Recipe For Girl Scout Soup?

I googled this website which has Girl Scout Soup and Girl Scout Stew.

www.cooks.com/.../search?q=girl+scout+soup

Marge from NY

My mom used to make it by browning ground beef and adding vegatable alphabet beef soup to it.

Ages ago when we made it on campouts we started with the core - hamburger, onions & vegetable soup, then each girl added a can of their favorite vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, green beans, peas and/or whatever). I still make it from time to time with MY favorite vegetables!

These recipes are what I remembered. It just didn't taste quite the same - Ground Beef, Canned Veg. Soup, and Onions. I guess it's more the memories and you have to be in a great woodsey camp with a campfire and a bunch of friends to make it taste the same. Thanks to all who took the time to answer!

Some where I have lots of Girl Scout one pot meal recipes. Most start with ground beef and onions.

It always tasted better cooked over the campfire!

My favorite: add tomato sauce and corn, let simmer than throw in chunked up cheese and let it melt.

I found this one online. Does it sound like it?

GIRL SCOUT STEW

2 lbs. ground beef
2 cans Mexican tomatoes
1 onion
1 can mixed vegetables
1 can tomato soup

Brown beef and drain. Add onion and cook on low 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and mixed vegetables. Simmer on low about 40 minutes. Add tomato soup and simmer 5 minutes.

Thanks, Kayrayriggs, it was just basic soup, onions, S&P and ground beef. This sounds good though.

Hobo Stew
1 hamburger patty (the real thing, not the already formed ones, they are too skinny and will cook too fast)

Hehehehhh... you Girl Scouts were much more cultured than my Boy Scout troop was. When we went camping the Scoutmaster suggested we each bring a can of something. I remember one "stew" with salmon, tuna, Vienna sausage, green beans, English peas, pork & beans, and two eggs. There was some other stuff too but that's what I remember.

One suggestion for any soups or stews: except for the tomatoes try not to use any canned vegatables. We didn't have such a luxury when camping in those days, but if possible use only fresh or frozen veggies.

Another suggestion: try to organize a camping party among your lady-friends, pick out a suitable campsite, and do it all again. And have fun!

Forgive me for asking this, but I couldn't help myself with Halloween coming up. Did the soup contain real girl scouts? I apologize again. I simply remembered an episode of the Adams Family where firl scouts were selling cookies and the Adams' little girl asked them if they were made with real girl scouts.

Straight from pages 367-368 of my 1977 edition of the Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts Handbook,

One-pot meals easy to make and clean up after.
Here is a favorite Girl Scout one-pot meal.
Look for others in cook-books:

Girl Scout Stew

2 - pounds hamburger
1 - onion, peeled and cut in small squares
1 - Tablespoon fat
2 - 10 3/4 ounce cans condensed vegetable soup
salt and pepper to taste

Add salt and pepper to hamburger, and separate hamburger into little pieces, or make little balls of it.

Put fat in bottom of kettle. Fry hamburger and onion until the onion is light brown and hamburger is well browned all over. Pour off excess fat.

Add vegetable soup and enough water to prevent sticking.

Cover and cook slowly until meat is cooked through. Serve hot.

Did it taste good? The next time you cook out, try another meal in a pot.

I hope this is what you were looking for. Enjoy any and all of the recipes you try!

Trisch in Troy, IL

Dear Trisch,

I do believe you hit it! Very simple and very good. We always had a buttered piece of bread with it.

Thanks again and thanks to all who answered.

Nolasandy

My college roommate told me they made something called Girl Scout Soup that sounds more like the Boy Scout version.
Each girl was to bring a can of any soup that was not cream or cheese based, they would mix them all together. She said it was always good. I've always wanted to try it.

I was telling my husband last night about Girl Scout Stew. I googled and found it. Thanks. Does anyone remember the term used when we graduated from Brownies to Girl Scouts? I think it was something like the Flying Up Ceremony. I am laughing as I remember reciting something into a mirror surrounded by fake trees, assuming it must have resembled a lake in the woods.

I too have been searching for that recipe. I recall many different cans of various thing that went in all at once. It had an unusual tomato base from all the different cans. All the recipes I've seen only have ground beef and vegetable soup but it had much more than that, I'm sure of it. I think the real recipe is top secret or something so its hopeless.

Good luck from Vikki in Indianapolis,IN

My Mom was a girl Scouts Leader, she called it, Hobo Stew, ground beef with Campbell's alphabet soup, Canned White Potatoes cut in quarters or in to eights and add onion diced. I Have not made this in a long time. the recipe was in the Girl Scout handbook, along with an openface sandwich she would make. That's what I remember. I am looking for the complete recipe for Hobo Stew on the internet.

I, too, remember our Hobo Stew as a young girl! I remember we put in hamburger meat, canned tomatoes, onions, rice, elbow macaroni and water, salt and pepper into an empty Coffee Can and cooked it! Don't remember if there was anything else in it or not...but remember loving it!

We called it campfire stew, and yes it was really good. I think your recipe is missing a can of Campbell's Tomato soup.

