Christmas before last, my youngest brother drew my name for our gift exchange. As in many families, we draw at Thanksgiving and then only buy a gift for one other adult. Many families do this for cost, but for us it is a matter of ambush. All year long, my brothers and I think of something and we buy it. We don’t put it on a list or drop hints for potential presents. So as a result we are forced to become creative, speculating what might be useful or cool to our drawn target. My sister-in-laws are not much better at dropping hints and may be worse at picking up on them. Mom, she reads minds.
So when I opened my gift I had no idea what to expect; Kinda exciting eh?
There was a really nice stainless steel growler. What . . . as many of you know until last summer I worked at a brewery. I have more shapes and sizes of growlers than you can shake a stick at; furthermore I hardly drink beer at home or anywhere but at the brewery. So why did I need another growler? I held a straight face, and said nothing and kept digging, but my brother was beaming. He was proud of himself, so there had to be more to it.
Next in the box were big packages of instant soup mix. Just add water. At that point he couldn’t stand it any longer and had to explain, it was for ice fishing. Pour the mix in the growler, fill it with boiling water, seal it up and take it fishing.
How many times have you gone out on the lake, sometimes a considerable walk out from the truck, and gotten a bit hungry. I will admit my simple hookups are granola or protein bars. Chad, loves donuts. Steph typically has some jerky and a gatorade. But HOT SOUP! Wow, this could be huge.
I spent a number of long days out scouting on various lakes over the winter and several times I took a growler of soup. 
I have some stainless cups, cowboy cups if you will. They worked perfect. I got some hot lunch without having to leave the lake, pack all the gear, and find a restaurant or worse yet fast food. I have had the sandwiches that you stash inside your coat that get smashed and soggy, or even frozen if you leave them in the sled – but this was HOT!
The problem came when I went to find the mixes again, the place he bought them did not carry them any more. So I bought some instant soup mixes at the grocery, they were not as good. So now I have started to experiment with making my own.
Pasta is easy, you might think. I found that larger or thick pasta noodles would not cook completely with just boiling water. Long noodles are hard to deal with from a cup. Crushed instant noodles are the ticket. Vegetables, I have been working with dried mixes I can get on Amazon. If I had my own garden I would make use of my dehydrators. Spices are probably the easiest since most of what you have in your collection are dried anyway. The real issue I encountered protein. Dried chicken or beef is quite costly. But then it dawned on me. I am preparing this at home, not to be thrown in my bomb shelter or backpack for a two week stint on Isle Royale. So I went to grilling some extra chicken, pork or venison, when the opportunity came about, leave it a little extra rare dice it up and package up in small portions. I have even froze some in the small zip top bags to use weeks later.
Add the protein (thawed), then the dried goods to the growler and fill with boiling water. My preference is to let it steep in the jug for several hours. If you have one of these awesome vacuum bottle growlers, you know they will keep it hot (or Cold) for over a day if you don’t open them. Turns out 64 ounces of soup is enough for two guys lunch or more if your just having a chill buster.
Since I started doing this the lessons I have learned may lead me to publishing some of my recipes here on MiIceGuys.com. I am working on one using fish I caught, vegetables I dried and spices that I have blended. In the meanwhile I have discovered there are many websites that boast recipes that others have constructed for camping, backpacking and even apocalyptic disaster bunker preparations. Feel free to check some out I have listed below, or do like my brother and get a really cool package for one of your fishing buddies. Christmas is coming and some of us are a bit tough to shop for . . .
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