Dr. McDougall’s BPA-free, vegan soups

January 27th, 2010

blackbean lentil

Note: This was originally published on Nov. 30, 2009. I thought it’d be helpful to re-post, in light of my HuffPost Eco Etiquette column today on how to avoid sneaky sources of BPA.

Now that Meatless Monday has morphed into most-of-the-week meatless for me, soup has become my go-to lunch. It’s easy, it’s cheap, and, paired with a bit of cheese, some Ryvita crackers, and a piece of fruit, keeps me going until dinner. I try to make a big, hot pot of something veggie every Sunday (enough lentil soup for an entire week costs about $3 if you make it from dried beans), but inevitably, my to-do list gets overly ambitious and I find myself hustling by Whole Foods on my Monday morning walk to pick up a couple of canned soups at $1.99 a pop.

That’s still a relatively cheap lunch, but there are two problems with this: a) I’m supposed to be boycotting Whole Foods (I know, I know; I’m now doing the majority of my shopping at farmers markets and Trader Joe’s, but if I’m in a pinch and the choice is between buying organic at Whole Foods or conventional elsewhere, you can bet I’m doing the former); and b) it turns out that a lot of canned food is loaded with toxic chemical BPA.

So I was thrilled to discover Dr. McDougall’s, a fabulous line of vegan soups that come in BPA-free cartons manufactured from Forest Stewardship Council–certified paper. And the best part is, they’re are sold at dozens of conventional grocery stores (read: buh-bye, WF!). I’ve tried the lentil, black bean, and vegetable so far, and I’ve got to say, while they aren’t as soul-satisfying as the home-cooked version, they’re the best packaged soup I’ve ever tasted. The ingredients, too, are darn-near spartan: The lentil soup contains lentils, organic vegetables, organic brown rice, potato starch, and spices.

You can also order the soups by the case online, which will be great backup for me the next time my coconut mung bean soup plans get sidelined.