Glad to see i am not the only one that looked this up. Boy i miss the good old days.

I've been searching for the same recipe, the girl scouts must have changed it every year because I remember it being called hobo stew, and we cooked it in a Dutch oven. The ground beef, onions, vegetable soup or minestrone AND a can of Campbell's chicken gumbo and Elbow macaroni. Ours didn't have rice or any tomato soup although the base of the stew may have seemed a little tomato-y.
I have been wanting to make this for awhile but couldn't remember the other can..which must be the vegetable soup, I just kept thinking it had chicken in the name like the chicken gumbo. Thanks everyone...I'm glad I'm not the only one looking!

1lb ground beef, chopped onion, 2 cans vegetable soup, 1 can tomato soup.

One lb. ground beef. Cook with chopped onion. When browned add two cans Vegetarian Vegetable soup...that is the key! No water. Simmer! Add salt as needed.
That's all!

My Jr. Girl Scout Handbook from 1963 says: 2 lbs hamburger; 1 onion; 2-10 oz cans concentrated vegetable soup;salt & pepper. S&P meat. Fry it w onion. Drain. Add soup & enough water to keep from sticking. Cover & cook slowly til meat is thoroughly cooked. Serve hot. Serves 8.

We made this stew over Maxwell House charcoal burners. Can cut w/top off and side vents. We used our mess kits to cook the ground beef with the can of Campbells Vegetable soup. It was one of the few times we actually used our mess kits. It was part of a badge we were earning. It tasted SO GOOD.

I've been looking for tha recipe too. We called it American chop suey. Ground beef, onions, Campbell's Vegetarian veggie soup.I remember noodles of some kind...I know we made it at Grenolds Park in North Miami, FLORIDA on a camping day trip.

I got this from cooks.com:

GIRL SCOUT SOUP
2 cans spaghetti and meat balls
1 can kidney beans
1 can peas and carrots
Onion
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. butter
In saucepan, cook onion with chili powder in butter until tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook over low heat 5 minutes to blend flavors. Stir now and then. Makes 4 large servings. To make recipe stretch further, brown some hamburger and add to soup.

Brown 1 lb. ground beef, drain, add 3 cans old-fashioned vegetable soup, 3 cans bean and bacon soup, add water per soup directions, 1 chopped onion (brown with beef), 1 cup maple syrup. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a while. Enjoy!

the one
I remember was just undiluted Campbells Vegetarian Vegetable Soup-we heated it and poured it over saltine crackers. that was it-and it wasn't bad!

Yes...I make it all the time. 2 lbs. ground beef and onion browned and drained. 4 cans of ABC Campbells Vegetable soup....1/2 to 1 can of water....I make mine thicker like stew...Simmer until all is hot and bubbly. My kids and grandkids love it, even my husband. We serve it with a salad, cottage cheese...and always some kind of roll or bread and butter. Enjoy. I am making this today.

This what I remember My Mom making called Girl Scout Hobo Stew Serves/Makes:10

Ingredients
3 lbs (1.4 kg). ground beef
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 tbsp (15 ml) fat
3 (10 oz (280 grm).) cans concentrated vegetable soup
salt
pepper
Preparation
Make little balls of ground beef, adding seasoning.
Fry with onions in a frying pan or in the bottom of a kettle until the onion is light brown and balls are well-browned all over.
Pour off the excess fat.
Add vegetable soup and enough water or soup stock to prevent sticking.
Cover and cook slowly until the meat balls are cooked all through.
Serve hot.
Comments
This recipe comes from "Cooking Out-of-Doors", a publication of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) in 1960. Every troop had some version of this stew. As a girl, my troop just browned the ground beef without making balls and always used vegetarian vegetarian soup because of the alphabet noodles in it. Twenty years later, when I had my own troop of girls, they still enjoyed spelling out their names as they ate the stew. This is still a family tradition for the first night of a camping trip.

So I remember campbells Vegetarian vegetable soup and tomato soup with ground beef. I add some orzo, some extra veggies...My foodie husband liked it a lot! (Doesnt taste the same without the campfire!!)

In the version I remember, tomato soup was also added along with the alphabet vegetable soup and ground beef. It was great!

We called this dish Hunter's Stew, like maybe the hunters didn't bag their deer or duck or whatever. Similar to skunked fishermen making fish sticks for supper. Ours had hamburger, diced onion, celery, vegetable soup, rice salt & pepper, and water. We used the empty soup cans to measure the rice and water. The trick was frequent stirring to keep the bottom from burning. I still make this, although I do the rice separately and pour the stew over it. Delicious, low cost meal.

I had a troop of 12 we were having a parent girl camp out. Each girl was to bring a can of veggies i supplied the meat tomatoe soup and extras. Each girl was able to add there contribution to help in prep. Then served to there parents. Great fun.

I remember the girls all bringing a can of vegetables. It didn't matter what kind. I don't know what was used for the stock or base. There was more that just my troop, seems like 75 to 100 range. Good times.

I still remember the songs that we sang. One song in particular was "The other day, I met a bear out in the woods". It has been passed down for generations and the little ones all sing it at family gatherings now.