The best advice I can give about portion control is mason jars (and by extension, pressure canning).
A pint jar is 16 ounces which is comparable to a can of non-condensed soup (Progresso, etc). That's perfect for a single person's meal (a nice big bowl full) with some bread or crackers, or "a side dish of soup" for 2-3 people to be served alongside a main dish of something else (sandwiches, etc). If you tend to eat your soup/stew as a side rather than a meal in itself, you could get half-pint mason jars instead. But, if you normally eat it as a meal, then if you did happen to eat it as a side dish at some point you can always refrigerate half the contents of a pint jar for a few days.
If you buy a pressure canner, then you can make big batches of soup with ingredients proportioned as you see fit - if you decide midway through that it doesn't have enough potato or whatever you just add some more to your soup kettle until you feel it has the right balance of ingredients and seasonings. Load up as many mason jars with the soup as you can - the only trick there is trying to make sure that you load them evenly in terms of solids and liquids in your soup (if you don't pay attention, you may end up with some jars that have a lot of solids and the later jars end up as mostly liquids). You can always use a spoon to redistribute the jar contents once they're filled, if you notice that there's some significant imbalance.
Once you have the jars filled, decide how many that you will eat "short-term" - which is to say the same day or within a couple of days. Those jars don't need lids - just saran wrap the top and use a rubber band to hold it in place. Put those ones in the fridge. The rest of them get lids and rings, as is normal in canning, and then go into the pressure canner. Typical pressure canning instructions say not to deviate from recipes, but that's a load of malarkey - you can put pretty much whatever you want into those jars as long as you get it to a high pressure and leave it at that pressure for a lengthy time to ensure that any possible bacteria have died. I typically do 13 PSI for an hour if there's no dairy or meat, or 90 minutes if there's dairy or meat.
Once the canning is done you can store the jars in a cabinet, on shelves, etc. It's really a great way to make use of holiday sales on foods, and once you've made your initial investment into the canner and a huge amount of mason jars there's not very much expense. Jars and the sealing rings are reusable, the only thing you have to replace with every use is the actual lid of the jar due to the seal having already been used. You can get those for about ten cents each or less depending on the bulk you purchase (and you may as well buy a ton of them to make it cheap individually, they're small and don't take up much space to store).
A pint jar is 16 ounces which is comparable to a can of non-condensed soup (Progresso, etc). That's perfect for a single person's meal (a nice big bowl full) with some bread or crackers, or "a side dish of soup" for 2-3 people to be served alongside a main dish of something else (sandwiches, etc). If you tend to eat your soup/stew as a side rather than a meal in itself, you could get half-pint mason jars instead. But, if you normally eat it as a meal, then if you did happen to eat it as a side dish at some point you can always refrigerate half the contents of a pint jar for a few days.
If you buy a pressure canner, then you can make big batches of soup with ingredients proportioned as you see fit - if you decide midway through that it doesn't have enough potato or whatever you just add some more to your soup kettle until you feel it has the right balance of ingredients and seasonings. Load up as many mason jars with the soup as you can - the only trick there is trying to make sure that you load them evenly in terms of solids and liquids in your soup (if you don't pay attention, you may end up with some jars that have a lot of solids and the later jars end up as mostly liquids). You can always use a spoon to redistribute the jar contents once they're filled, if you notice that there's some significant imbalance.
Once you have the jars filled, decide how many that you will eat "short-term" - which is to say the same day or within a couple of days. Those jars don't need lids - just saran wrap the top and use a rubber band to hold it in place. Put those ones in the fridge. The rest of them get lids and rings, as is normal in canning, and then go into the pressure canner. Typical pressure canning instructions say not to deviate from recipes, but that's a load of malarkey - you can put pretty much whatever you want into those jars as long as you get it to a high pressure and leave it at that pressure for a lengthy time to ensure that any possible bacteria have died. I typically do 13 PSI for an hour if there's no dairy or meat, or 90 minutes if there's dairy or meat.
Once the canning is done you can store the jars in a cabinet, on shelves, etc. It's really a great way to make use of holiday sales on foods, and once you've made your initial investment into the canner and a huge amount of mason jars there's not very much expense. Jars and the sealing rings are reusable, the only thing you have to replace with every use is the actual lid of the jar due to the seal having already been used. You can get those for about ten cents each or less depending on the bulk you purchase (and you may as well buy a ton of them to make it cheap individually, they're small and don't take up much space to store).
Lydia Lightfoot ~ The Reliquarian's Guild «Relic» ~ Lavender Beds, Ward 12, #41
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
