I’m not one to pass up a good deal, but until a couple weeks ago I was almost afraid to pick up the manager’s special mushrooms tempting me in the produce aisle. I wasn’t sure if I could use them all before they go to waste. At a fantastic $1.67 for 1 pound of mushrooms, though, I had to try.
After using some for our Valentine’s Aussie Chicken, and some more for breakfast burritos and homemade pizza, I had about 1 1/2 pounds left.
What to do? I knew I couldn’t freeze them as is, so I sliced them up, sauteed them in some butter and froze them to use for homemade cream of mushroom soup. It worked beautifully!
Using 1/4 cup of butter and 3 generous cups of sliced mushrooms at a time, I sauteed two batches. In the end I had enough sauteed mushrooms to pack 1/4 cup each into 8 ziplock bags. Total cost, including the butter = approximately $.38 each.
Combining the collective culinary wisdom of Kate and Phoebe (thanks, ladies) I came up with the following method.
Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms, sauteed in butter
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp parsley
To make cream of mushroom soup, simply sautee the contents of one bag with an additional 2 tbsp. butter. Mix 1/2 cup flour with 1 1/2 cups milk until smooth. Slowly add to mushrooms, whisking constantly. Then slowly add another 2 1/2 cups of milk. Whisk until smooth and bubbly.
Add 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and 1 tsp. parsley flakes. Remove from heat. Soup will thicken as it cools. Feel free to add more milk to reach desired consistency.
Makes the equivalent of 3 cans cream of mushroom soup.
Cost breakdown:
- sauteed mushrooms in butter = 38 cents
- 2 Tbsp. butter (I use real butter)= 25 cents
- 1/2 cup flour = 5 cents
- 4 cups milk = 50 cents (I buy my milk on manager’s special and freeze it)
- spices = 5 cents (if that)
- TOTAL = $1.23 for 3 cans, or 41 cents per can
The best price I can find at Dillons is 67 cents per can, and WalMart is now charging $1.00 for a can of cream of mushroom. Twenty-six cents per can may not seem like incredible savings, but the taste and smell of the real stuff… and knowing exactly what is in my cream of mushroom soup… makes it a Finer Thing!
Just another example of “if you can buy it, you can probably make it (better)!”
You can find this post at Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Tackle it Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
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Can you freeze the soup after you make it?
Thanks for this post – they always have fresh mushrooms on clearance at my local grocery store, but I’m never sure what to do with them. Now I know!
Couple questions – how long does the cream of mushroom soup last and have you ever tried freezing it? At this point, it’s only my husband, myself and our little boy, so 3 cans worth would last way too long!! 
Thanks for the informative post. God Bless.
I wouldn’t recommend freezing the soup after it’s made. If you want to make a smaller batch, perhaps you could use fewer mushrooms. 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp. So, for one can’s worth you would use 1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp. sauteed mushrooms. Then just divide the recipe approximately in thirds. Hope that helps!
Amy
I love homemade cream of mushroom soup.
It is so much better! 
I have been looking for a mushroom soup recipe! I am sure this will be a tasty treat for me sometime when my husband is not around.
Looks better than the canned thats for sure! I love mushrooms
Yum! That is really great.
I have tried a somewhat different recipe that I found elsewhere on the great wide internets. It uses some chicken broth and ends up pretty thick, then you thin it down with milk to reach soup consistency. I froze it before thinning it, and have used it in place of the canned stuff in various recipes (casseroles, mainly) with no problems.
I found another one recently that added clear jel to get that thick consistency, then it was hot water bath canned, and I believe they added milk to make eating-consistency soup when serving. It’s one of those things that I think you can play with a little bit – especially if you get such a steal on mushrooms! Even on sale around here, they don’t get much below $2 a pound, and they’re usually pretty questionable quality, unfortunately.
I love the idea of freezing the sauteed mushrooms – I’d never thought of that. I really wish I could come up with a way to preserve them to use on pizza and whatnot. I’ve considered dehydrating, but haven’t tried it yet. (Mostly because I’d have to borrow a dehydrator!)
This looks great. I’ve never made cream of mushroom soup.
I have two boxes of mushrooms in my fridge right now that I was going to make soup with! This looks easier than the recipe I was going to go with, maybe I’ll try half this way and half the other and see which I like best =) Thanks for sharing your recipe!
It sounds delicious – now if anyone else in my family would eat it! I love COM soup, but I am definitely the only one.
Great idea! Nice to have that around
oh my, that looks divine….never thought about making this homemade, will have to try it!! thanks for a great recipe!
I love how you packaged the mushrooms! I’ve never done that, but when I find red peppers on sale I chop them up and freeze them. Thanks for the great tip and recipe!
-Kim
What a yummy tackle!!
Thank you for this recipe. I really like mushroom soup but I have never made it from scratch. I’m going to try!
Mushrooms seem to go rubbery when frozen — but are fine when sauted minced as “Duxelles” until “dry” — then they look much like cooked ground beef and can be added where you want or as part of a beef dish — or use as mushroom flavouring.