Yep, 
You can also get as a paste in little one serve packets. At Woolies.
Hikari brand - Instant Miso Soup Wakame 
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We get tubs of miso soup paste from our local Asian supermarket. It lasts for months and is cost effective (a 500g tub is less than $10). It also is fresher, more flavour, there are a range of different styles and doesn’t have the dried food taste.
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Well in those days, what was in the packet was not a collection of things from a chemistry laboratory and actually resembled “food”.
I do occasionally have a packet soup for lunch, when I’m busy - but NEVER without adding “food” to it. Example - today I had a “Country Cup” pepper steak & mushroom soup - no sign of any cows in it, but it has an “interesting” flavour and I love mushrooms. I sliced up several mushrooms and added them to it. A LOT of mushroom - it was quite chunky! No sign of any beef, but the mushrooms made up for that.
I keep wondering - WHY OH WHY, do the manufacturers of all the instant soups and packet soups and tinned soups in this country HAVE to add around 700mg of “sodium” (AKA 2.55x700 = nearly 1.8 grams of salt) to ALL of their products? Actually it’s usually around 750mg, so it’s about 1.9 grams of salt.
The consumer can always ADD salt - but once they put it in, the consumer has no way of removing it.
The National Heart Foundation tells us not to consume more than 5 grams of salt PER DAY, so it’s a bit ridiculous having nearly half of the maximum permissible daily dosage in half of one out of our three daily meals.
Even more so for people with any history of heart disease, because they are only allowed 2 grams, not 5 grams - blowing it all on a bowl of soup is quite ridiculous.
It makes the soup taste like sea water (unless you fill it up with ingredients that were never in the packet or the tin in the first place), so it’s rather revolting to put in your mouth.
And it adds to the manufacturers’ costs.
So why do they do it?
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Probably because their products are so bland, they would be completely tasteless and inedible without the salt.
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We do the same. The Japanese supermarket is also where we buy the ‘instant’ miso soup packs. It’s a better selection and cheaper than Colesworths.
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Just checked the supermarket. Hadn’t taken notice of the old packets, but found them on the bottom shelf. Must be a few decades since bought one of those.
Then I remembered my wife buying/liking ‘zupa grzybowa’ from a Euro deli (not for me), and there is also a packet of Tom Kha & Tom Yum which both contain pastes rather then dried powder.
My wife keeps a couple of packets of Korean noodle soups for those days when hungry & can’t get out or too late for lunch.
Spanish tomato is the best of the few flavours we’ve tried. I’ve taken a couple of serves to Asia for those days when craving a westernish flavour, a missed meal or something. I had one the other night. Plus an egg and dolop of Greek yoghurt.
Spanish tomato & others recently disappeared from both our local Coles & Woolies. Replaced with more trendy flavours and home brand alternatives.
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I’ve used these miso sachets too. Miso is just part of a soup under construction rather than ‘the soup’.
Went to the Asian grocer to buy a jar last week. Came home totally confused & empty handed. Hundred’s of variations & brands. Lite, dark, medium, low salt, with this, with that, with something else… Which one
I sprinkle FOS mix lightly between layers in a sliced potato bake, on top of the cream. I make about 3 potato bakes with one packet.
Also FOS mix is vital for making Nuts’n’Bolts.
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Well, even though we usually only eat very healthily, there are two dishes that we use the old packet soups in. One is in a cob loaf dip, made with Spring Vegetable soup, spinach and sour cream. The other is a potato gem casserole, which is SO bad for you. Not only does it have packet French Onion soup mix, it also has a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, and the potato gems! Mind you, these forays into the badlands of packet soups are rare.
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Welcome to the community.
More uses for packet FOS (French onion soup), and ones not expected. Is it a better alternative to other flavour enhancing products, eg MSG?
Our potato bakes have generous servings of fresh onions, although not everyone likes the onion.
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No, if it doesn’t contain synthetic MSG made by the Japanese bacterial fermentation process FOS will contain ‘natural glutamates’ (all same as hydrolysed vegetable protein) and enhancer 635, which is a glutamate adjunct. And much salt of course.
I am not getting into the MSG is poison argument but just pointing out that it is naturally occurring, in the right circumstances we enjoy it, there are many similar substances that have the same effect and that it has synonyms and close substitutes that you may not recognise.
So however it is made FOS (and many packet soups) is a little bundled of concentrated umami and salt.
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Had another look at my Black & Gold French Onion Soup Mix - Per serve (made up as directed) it has 58kj but 945mg of salt (41% of daily intake) and little else. 6 serves per pack contributes 2.5 times the daily intake, so I shall be rethinking my use of this brand in casseroles etc if it is one meal for two.
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