A little over a year ago, I hosted a soup swap as part of National Soup Swap Day, an event made up by a really nice Seattlite a few years ago. I wrote about it at Nerd’s Eye View and got my first national clip writing about the trend in USA Weekend. This year, though, time got away from me, and I didn’t have a swap, which is a bummer, because it’s been cold and I haven’t always felt like cooking. Imagine if I had a freezer full of soup from which to choose.

Soup is easy. Especially once you have a bunch of stock on hand. Here are three really easy soups you can make and freeze. And if you want, you can make six quarts of one of these and still hold a soup swap. No one says you have to have it on January 23 every year.

Baked Potato Soup

For each serving:

1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock

1 medium sized potato — red, white, or yellow rather than a baker

2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream

2 tablespoons grated sharp cheddar cheese (reduced fat if you want, but NOT fat free)

salt and pepper to taste

2 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled for garnish

some snipped chives for garnish

Chop up the potato — you can peel it if you want, but there’s so much nutrition in the skin, Mia, you’d be better off leaving it — and either simmer it in water until tender or microwave it for a few minutes. Then add it to the broth, mash the potato, and add the sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now see how the consistency is. Is it too thick? If so, add more broth. When its simmering hot, add the cheese a little at a time, stirring constantly. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Use a stick or stand blender to give it a smooth consistency. If you like it chunkier, leave it. Serve it up and sprinkle with the snipped chives and crumbled bacon.

It’s really good and healthier than the stuff you get that’s made with cream or a roux. If it’s too thin, you can make a roux to thicken it. If you’re serving it to company and making a larger quantity, you might want to.

Broccoli Soup

Essentially, it’s the same soup without the sour cream, bacon, and chives. Finely chop up the flower part of a broccoli crown for each cup of broth and spud and add it at the very end — after the cheese (save the stems — you can peel the thick skin off and either chop and steam them, or grate them and make a broccoli slaw). Don’t let it cook longer than another five minutes or it turns from pretty green to ugly grayish green. Blend it and check for seasoning before you serve it up.

Beans Greens and Ham

This is the easiest soup ever and it freezes well.

1 quart chicken stock

2 cans drained white beans (navy, white kidney, or canneli beans — the latter two are actually the same)

1 bunch chard, trimmed and chopped (leaves and tender stems only. Save the thicker part of the stems and saute them or add them to salad raw)

1 cup of chopped ham — get ham steaks (2 is enough) so that you get nice ham cubes

Bring the ham, beans and broth to a boil. Taste for seasoning. Turn off the heat and add the chard. Serve after about five minutes, after the chard has had time to wilt a little. If you’re freezing this, let the soup cool and then add the chard. That way, when you heat it up, the chard won’t wilt into nothingness. Or you can freeze it without the chard and add it when you’re going to eat it. You can also substitute spinach, kale (which will need a longer time to cook) or even beet greens.

Given that you can buy quarts of pretty good quality chicken broth for a couple bucks, making a big pot of soup is, well, easier than pie.