When dear friends of ours tragically lost their 22 year old daughter, I brought them 2 quarts of homemade chicken noodle soup the day after she passed. My friend is an excellent cook and so this felt somewhat inadequate to me… but I knew they had other meals coming in and thought this was something they could eat for lunch or freeze. A few days later my friend asked me if I could make another batch, because it was the only thing that her other grieving daughter could stomach. If I hadn’t made the soup for them, she would not have eaten anything that week!
That same family received so much food that they had to rent a fridge/freezer for their garage. While it was all appreciated, most people gave them way too much.
I made this today and it’s delicious, I put water and a bit of butter and leftover cheese instead of chicken broth. I also added spinach and mushrooms, they were on sale, and so was the chicken.
The whole thing cost less than $7, had 8 portions.
I usually make chicken soup from scratch and add vegetables/chicken meat/noodles or rice. If the person is a vegetarian, I’ll use vegetable stock and make a a white bean and vegetable soup. I’ll usually make 2 quarts and send it along with a baguette and cookies or brownies.
I have given pot roast stew with vegetables several times and they were very gratefully received. They were basically one pot meals. I cooked them in instant pot and it was pretty easy.