More so than at any other time of year, eating well during the winter months is going to help with everything from your mood to your ability to fight off viruses. The trouble is that, when you get home from a long day at work and it’s already dark outside, the last thing you want to do is spend hours in the kitchen.

Soups that are quick to rustle up and generally encourage you to eat nutritious foods that you might not make time for otherwise are the ideal compromise, providing a warming, wholesome food source that you don’t need to worry about. To make sure you’re feeling the full benefits of this winter go-to, however, it is important to guarantee soup-based nutrition using the following tips. 

1. Always make your own

There are now plenty of shop-bought soups, including so-called ‘freshly made’ options that can seem like a healthy choice. In reality, though, high salt levels and the reduced nutritional content of vegetables by the time you actually heat these soups up means that you’re always better off making your own. This is certainly the sensible thing to do when you consider that most soups take less than half an hour to cook anyway, as well as enabling you to better ensure health benefits thanks to controlled salt content, and the addition of fresh ingredients galore. 

2. Focus on variety

Soup is a great winter go-to because it's adaptable. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine an ingredient that wouldn’t work in recipes like these. As such, even if you eat soup once a week, you can ensure prime nutritional benefits when you try making this onion soup one week, followed by a meaty option like chicken and sweetcorn, followed by a rich vegetable soup, and so on. Getting creative with additional ingredients like beans, lentils, and pasta every once in a while also enables you to make sure you’re adding everything you need to not only keep you physically warm on cold nights, but to also keep your body as healthy as it can be during these difficult months. 

​3. Understand your most nutritious options

As is the case with any food, some soups offer more in the way of nutrition than others. By researching this and keeping those findings in mind during your cooking, you can ensure soups that slot nicely into your healthy diet. It’s certainly worth avoiding the regular cooking of soups that are heavy in things like cream or cheese, in place of generally healthier options like vegetable, tomato, minestrone, and bean soup. Bear in mind, too, that you can always add nutritional value to even cream-based soups that might not otherwise tick all nutritional boxes by simply adding popular soup ingredients that you needn’t necessarily even notice in the end product, including lentils, celery, cale, and so on.

Soup makes a great winter go-to, especially if you consider these nutritional soup-based essentials at all times.

Check out a healthy and delicious chicken noodle tortilla soup recipe from LivingPlate. You can find lots of great dietitian-approved recipes on our website.