Ina Garten Will Never Buy This Store-Bought Pantry Staple

Store-bought is *not* fine.

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Ina Garten is the domestic goddess. Whenever I throw on a crisp button-down and pour myself a glass of wine, I channel her and imagine that I’m living my best life in the Hamptons. Unlike me, Ina’s button-down and wine probably are not from Costco, but hey, a girl can dream.

One of the best things about Ina, in my opinion, is how accessible she makes cooking and entertaining. Devoted fans know that she has two popular catchphrases: “How easy is that?” and “Store-bought is fine.”

I sometimes catch myself muttering these under my breath whenever I’m cooking. However, I recently learned that Ina makes an exception for at least one of them: Store-bought is not fine for this one item. I was shocked to find out that there is actually an item that Ina will never buy from the store: canned soup.

Why Ina Garten Won’t Buy Canned Soup

In a segment on The Today Show, an interviewer asked Ina if she would ever buy canned soup. After a slight pause, she said no and laughed. You might think it's because she's too fancy for canned soup, even the good stuff.

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It turns out soup is one of her favorite things to make from scratch!

But Ina, some of us don’t have time to make homemade soup. I have to assume that "no canned soup" is a rule that she lives by, but wouldn’t judge anyone else for doing. I mean, if I had to think about making chicken noodle soup from scratch every time I had a cold, I’d never make it out of bed.

However, I do agree with Ina that homemade soup is one of life’s most satisfying meals. In fact, my meal prep days almost always include making a big batch of soup in my Dutch oven. It’s an easy way to use up any leftover or slightly wilted veggies in my fridge.

I try to make enough soup so that some can be frozen for later for a quick meal. And nothing goes better with homemade soup than homemade croutons, which is my favorite way to use up old bread.

I do keep some canned soup on hand, just in case. But if Ina ever comes to my house, I will feed her a delectable homemade soup—and make sure to keep the pantry door shut.

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