Hot soup is an appealing choice as an easy lunch or dinner.

Unless you're opening a can of Campbell's, though, it's hard to make soup for just one or two people. A stockpot of homemade soup is easy enough to make, and it's wonderful stuff.

But unless you have a big family – or you're tossing a dinner party for 12 – how will you ever use it all?

The solution: Freeze homemade soup in convenient meal-size portions. Then just thaw and reheat them as necessary.

This doesn't mean your freezer has to be cluttered with Tupperware bowls of frozen soup. Dallas cooking teacher Tina Wasserman says the easiest way to save individual portions of soup is to use zipper-sealed freezer bags.

"Close the bag almost all the way, and lay it gently down until the soup comes to the edge of the opening," Ms. Wasserman advises on her culinary Web site, CookingAndMore.com . "Seal at this point, and then the soup can be frozen flat, and it will take up very little room in your freezer."

For 35 years, restaurateur Kathy McDaniel has co-owned The Grape with her business partner, Charlotte Parker. ( Restaurant details .) Their Lower Greenville Avenue bistro is famous for its mushroom soup, a creamy and caloric delight.

At home with husband Kevin Flynn, Ms. McDaniel loves to cook and freeze big batches of soup, especially in the wintertime. She'll sometimes have as many as five pots going at once, starting with the basics – chicken or vegetable stock plus mirepoix, the culinary term for a mixture of chopped onions, carrots and celery. "And I just elaborate from there," she says.

KATHY McDANIEL'S SMOKED TURKEY WITH WILD MUSHROOM AND RICE SOUP

Pour boiling water over mushrooms. Set aside for 30 minutes. Drain in sieve lined with a paper towel. Save liquid. Discard tough stems and slice mushrooms.

Rinse rice. Bring water and rice to boil. Stir once, add bay leaves and cook on low for 50 minutes.

Place oil and onion in stockpot, sauté over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic, carrot and celery to pot and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Stir in turkey, chicken stock, reserved mushroom liquid and mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.

Add rice and fresh herbs and cook for 5 minutes more before serving. Makes 12 to 14 servings.

Note: If freezing soup, add the rice at the last minute, or preferably cook and add after the soup is defrosted. The rice is cooked separately so it will not absorb too much liquid during storage.

PER SERVING: Calories 200 (27% fat) Fat 6 g (1 g sat) Cholesterol 26 mg Sodium 1,312 mg Fiber 3 g Carbohydrates 22 g Protein 14 g

SOURCE: Kathy McDaniel, co-owner, The Grape restaurant, Dallas

Arlington cooking teacher and cookbook author Carol Ritchie ( CookinWithCarol.com) loves traveling to Oz – Australia, that is. And she finds lots of inspiration from Down Under to enliven her weekly cooking classes at Arlington's Kitchen Store ( TheKitchenStore.biz).

"In Australia, winter squashes such as acorn and butternut are called 'pumpkins,' " Ms. Ritchie says. "Pumpkin soup is very common in Australia.

"This version is inspired by a delicious pumpkin soup I enjoyed at a South Australian winery in the Clare Valley wine region. A Clare Valley Riesling pairs nicely with this soup."

CAROL RITCHIE'S BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut each butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds with a spoon and discard. Place halves cut-side-up in a large shallow baking pan. Bake squash, uncovered, for 1 ½ hours, or until squash is tender. Allow squash to cool at least 10 minutes, then scoop out flesh with spoon; reserve in bowl.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in stockpot or large saucepan. Sauté leeks, celery and garlic until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place 1/3 of reserved squash, 1/3 of cooked vegetables, and 1/2 cup of broth into work bowl of food processor or blender. Process 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Pour mixture into medium saucepan used to cook vegetables. Repeat process twice with remaining ingredients.

Add remaining chicken broth, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste, if desired, and bring to simmer on medium-high heat. Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes until flavors have blended, stirring occasionally. Ladle soup into bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds. Remove stems from parsley and arrange a few parsley leaves for garnish. Serve lime wedges on the side for extra flavor. Makes 12 servings.

Notes: If you plan to freeze this soup, cool it thoroughly first. Batches may be stored in freezer-safe containers for up to 6 months.

Use the leftover green part of the leek to add flavor when making chicken, beef or vegetable stock.

PER SERVING: Calories 201 (27% fat) Fat 7 g (2 g sat) Cholesterol 10 mg Sodium 627 mg Fiber 6 g Carbohydrates 36 g Protein 5 g

SOURCE: Carol Ritchie, CookinWithCarol.com

North Dallas cooking teacher and corporate-training consultant Tina Wasserman is a veteran soup-maker. (See her tips, below.)

She also features several of her favorite soup recipes on her Web site, CookingAndMore.com – including the formula for "Jewish Penicillin," the classic chicken soup that is every grandmother's cure-all.

