The hottest bag of the season isn’t from Hermès, Dior, or Ferragamo. It’s from HEINZ.
On Oct. 14, the condiment company best known for its ketchup became the first major brand to introduce ready-to-eat soup in a bag. And believe me when I say it’s so damn good.
HEINZ launched six soups with rich flavours and hearty textures: Thai Style Chicken Coconut Curry, Hearty Tomato and White Bean, Cheesy Potato, Rich Mushroom, and Curry Butternut Squash, which is the perfect fall flavour.
Having already worked my way through bowls of all six, my personal standouts are the mushroom and Thai soups. The latter is particularly good with a small portion of rice added in, making it a fuller meal that feels like it should cost $20 at a trendy lunch spot.
HEINZ
Surprisingly enough, each bag costs $5 at most grocery stores across Canada.
The unique packaging is where it’s at with these soups. According to the company, 80 per cent of the soups we often see in grocery stores come in big, bulky cans.
At a Toronto event celebrating the launch, HEINZ’s culinary team told Daily Hive that one of the inspirations behind the bags was to give people better options for office lunches and meals on the go.
I think they hit the nail on the head with that.
When I crave soup (roughly October through April because only sickos eat soup in the summertime), I’m often out of luck because I don’t have a can opener on me. Why would I? My tote bag is heavy enough as it is. I’m carrying my wallet, laptop, at least three chapsticks and 10 other things I need on any given day. A can opener isn’t making the cut.
The team also recognized how much of a pain it can be for the average grocery shopper to lug home bags full of heavy cans. Honestly, if there’s one thing I’m in support of, it’s making my walk home from Food Basics feel less like an F45 workout.
Still, I know what some of you are thinking: soup in a bag? Absolutely not.
But we’re in Canada after all, a nation that proudly drinks milk out of a bag. A BAG.
We take a plastic pouch of dairy, put it in a pitcher, carefully slice off a corner and pour ourselves a glass like it’s nothing. Visitors from other countries regularly encounter this unusual setup and wonder what the heck is happening in our home and native land.
Soup in a bag can’t be where we draw the line, folks.
There are a few more compelling reasons to get on board with it. For starters, soup bags take up way less precious pantry real estate; they can easily fit in your desk drawer at work, too.
You don’t need a can opener or scissors to open up one of these bad boys, either (you do need a bowl, though, unless you want to raw dog it and chug straight from the bag, no hands and all).
So how about we all keep an open mind when innovative products hit grocery store shelves? There’s absolutely no reason to stew over a little change.