Tomato soup is a favorite in our house. Most of the time, it’s Campbell’s canned tomato soup paired with grilled cheese. If we’re feeling fancier, we’ll sometimes make tomato soup homemade from scratch. Top it with saltine crackers, and everyone is happy. It’s not often I try tomato soup from anywhere else, so I was excited for Aldi’s take on it.
The Park Street Deli Creamy Tomato Homestyle Soup is $4.95, and is a Seasonal Item. Seasonal Items are in stores for longer than Aldi Finds, but they don’t last all year like Regular Buys. In the case of this soup, it’s only around for the winter months.
There are 3 servings per container, with each serving being 1 cup. In each serving there are 300 calories, 23g of total fat, 13g of saturated fat, 0.5g of trans fat, 75mg cholesterol, 640mg sodium, 22g total carbohydrates, 2g of dietary fiber, 13g of total sugars, 6g of added sugars, and 3g of protein.
If allergens are a concern, the soup contains milk.
Nutrition information. (Click to enlarge.)
The ingredients in this soup aren’t terrible. There’s still sugar, modified corn starch, and salt, but there are better ingredients, too. They include vegetable stock (water, carrots, onion, celery, salt, sugar, corn oil, potato flour, and carrot powder), heavy cream, tomato paste, onions, garlic, dry milk, basil, and tomato concentrate. Most of the fat will come from the heavy cream. This soup does contain an ingredient call nisin preparation, which is a preservative.
One ingredient that’s mentioned is simply “spice.” I do wish they’d specify what spices were used and make it less general.
Ingredients and heating directions. (Click to enlarge.)
There are heating instructions for both a stovetop and microwave. I used the microwave, but all you do for stovetop is bring the soup to a simmer in a pan while stirring it. With the microwave, I removed the lid and plastic film, and covered the container with a paper towel, heating it for 5 minutes and 30 seconds. When I removed the paper towel, the soup was boiling a bit, and I had to wait for it to cool down a little before pouring it into bowls.
Ready to serve.
In my opinion, I think this soup tastes more like the homemade stuff than it does canned soup. There were chunks of basil visible in the soup, along with pieces of tomato and other vegetables, which is more reminiscent of homemade or restaurant soups.
I loved the taste, and it felt less artificial than most store-bought tomato soups. I did garnish it with saltines like I usually do, and it was nice. The rest of the family seemed to like it as well. We all thought it was sweet, but not so sweet that it overpowered the other flavors.
Nothing will top homemade, but this was a great attempt, and it may be on the table again soon.
The Verdict:
Park Street Deli Creamy Tomato Homestyle Soup is a Seasonal Item available during the winter at Aldi, and it tops most store-bought and canned soups I’ve had. It’s going to be a bit pricier than other tomato soups, but if you want something a little more flavorful with hints of homemade soup, this is for you.
