Homemade soup is the ultimate comfort food. Nothing is as soul-satisfying and tasty as a pot of homemade soup bubbling on the stove. Add a sandwich for a classic meal solution that’s easy on the budget and ready in minutes. Here are some secrets to great homemade soups:

• Boil leftover poultry or meat bones to make soup stock. Then replace one-third to one-half of the liquid in the recipe with vegetable or tomato juice to add more flavor.
• If you’re using canned broth, read the label. Some broths are ready to use, and others need to be diluted with water.

• Buy reduced-sodium broth if you’re watching your sodium intake.
• If you prepare soup a day ahead and refrigerate it, any fat will turn solid and rise to the surface, where it’s easy to remove.
• To remove fat from hot soup, put some ice cubes in a plastic bag and drag it over the soup’s surface. The fat will solidify around the outside of the bag.
• To add richness to soup that calls for half-and-half or cream, substitute undiluted evaporated skim or lowfat milk.
• Puréed cooked potatoes or other vegetables make a healthy thickener for soups and stews.

• Freeze the cooking liquid from vegetables or roasts and use to add flavor to homemade soups.
• Brown meat before adding to soup.
• Add fresh herbs to soups at the end of the cooking time, as most lose their flavor and aroma when cooked too long. Adding fresh herbs to leftover soup just before it’s served is a great way to refresh the flavor.

• Pasta can become soggy if cooked too long. Cook it separately and add at the end of the soup cooking time or cook it in the soup five to 10 minutes longer than the pasta package directions say.
• Add cooked rice near the end of the cooking time.
• Add vegetables near the end of the cooking time: 20 to 30 minutes before for dense veggies like carrots; 10 minutes for quicker cooking veggies like celery.

• When making milk- or cream-based soup that also includes acidic ingredients such as tomatoes, vinegar or citrus juice, add the acidic ingredients to the milk mixture — not vice versa — to avoid curdling.
• If the soup is too salty, simmer a peeled, thinly sliced raw potato in it for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the potato before serving.