Best and lightest one cup soup mix?

Bouillon is essentially salty water so YMMV.

You'd be better off making your own soup mixes with the bouillon as a base (although the lower sodium stuff is perfectly fine tasting!) and adding in a bit of FD veggies and dried meat along with a healthy dose of oil.

Ralphs super markets owned by Krogers markets carry really good gourmet soups in a cup that sell for 99 cents just add water. I repackage them in to zip lock half snack bags very light weight.
The soups for example are cream of chicken,Black bean,split pea, vegetable noodle,Chili,Mushroom and others. I also add a table spoon of crushed up ramen noodles, stuffing mix to make the soups more of stew type of soups. My favorite is Chili with corn bread stuffing mixed in.
This is way to do dried food on the cheap
Terry

Kikkoman miso soup, surprisingly good.

Terry…I had never thought to add stuffing to the mix…great idea. I am going to have to try that one.

Chris,
While it does not match your requirements listed…one of my favorite soups/dinners is a package of ramen noodles with a teaspoon of dried veggie flakes and a soup spoon of freeze dried ground beef added in. I only use about 75% of the water specified so between less water and the extra bulk from the veggies and the meat it comes out fairly thick. Dried weight is about 3 ounces and perhaps 380-400 calories depending on the brand.

Bouillon cubes are basically flavored salt, so there's little caloric energy to be had from them. Better tasting are individual bouillon paste packets (e.g., Trader Joes) but they'd need to be supplemented to provide that many calories.

My favorite is miso soup packaged with paste rather than powdered miso–I get mine at a Japanese market that carries several options but I usually can't read the label, so no particular recommendation. Like bouillon, they'd need to be supplemented to provide that many calories.

Individual noodle and rice soup packets might eke out enough calories from the carbs. I've never found them particularly tasty, but on a cold day they still hit the spot.

Cheers,

Rick

Thanks so much for the responses so far. Very helpful.

REI used to sell these blue little packets called "one cup meals" or something.
They had potato soup and I think split pea. But I can't find them anywhere now.
Anyone know what I'm talking about, and where to get something equivalent?

"My ideal is a packet or cube with 120 calories that weighs 1 ounce."

To get that many calories in one ounce you're going to have to find a soup with some fat in it. This is not particularly easy to do. I'd second Rick's suggestion of miso, although I'd recommend powdered for lightness, and add either 1/4-1/2 oz of olive oil or powdered butter to it, to taste. That should get you up to at least 120 calories at LT/EQ 1 oz.

My favorites are Bear Creek Soups.

They make a bunch of varieties. My favorites are the Chili, Tortilla, Minestrone, and Cheddar Potato. I split them into single servings and to all of them add: freeze dried chicken, onions, green onions, and sour cream powder, all from Packit Gourmet.

Chris, those blue soup packets you used to buy at REI were made by a company called Cabin Cuisine, and they called them One Cup Meals. I still have a few in my food stash, and they run 1.0 oz. net, providing 100-120 calories. I tried to google them before posting and came up with nothing. So they probably are out of business. Hopefully they'll take Milkman's lead and resume production, as I thought they made a great product.

Btw, do you have any Asian stores nearby? Knorr and other brands make (in usually Japanese packaging) Cup A Soup style packets, 1 cup + 8 ounces water. You can get many fun flavors.

Many grocery stores still carry limited runs of Cup A Soup – look up high. If you find tomato you can make this:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/thai-tomato-soup

Or make your own:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/creamy-tomato-soup

Or:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/creamy-potato-soup

An easy and simple soup is this:
1 tsp lower sodium bouillon (or 1 liquid stick of paste – I love that stuff – btw Packitgourmet carries it as well, so does Amazon)
Seasonings of choice (say garlic, parsley, pepper)
1/4 block ramen crushed small or 1/4 cup couscous
1-2 Tbsp freeze dried veggies

+ 1 cup water

Easy and it fills you up. Make soup a meal when you can!

…

"Kikkoman miso soup, surprisingly good."

+1 And lightweight.