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I use a lot of organic foods but due to the cost I do buy other things as well. One thing I feel is important is to try to get things with as little ingredients as possible. If you can't get all organic try for chips with just potatoes, oil and salt. Peanuts often have a lot of junk in them so find stuff with just peanuts, or peanuts and salt. Get rolled oats and unsweetened applesauce, juice concentrate with no added sugars and try to bake from scratch whenever you can. I use King Arthur flour , white flour yes, but it is one of the best nonorganic flours on the market and, personally, I don't like the taste of all the other flours. Plain and simple ingredients are the best , and figure out what is most important to have organic and spend the extra on that. There are products that are very good , better than most even if they are not specifically organic. I have noticed that buying in bulk at the health food store is a savings even over the conventional grocery stores . I get my spices from the bulk section and I think I get a lot more for my money than I would from the McCormick containers, and they are much stronger spice flavors because they are fresher. One other suggesting is to see if there are any surplus and salvage grocery stores in your area. I go to one near me that often carries organic products I can get for much cheaper than they would be at a healthfood store. Keep an eye on the dates on stuff though.

I am not clear what the ingredients you read are from. I spoke of Imagine foods brand and I know there is no soy in it. As for salt, well, most soup will have a somewhat high salt content. There are bullion cubes available without msg and , if I remember correctly, fairly low in sodium. The brand there is Rapunzel. I have used them before , the vegitable ones. I put them in rice while it cooks to flavor the rice some. Even on a low sodium diet one needs a certain amount of salt to remain healthy. I don't believe the Imagine Foods soups are really high is salt but you would have to read the lable on that brand.
MSG in any form, autolized yeast or whatnot, is not good and I know is not in the imagine foods potatoe leek soup, nor is there any milk . There is some oil but nothing horrible, all organic. check it out for yourself. What I spoke of is not canned.

I would have to ask, why do you need a substitute? If it is to avoid milk then a lot of what I have seen is just as bad. Imagine foods has a line of soups in the same kind of boxes that you get the rice milk and such in. One such soup is called Potatoe Leek soup. It is VERY good and thick enough that I imagine it could take the place of a cream of recipe. If you need to avoid milk consider if it could be soy bothering you , coming through the milk from the soy in the grain.
Imagine foods also carries a good squash soup, better than I expected it to be. They also have a good tomatoe soup. You have to read lables though because they have two tomatoe soups and one has soy whereas the other does not. The others I mentioned are soy free and milk free.

pureed white beans instead of the potato for more protein and fiber, albeit a very different flavor.

Here's a very simple and quick alternative. The Bisque. For every gallon of liquid in your recipe add 1 cup of uncooked rice. When the rice is cooked, puree the soup and pass through a strainer. Then garnish with reserved Veg. of the themed soup ;IE Florettes, diced tomato,sliced mushroom etc...You'll find a very similar apperance and mouth feel.

Since I was diagnosed as a diabetic last year, I've come up with a number of ways to cut out sugar, carbs, and fats and still have food that tastes good and is satisying.

I start out by sauteeing onion and garlic or shallots in olive oil.

I basically use a chicken soup stock or base to cook whatever veggie and a potato or two in the stock with any herbs you like.

I use a butter substitute called Butter Buds to add a richer flavor.

Cook until the potatoes and vegs are just tender.

Then either use an immersion or stick blender, or about half of the liquid and veggies and blend until they're a smooth as you like.

CAUTION: Be very careful when blending a hot liquid in the blender. Only fill about half way and vent the top. (I know, I learned the hard way and had broccoli soup everywhere).

You can make the soup as smooth as you like, but I like to leave some veggies for texture or perhaps blend them slightly along with the smooth blended soup.

It's healthy creamy and fufilling without a speck of fattening cream or butter.

It'll never be the same as say, a real creamy soup, but it's much, much healthier and you can eat a larger portion and not feel guilty.

I have actually made a cream of broccoli soup with pureed cauliflower. It was a good base, though certainly not the same. I would recommend adding a bit of milk or cream to the puree to ensure you get the creamy texture of the condensed soup.

I like the synthesized roux idea, and can see myself doing that. Once I did Thomas Keller's version of green bean casserole from scratch. It was awesome, and not that hard (except for the slicing, breading, and frying of shallots).

My reluctance to make whole batch of "cream of x" soup myself or buy a carton of high-pedigree cream of x is about time and money.

The cornstarch slurry is also very appealing, and I can see myself applying that idea to a couple of other baked dishes. Ex: I have a recipe for baked vegetables, simply sliced and layered with a little butter, herbs, and topped with tomato sauce and a little cheese, and it's good but the veggies give off all their water and it's not pretty. A slurry could help keep those juices where they belong.

Thanks for all the ideas.

Maybe there is a place for a new thread, one devoted to healthy/fresh mix and bake recipes. I guess that's what this is really about: easy, comforting dishes that I can virtually keep my hands off, for those times when I just really don't want to cook, but I really do want to eat.