium, or 20% of your daily recommended intake. (I ate the entire can for a whopping 100 calories.)
This soup was really filling, which surprised me. It's mostly a tomato-based broth, with plenty of vegetables. I saw chickpeas, kidney beans, mini pasta, green beans, spinach, celery, carrots, onion and tomatoes. While the veggies had the consistency you'd expect in canned soup (soft to the bite), they weren't mushy or slimy. They retained their bright colors—no muddy, undistinguishable vegetables here. It was a little salty but better than other tinned soups I've tried.
The Savory Chicken with Vegetables has comparable stats per 1-cup serving:
80 calories
1 g fat
480 mg sodium
15 g carbs
4 g fiber
5 g protein
We got them on sale for $1.69, "a savings of 90 cents," according to our grocery store.
We like that Campbell's has added a section called "In Case You Didn't Know" to the labels, which explains the ingredients that seem to contradict the claims of "no artificial flavors." Potassium Chloride, Cellulose Gel, Xanthum Gum, Cellulose Gum, Maltodextrin and Citric Acid are all defined, with their role in the soup explained.
Tips: Stick with the Light and Healthy Request versions, of which there are plenty to choose: Light Italian-Style Vegetable, Light Southwestern-Style Vegetable, Light Vegetable and Pasta, Light Vegetable Beef and Barley, Light Maryland-Style Crab, Light Savory Chicken with Vegetables, and Healthy Request Italian-Style Wedding, Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla, Chicken with Egg Noodles, and Savory Chicken and Long Grain Rice.
Have you tried these soups? Is there a flavor you like? If you're not a fan of the Select Harvest Soups, which soups do you like?
When she tastes the competitor's soups, she says she tastes sodium-something-something-ate and MSG. Campbell's tastes like 100% natural white meat chicken and spinach grown on a south-facing slope. (In another commercial, she tastes carrots from a particular farm and natural, lower-sodium sea salt from northern waters.)
This week we tried some of the Campbell's Select Harvest Light soups. (There's also a Select Harvest line and a Select Harvest Healthy Request line that's 98% fat free with lower sodium natural sea salt. Confusing, eh?)
What Campbell's says:
"Introducing new Campbell's Select Harvest soups, made with delicious ingredients like farm-grown vegetables, wholesome grains and 100% natural white meat chicken — with no artificial flavors or MSG. Savor the goodness."
What we say:
These soups taste good! The nutritional facts are stellar: In the Italian-Style Vegetable, there are just 50 calories a serving, no fat, 13 g carbs, 4 g fiber and 3 g of protein. But there are 480 mg sodium, or 20% of your daily recommended intake. (I ate the entire can for a whopping 100 calories.)
This soup was really filling, which surprised me. It's mostly a tomato-based broth, with plenty of vegetables. I saw chickpeas, kidney beans, mini pasta, green beans, spinach, celery, carrots, onion and tomatoes. While the veggies had the consistency you'd expect in canned soup (soft to the bite), they weren't mushy or slimy. They retained their bright colors—no muddy, undistinguishable vegetables here. It was a little salty but better than other tinned soups I've tried.
The Savory Chicken with Vegetables has comparable stats per 1-cup serving:
80 calories
1 g fat
480 mg sodium
15 g carbs
4 g fiber
5 g protein
We got them on sale for $1.69, "a savings of 90 cents," according to our grocery store.
We like that Campbell's has added a section called "In Case You Didn't Know" to the labels, which explains the ingredients that seem to contradict the claims of "no artificial flavors." Potassium Chloride, Cellulose Gel, Xanthum Gum, Cellulose Gum, Maltodextrin and Citric Acid are all defined, with their role in the soup explained.
Tips: Stick with the Light and Healthy Request versions, of which there are plenty to choose: Light Italian-Style Vegetable, Light Southwestern-Style Vegetable, Light Vegetable and Pasta, Light Vegetable Beef and Barley, Light Maryland-Style Crab, Light Savory Chicken with Vegetables, and Healthy Request Italian-Style Wedding, Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla, Chicken with Egg Noodles, and Savory Chicken and Long Grain Rice.
Have you tried these soups? Is there a flavor you like? If you're not a fan of the Select Harvest Soups, which soups do you like?
 You will earn 3 SparkPoints |
NEXT ENTRY > Gwyneth Buys In to 'Bulking Up' Myth
.jpg)
Comments
Dianne - 3/26/2011 1:40:22 AM
AND Dr. Oz says alot of the cans leech BPA's in the food. THAT is not good at all! - 9/26/2010 4:51:38 AM
Unfortunately, the soups are very high in sodium. Comparatively, they are actually the *lowest* in sodium when you look at all of the other manufacturer's similar soups, but the overall level of sodium here is still way too high.
The USDA's 2009 Subcommittee on Sodium, Pottasium and Water reports approximately 30% of people in the US have hypertension and 33% have pre-hypertension. Dr Shelly Nickols-Richardson of the University of Pennsylvania and speaker at the USDA's 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee said that "sodium intake consistently exceeded the tolerable upper intake level... for 90 percent of the population," according to a 2008 study.
With that in mind, let's look at the sodium contents of the soup here. One can contains 100 kcal and 960mg of sodium, which is 64% of your daily adequate intake. If you're middle-aged, black, or if you have hypertension, it's also 64% of your recommended daily "upper limit" of sodium, but otherwise it's just a mere 41% if you don't fall into any of the at-risk categories of individuals.
As I said, other soups are worse: Progresso's Italian-Style Vegetable weighs in at (with a mere one, 120-calorie can of soup) 92% of your recommended intake of sodium. On the ridiculous end of this scale you'll find Wolfgang Puck's Old Fashioned Beef Barley soup (one can, 201 kcal) at 111% of the recommended intake.
In summary, the Select Harvest Light soups are great at filling you up for the amount of calories they contain, but you should unquestionably be keeping your salt consumption in the forefront of your mind if you make a habit of eating these soups. - 3/7/2010 3:06:36 PM
Funny thing! While I was reading this blog, I saw a TV commercial for these soups! - 1/21/2010 9:51:47 PM
I guess I'll try another variety, since I have one in my pantry, but I don't think I would ever buy it again. - 1/18/2010 10:30:59 AM
Sunny - 2/12/2009 5:39:04 PM
Please Log In To Leave A Comment: Log in now ›