"Just about every soup in my repertoire freezes beautifully," Ms. Wasserman says. "This sopa de elote is a very easy, milk-based, Mexican corn soup. And it's really stick-to-your-ribs."

TINA WASSERMAN'S SOPA DE ELOTE (MEXICAN CORN SOUP)

Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl and set aside while sautéing onion in butter until lightly golden. Add spices and seasonings; cook over low heat for 3 minutes.

Combine remaining ingredients and purée in blender. Place puréed mixture in 4-quart pan and heat over low heat, stirring often until mixture is very hot and thick. If necessary, add more milk. Stir in chiles, if using, just before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Note: This soup will freeze well and can be reheated, but it will probably need to be thinned with additional milk or water.

PER SERVING: Calories 298 (42% fat) Fat 14 g (8 g sat) Cholesterol 39 mg Sodium 412 mg Fiber 3 g Carbohydrates 34 g Protein 11 g

SOURCE: Tina Wasserman, CookingAndMore.com

In her day job, Grapevine culinary writer and consultant Debbie Meyer-Gore is the culinary event manager at Market Street's Culinary School. At home, she's a wife and stepmom whose family dinners are inspired by her memories of her own mother, who died in 2000.

Her mother also was the source for many recipes in Ms. Meyer-Gore's cookbook, Good Friends Great Tastes (recently reissued by Collectors Press). From her Kansas City childhood, Ms. Meyer-Gore remembers "soups were staples in our freezer in the winter."

Eleven soup recipes appear in this book.

DEBBIE MEYER-GORE'S STEAK SOUP

In large skillet over medium heat, brown round steak. In separate pan, cook ground beef and drain grease. Combine meats, 12 cups water, beef base and pepper in large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add carrots, celery and onion. Bring to boil and simmer until steak is done, about 30 minutes.

In last 15 minutes before serving, stir in frozen mixed vegetables and tomatoes with their juice. Vegetables should be cooked enough and warmed through to be tender before serving.

Make soup thickener by melting butter in saucepan and slowly whisking in flour to make paste. Add 11/2 cups cold water and some hot soup liquid until smooth. When smooth, add thickener to hot soup. Continue to whisk soup over heat to be sure there are no clumps of thickener. Heating will allow thickening process to occur. Add Kitchen Bouquet to enhance color and flavor. Makes 12 servings.

Notes: This hearty soup is perfect for freezing and delicious with warm French bread served as a side.

PER SERVING: Calories 519 (42% fat) Fat 24 g (12 g sat) Cholesterol 154 mg Sodium 374 mg Fiber 4 g Carbohydrates 24 g Protein 50 g

SOURCE: Debbie Meyer-Gore's Good Friends Great Tastes (Collectors Press, 2006)

When it opened in 1982, Kalachandji's restaurant in East Dallas (Details) was a North Texas pioneer in vegetarian cuisine. A soup made from the mung-bean variety of dal, India's split-bean staple, is one of the most popular items on Kalachandji's menu.

"Soup is a staple with Indian cuisines," manager Danny Thomas says. "If you don't have meat, you need a way of getting complete protein by combining grains and beans."

Rice and dal are eaten daily in the south of India, Mr. Thomas says, and in the north, flatbreads and dal are staples.

Dal soup freezes well, he says, but freeze it immediately after cooking.

For cooking dal, he offers this tip: "To make it faster, use a pressure cooker. Indians are really into pressure cookers. One whistle, and you're done!"

KALACHANDJI'S YELLOW MUNG DAL SOUP

Wash dal and drain. Combine dal, turmeric, salt and water. Bring to boil and simmer until half-cooked (about 20 minutes), removing foam that accumulates on top. Add ginger, jalapeño, coriander powder, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and cubed zucchini. Continue simmering, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking.

When dal is soft, whisk to smooth consistency. Heat ghee or oil in small saucepan. Add mustard and remaining cumin seeds. When they crackle, add hing and curry leaves, and add to dal.

Stir well, garnish with cilantro and serve hot. Makes 6 servings.

Note: Serve with lemon wedges and a side of rice.

PER SERVING: Calories 177 (26% fat) Fat 5 g (3 g sat) Cholesterol 11 mg Sodium 610 mg Fiber 7 g Carbohydrates 24 g Protein 10 g

SOURCE: Chef Manjuali Devi of Kalachandji's restaurant, Dallas

•"Puréeing soups in a blender will always give you a smoother soup than a food processor. If you do use a processor, remove solids from the soup, and process before adding to the liquid, or your soup will be grainy."

•"With meat-based soups, always cover the beef, chicken or fish with liquid and cook alone for 1/2 hour before adding other ingredients. This allows ease in skimming off any of the foam that accumulates on the surface of the broth. This foam consists of coagulated blood (from the interior of the bones attached to the meat) and any impurities on the skin."

•"Once you remove the foam, add any vegetables or seasonings you want and cook the soup until the meat is tender."

Tina Wasserman, in Jan. 15 "Cooking and More" newsletter