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How to host a soup swap

Hosting a soup swap is mostly a matter of timing and table setup. The cooking is spread over the guests. Your part is the invite, the list of soups, a tasting corner and a fair way to trade. For how many quarts each person brings, see the soup swap rules and quantity table. This page covers everything around it.

Timeline

  1. 2 to 3 weeks before

    Send the invite. Ask each guest to reply with the name of their soup and any diet label it carries.

  2. 1 week before

    Send the list of soups so far, remind late repliers and confirm the final number of cooks.

  3. 1 to 2 days before

    Guests cook, cool and portion their soup and label every container. Set up the tasting stations.

  4. The day

    Warm the tasting soups, taste, then take turns picking containers until everyone holds as many as they brought.

Invites and soup names

Perdue says to "send out invitations about two weeks before you would like to host your soup swap," and to have guests name their soup in the RSVP: "This will ensure that there are no soup duplicates." The same email can take diet requests, such as dairy-free or vegetarian options. I'd stretch the lead time to three weeks if the date falls near a holiday, since people need a free evening to cook.

Keep a running list and reply to each guest with what has been claimed. If two people want the same soup, the first reply keeps it. That is my suggestion; neither guide sets a rule for it.

Containers and labels

Perdue suggests "cute glass jars or plastic quart containers." Simple Bites likes "a wide-mouth mason jar or a clear plastic container." Whichever you pick, ask for the same size from everyone so the trade is even and the containers stack in a cooler.

Perdue says "each soup should be labeled." My suggestion for what goes on the label:

  • The soup name and the cook.
  • Diet flags: vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free. Perdue mentions dairy-free and vegetarian as examples.
  • The main allergens, such as milk, wheat, nuts, shellfish and soy, plus any meat or fish stock.
  • The date it was made, and a line for reheating or toppings.

A printable sample sheet of soup labels shows these fields on Letter or A4.

Simple Bites suggests guests bring a recipe printout, which also lets anyone with an allergy check the ingredients.

Setting up the tasting

Perdue's setup: "At each soup station, have a bowl or jar to fill with the soup to be tasted," with "a spoon or small ladle to spoon soup into small disposable cups," and a plastic tablecloth or butcher paper for drips. Simple Bites uses small bowls or ramekins and mentions a muffin tin for a flight of soups. Neither guide mentions slow cookers. My suggestion is one per soup if you can borrow them, so each tasting pot stays hot. A pot on the stove with a ladle works for one or two.

  • Put a card with the soup name and diet flags next to each pot.
  • Plain bread or crackers between tastes, as Perdue suggests.
  • A trash bin and a spoon rest within reach of every station.

The take-home round

Both guides land on the same fairness rule. Perdue: "Everyone should go home with the same amount of soup that they came with." Simple Bites: each guest leaves with the amount they contributed. To make the trade orderly (my suggestion):

  1. Line up the swap containers by soup, with the tasting pots set aside.
  2. Draw numbers. Each person takes one container, then the order reverses for the second round, and so on.
  3. Nobody takes a container of their own soup, which is why each cook brings one fewer than the group size.
  4. Anyone with a diet restriction can pick their allowed soups first.

Perdue adds that "the soups should be refrigerated or frozen to make it home safely," and encourages coolers for the trip.

Leftovers

Neither guide says what to do with the soup left in the tasting pots. My suggestion: ask each cook to bring one spare empty container, and pour what's left into it for the host or whoever has the longest drive. Anything that has sat out warm for hours goes in the bin rather than the fridge.

When people hold soup swaps

January is the usual month. Weird Holidays says National Soup Swap Day falls on the third Saturday of January and traces it to a 2002 swap by Knox Gardner in Seattle. A 2011 Campbell's release says "National Soup Swap Day was founded in 2006" and puts it on Saturday, January 22 that year. Sources disagree on the origin and the date, and it is a grassroots event with no official body. The third Saturday (January 16 in 2027) is a good default, but pick what suits your group.

A swap isn't tied to January. Simple Bites says it "works well in any season," and the author's group meets in the fall.

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