Frontier Deluxe Vegetable Soup, 1-Pound, Mixed Dried Vegetables For Soup, Stew, Stir Fry, Onion, Carrots, Peas & Potatoes

This has a very nice balanced blend of carrots, peppers, onion and other goodies. Flavor is a little warm almost smoky (sun dried pepper?). It’s also super easy to use just pour some into a small bowl and add very hot to boiling water and let it soak for a few minutes stirring a couple times. I like to add these veggies to kitchari and the occasional instant noodles. There are so many uses for this stuff so it has a lot of utility which almost makes it a staple in the pantry.I’ve read some reviews claiming this to be rock hard but that has not been my experience even when I throw them into some instant noodles. I don’t use microwave ovens so I just add boiled water to my noodles along with a table spoon of the veggies let it sit for 3-5 minutes per the noodle instructions and bam! Instant noodles with a bit of soft veggies.

I had read a few different reviews before purchasing. One said that there were too many onions, and some said it smelled like some overpowering spice (lol). When I first opened the package it smelled very heavily of onion. I'm not a huge onion fan, so I was a bit put off... though, I was hoping that it didn't taste too strongly of onion, since I really didn't see an overwhelming amount in the mix. I boiled the water per instructions and poured in the veggie mix, then let it simmer, per instructions. However, the instructions do not state how long to let it simmer. After about 10 mins, I tested for rehydration and they were not well rehydrated yet, so I turned up the heat just a bit and probably left them for 20-30 mins. At this point they were very close, so I added the chicken broth and brought the batch to a boil again. Temp down again to high simmer and left on the stove for another 15-20- mins. The time wasn't a real big issue with me as this was the first time using these and getting an idea for how long to soak them, boil them, etc. After the full amount of time as stated above, I was hungry and ate the soup. I added Bratwurst and the soup really turned out great and not too oniony. The veggies at this point were just a tad underhydrated, but not enough to destroy the soup (they continued to hydrate by soaking in the chicken broth, so it seems that the amount of water per mix is not accurate). I am going to boil the water more next time, probably with the veggies in and let them soak in the hot water for at least an hour, as well as add more water than called for. But I can see that these are going to be a staple in our pantry from now on. Perfect... well, almost, I wish that there were zucchini or squash in the mix as well.

I got these as an emergency staple to make with ramen noodles. Despite boiling for 4 minutes, the carrots still don't get 100% soft, but they're close enough. The flavor is good, and they're convenient.

It is always better to eat fresh vegetables grown and sold locally. For many people the dehydrated versions make great emergency food in areas where electrical power can fail regularly or is non-existent as on many Indian reservations. But they also are better than canned food nutritionally (tell that to food banks). They are easier to store, weighing less. But most brands are truly expensive, making them less desirable.Usually canning factories get the best of the harvest, for some unknown reason, since all canned food tend to be cooked to more or less a degree during the canning process, degrading vitamins A, C and E. But, though dehydrated foods are often of poorer quality, they are not subject to too much heat during the process. So they hold more nutrients than canned food. They also weigh less because of the loss of the water. Many are pretty much the same as fresh when rehydrated. This makes them very desirable for long term storage. Amazon used to be the place to go to buy bulk for long-term storage, but their prices have been skyrocketing. This product has maintained the same price all year round for several years, remaining at a truly competitive price in the market for organic dehydrated produce. And being produced by Frontier, it has been kept at high quality.The price actually puts these vegetables into the "bargain" category.. I weighed dry amounts and again after full hydration. Then figured out the percentages of each of the ingredients in a cup of well mixed contents of this product. Then I priced each of the vegetables in the local grocery store. The vegetable mix rehydrates to about 2.97 times the dry weight. This means that if I were to replace this bag of vegetables with only fresh ones, I would spend about $0.12/lb less than this dried mix. That is a bargain when you buy vegetables at summer prices, and considering that dehydration is a cost that will not be covered entirely by that $0.12/lb. There may be less of a difference in price in winter. Because the price of the fresh vegetables rises in winter, these dehydrated versions may cost less than the fresh.You do not have to make a soup with this product, either. Just throw some into water to rehydrate, cook them with other vegetables and/or animal product for a one-pot casserole, taco or sandwich filling, or make them into a sauce to pour over pasta or rice. It is difficult to get tired of this product because of the diversity of vegetables in it.Because the bag is not resealable, I usually pour the contents into a glass jar. Since large glass jars are getting to be very scarce, it is easier to keep them in the mylar bag and reseal with a Euro-seal-like instrument. Plastic containers are never fully resealable because plastic "breathes." They should be a last resort only. Thus, the way this product is packaged puts them ahead of the line of other dehydrated vegetable brands.

I can add this dry soup mix to practically anything and my whole family will like it! It has a great flavor and the veggies get tender fairly quickly. It takes longer than ramen to soften, but not a whole lot longer. We use it instead of the very salty packets that the noodles comes with. It also gets put into meatloaf and stew, and anything jiucy/savory really.

I've purchased this item several times before for my soups & I've always been satisfied. This time not so much it's like they wouldn't absorb the liquid fully. So they were kind of chewy. I'm going to assume I got a bad bag. I will still purchase from this supplier.

I REALLY liked them, but they wrecked my insides. It turns out that I had prepared them incorrectly. They MUST NOT BE UNDERCOOKED. The fault was mine. They are delicious. They might make an excellent addition to any grain-based entree’. Just please don’t repeat my silly mistake.

High Quality At Low Price... I put the bags opened in FoodSaver Vacuum Sealed Bags. Lasts Fresh Forever.Will Add With Meat, Beans, Rice, Pasta, Other Vegs Whatever, So It Will Feed Many Folks In An Emergency....Buy This And Be Happy!Lane In Columbus, Ohio...