Why it's always better to make soup than buy it from a can

Sorry, Heinz will never beat homemade

Nov 08, 2025

Like most Brits, I often enjoy a day out to the sea. Beach, waves, that’s about it actually, what more is there to want?

Well, for me, food. One of my favourite things about going out is being able to eat delicious food in a new surrounding.

Unfortunately though, it seems that not many people care about that as much as me.

Last week, I went for a day out on the South Devon coast to see the brown beach, the waves, and have a wander about. I am, of course, talking about the town of Teignmouth, famous for… I’m not quite sure, but probably something. (Drop a comment below if you can think of anything.)

At this point, you’re probably thinking that this article is going to be some kind of mundane ramble about what I ate in Teignmouth. In a sense, that’s kind of true.

But instead of going on about all the delicious food I had when I was down there, this is going to be the exact opposite. You see, after a particularly bad experience in a café concerning soup and cans, I’ve decided to prove to the owners that it is cheaper and easier to make your own tomato soup than it is to buy it from a can.

I did not plan on writing this article - but I’d love to have you along anyway.

Picture the scene: I was sitting in a café, hungry, waiting for a warming bowl of tomato soup. My chair was uncomfortable, and there was a husky the size of a rugby player barking next to me, but I was excited.

Unfortunately, I was being too naïve. Not all food I eat out will be delicious! I’d managed to be extraordinarily lucky the past 10 or so years in picking good places to eat, but eventually my luck would run out. I knew at the time, but was still excited.

The first giveaway that my soup was from a can was when I smelt the toxic, processed aroma waft over to me as the waiter brought over my food. The unmistakeable scent of Heinz.

The second giveaway came a couple of seconds later, after I’d finished buttering my (cold) bread roll and sank it into the soup. I took a bite. It was Heinz.

I soldiered on with the meal, despite the fact that I hate Heinz tomato soup and the fact that the supersized husky was becoming increasingly interested in my upper calf. But unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it. I hate Heinz.

Luckily, I left with both my legs and ears intact and free from any stomach problems, but this got me thinking - surely it’s cheaper, easier and better to make your own soup rather than buy it from a can?

The rules of the challenge

A single can of Heinz tomato soup costs around £1.70 on average - all mutterings about the cost of living crisis aside, that gave the café a profit of £3.30 when they sold it to me at £5.

For my challenge, I have to make a single portion of fresh tomato soup, around 300ml although I won’t actually be measuring the final result for simplicity, for less than this, and to make it fair, let’s say it has to come in at £1.50 or under.

Seems simple? Let’s find out.

I did think about my American readers when writing this. From Walmart, the only American supermarket I could think of, a 4-pack of Heinz tomato soup costs $25, so a single can would be around $6.25. My can cost about $2.25, and they sold it to me at about $6.60 with a profit of $4.35, although I obviously can’t translate these values exactly as the price a café would sell a portion of soup depends on where you are.

Attempting the challenge

To do this successfully, I’d probably have to use the cheapest ingredients I could find - a thought I wasn’t necessarily happy with, but I had to do it. Since the tomatoes I normally use are about 324% more expensive than a Heinz can, I would have to downscale.

Fortunately, that’s the only thing I’d really need to compromise on. Everything else, like garlic, olive oil, basil, oregano cream and onions could be bought with relative ease. Despite the honestly insane fact that the drizzle of olive oil costs almost the same amount as the tomatoes, it seemed very possible. Itwas time to cook.

Making my budget soup

I started off pretty normally by roasting the tomatoes with some olive oil, garlic and oregano. That costs about 94p ($1.24). So far so good.

Then, I lightly sautéed my onions with a bit more of that oily, yellow liquid gold, costing about 9p ($0.12).

When everything was ready, I put it all in a pan with a can of tomatoes and let it simmer for an hour.

Finally, I put it in the blender and finished it off with some cream and basil.

At this point, I want to know what your guess is for the price. Do you think I overshot it? Do you think it’s surprisingly cheap? Or do you think life is just a computer simulation created by an advanced race if hyperintelligent aliens?

If you guessed the second one, you would be correct. My total cost, including every ingredient I used, was £1.47 ($1.93).

That’s 23p cheaper than a Heinz can and would give the owners of the café a profit of £3.53 and a margin of 71%.

I’ve officially proven that it’s cheaper to make your own tomato soup than buy it from a can, so now, if you want to try it for yourself, I’ve got the full recipe for you below.

Even though this tomato soup only comes in at £1.47 per person, it still makes a delicious meal with hardly any effort and will beat any can you can find. Even though I don’t simmer it for too long, feel free to adjust the recipe - you can start simmering in the morning and eat it in the evening for a richer flavour, or just whip it together an hour before teatime. It’s your soup.

Ingredients

3 tomatoes per person
2 cloves of garlic per person
½ tsp dried or fresh oregano per person
⅓ of an onion per person
⅓ of a can of chopped tomatoes per person
2 leaves of basil per person
A drop of single cream per person
A drizzle of olive oil
A pinch of sugar
A drizzle of balsamic vinegar (optional, but recommended)
A slice of stale bread (optional)

Method

Roast the tomatoes with the garlic (chopped), oregano and olive oil for about 20 minutes on a medium heat until they’re soft and smell fragrant.
Fry the onion with some olive oil for about 2 minutes, and add the roasted tomatoes and garlic, the can of tomatoes, the balsamic vinegar (if using) and some salt, pepper and sugar.
Simmer for about an hour on a low-to-medium heat until it has a deep flavour and is cooked to your taste.
While the soup is cooking, you can chop the slice of stale bread into small pieces and fry it for about five minutes until golden brown and crispy to make croûtons.
Then, add it to a blender with the basil and blend it until smooth - you can skip this step if you like it chunky.
Finally, add the cream and serve immediately with the croûtons, if you made them.

Obviously, I know that the café isn’t buying individual cans of Heinz tomato soup and that they’re probably going to be buying them from a wholesaler. But I also only bought enough ingredients for the soup for one person, so aside from the fact it will be cheaper the more people you’re catering for, I thought it would be only fair if I took the price for an individual can.

Thank you for reading this week’s slightly different edition of Not a Vegetarian. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to give it a like and subscribe for more culinary rambles every Saturday.

Now, I want to hear from you. What are your awful café stories? Do you dislike canned soup just as much as me? Leave a comment below!

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