Kitchen

[topazzz]

This is something I've always wondered, but never found out the answer to (and I haven't ventured to any dietician to ask either) but am always curious on this:

I regularly use my slow cooker (and this can apply to stove top or oven as well), but I occasionally add things like a can of soup to my meat (usually chicken). I know this automatically increases the sodium content of the meat, but does anyone out there know how much?

I look at it two ways and may be missing something important that makes this null:

1.) Add a can of Campbells chicken noodle style soup and you get 790 mg of sodium per serving (1/2 cup, 2.5 servings per small can). When you add this, does that mean that you get that same amount with each serving of chicken that you eat from that slow cooker meal?

2.) Or, does this 'dilute' the sodium where you are not getting that full amount in any given amount of the chicken? I mean, if you eat 5 ounces of chicken or if you eat 9 ounces of chicken, is the sodium the same since it was all cooked in the same amount of soup?

Not sure if there is any cut and dried answer on this, but I've always wondered. I try to avoid using soups that are high in sodium because I don't want to be loading up on it inadvertently.

Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

[Zhills]

My thinking....

If you use 1 can of soup 790 mg X 2.5 servings that's 1975 mg of sodium per can of soup.

If you made 4 pieces of chicken and ate 1 piece of chicken plus 1/4 of the sauce, you would get 1/4 of 1975 mg or 493 mg of sodium per serving.

ANy other ideas?

[scotnovel]

For one, I would use the low sodium version of the can of soup.

Secondly and, I may be wrong, but it would seem that whatever sodium was in the soup would be absorbed/distributed throughout whatever you have cooked so some in the chicken, some in the veggies, some in the gravy or sauce. Seems like you would have to eat literally all of it to consume the total amount of sodium that is in the soup.

There is one trick that you can use when cooking if you get too much salt in, say for example, a soup and that is to put a few large pieces of raw potato into the dish and some of the excess sodium will be absorbed. Some say this is an old wives tale but others swear by it. Discard the potato once it is soft.

[forrestwolf]

On 3/9/2014 Scotnovel said:

For one, I would use the low sodium version of the can of soup.

Secondly and, I may be wrong, but it would seem that whatever sodium was in the soup would be absorbed/distributed throughout whatever you have cooked so some in the chicken, some in the veggies, some in the gravy or sauce. Seems like you would have to eat literally all of it to consume the total amount of sodium that is in the soup.

There is one trick that you can use when cooking if you get too much salt in, say for example, a soup and that is to put a few large pieces of raw potato into the dish and some of the excess sodium will be absorbed. Some say this is an old wives tale but others swear by it. Discard the potato once it is soft.

I have always heard this.......but a question........What if you are using a soup/stew that HAS potatoes in it.........Do you need to throw out all of the potatoes, and does the sodium that you do impart into the dish get absorbed by all of the potatoes in the dish....

[sidsmom]

Plug in all your recipe ingredients to www.Cronometer.com. It's a free online calorie/vitamin/mineral program that will show you exactly what you are eating,

[scotnovel]

On 3/9/2014 forrestwolf said:

On 3/9/2014 Scotnovel said:

<em>There is one trick that you can use when cooking if you get too much salt in, say for example, a soup and that is to put a few large pieces of raw potato into the dish and some of the excess sodium will be absorbed. Some say this is an old wives tale but others swear by it. Discard the potato once it is soft.</em>

I have always heard this.......but a question........What if you are using a soup/stew that HAS potatoes in it.........Do you need to throw out all of the potatoes, and does the sodium that you do impart into the dish get absorbed by all of the potatoes in the dish....

The sodium would be absorbed throughout all of the potatoes and the other ingredients in your stew. I wouldn't discard all of the potatoes just the "extra" ones that you added to help absorb the excess sodium.

[KYToby]

The potatoes are no sodium sponges. They simply cover up the taste of the excess salt.

[topazzz]

Thanks for the input. I also haven't heard of Cronometer - will be checking that out too. I will be making another chicken dish tomorrow in the crock pot and I am using lower sodium broth - just wish I knew if it pays to avoid the sauces/liquid and just pull out the meat itself. For DH it doesn't matter, but I keep my sodium intake lower to avoid any potential bloat.

Anyway....thanks for the info. I am going to go investigate the chronometer site now!

[Deadeye Daisy]

Why would you want to use any kind of canned soup in your recipe at all? Have yet to find a slow cooker recipe where tinned soup or broth didn't have a fresher, tastier, lower sodium substitute.

[Desertdi]

You divide the total contents of the pot by the number of servings. Salt is a mineral.....it does not evaporate or magically disappear into a potato.