Convenience is important. So is good nutrition. But if it doesn't taste too good, I won't buy it. That's the case with Campbell's Soup-At-Hand Chicken With Mini Noodles flavor.

It's certainly convenient. Pop off the plastic lid, then the metal lid with the pull tab. Microwave uncovered, on high power, for 75 seconds. Then give a stir. Finally, pop the red plastic lid back on, and drink your soup through the convenient spout. Don't worry about holding the can - the outside doesn't get hot because it's covered with something that feels like very thin Styrofoam. I'm not sure exactly what this material is, but it stays cool.

I can't complain about the amount of pasta in this can. There's enough of these tiny round pastas so that you get some in every sip. There's also plenty of little carrot pieces. Note that I keep mentioning how tiny the solids are. That's because they have to be. There's only a small drinking spout, so larger pieces of pasta and veggies wouldn't fit. According to the ingredients, this soup also contains celery and "cooked chicken meat". These pieces must be REALLY small because I didn't see, or taste, either of those items. I don't like celery so it's just as well that I couldn't taste it. But I like chicken and would have liked to have enjoyed some. But as far as I could tell, none made it into my particular can.

I also can't complain about the serving size, or the nutrition of this product. The 10.75 oz. can is perfect for a snack. I had mine with a sandwich, and that was plenty for my lunch. The entire can contains 80 calories, 2g of fat, and 2g of fiber. That's not bad at all!

So, what can I complain about? Well, the sodium, for one. This is really bad: 980mg. That's an enormous amount of sodium for what was only half of my lunch. This particular flavor also comes in a low-sodium variety, with 25% less sodium, according to Campbell's website. I haven't tried that one, so I can't comment on the taste.

And speaking of taste - that's my other complaint with this product. This soup was simply nothing special. It was actually fairly bland, which considering the high sodium content, was surprising to me. The pasta pieces were fine, but the carrots were completely tasteless. Of course, given their tiny size, this is probably not too surprising. The broth, itself, was also fairly tasteless. It definitely won't pass for homemade, that's for sure!

Since I really enjoyed the Creamy Chicken variety of this product, I'm surprised that I didn't care for this flavor. Of course the creamy variety had a lot more fat and calories. I guess we have to pick and choose, sometimes, how much flavor we're willing to sacrifice for healthier options. For me, I'll stick with the yummy creamy variety, and pass on this flavor.

I bought several of this soups when Publix had them on sale for 80 cents. Normally they're around $1.25. They're also sold in bulk, in warehouse clubs.



Soup-At-Hand Creamy Chicken Flavor
Soup-At-Hand Classic Tomato flavor



Recommended: No