By Katy Wilkens

Most canned, boxed or commercial soups share one trait: they are full of unhealthy salt, which raises blood pressure, causes you to retain fluid, stresses arteries and can lead to kidney failure.

But there’s a fun alternative: fast, easy soups you pack in a jar to travel bravely from home to work, or anywhere you need a good meal. Add ingredients in layers, putting wetter foods at the bottom. When it’s time to eat, add boiling water. At work, use a coffee maker or a microwave. If you’re traveling, carry a Thermos of hot water, or ask a barista or flight attendant to fill your jar.

It’s time-efficient if you pack several jar soups at once, but they don’t have to be all the same. Have multiple proteins, change the veggies, or use precooked pasta or rice instead of noodles. Choose ingredients that are precooked or will cook quickly.

Use wide-mouthed, one-pint glass Mason jars. Take off the metal lid, and the jars are happy being heated in a microwave, or having boiling water poured in them. Pack several soup jars, and you are set for a few busy days.

Try these ideas:
Noodles: Buy instant ramen soup mix, use the noodles, and toss out the foil packet of high-salt flavoring. Or visit the Asian section of your grocery for wonton wrappers, rice noodles, mung bean vermicelli or shirataki, a vegetable noodle that is gluten-free and precooked. Also try zucchini, ribbon-cut, spiral-cut or cut into matchsticks.

Veggies: Cut very thin, use frozen veggies or leftovers, or blanch them in boiling water. Among the possibilities are broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, kale, baby spinach, sliced mushrooms, frozen peas, red or green peppers, bok choy or Napa cabbage.

Proteins: Use leftover cooked meat, fish, shrimp or chicken. Or try cooked black beans or garbanzos, cooked lentils or faro, quinoa, hard cooked egg, paneer or tofu.

Seasoning: This is where most commercial instant noodle cups enter deadly territory with high salt. Instead, look for bright, tart and savory seasonings for the bottom of your jar: lemon, lime, orange, ginger, jalapeno, garlic powder (not garlic salt), minced onion, curry, grated Parmesan, tomato sauce, coconut milk, pesto, canned pumpkin puree, dried mushrooms. Add fresh herbs like parsley, thyme, kaffir lime leaf, bay leaf, cilantro, tarragon or basil for a flavor burst. You won’t even miss the salt.

Mason Jar of Noodles
Per serving:
1 one-pint wide-mouth Mason jar

1 teaspoon hot or tart seasoning like grated ginger
1 teaspoon minced onion, leeks, chives, etc.
1 cup rice noodles, broken up
2 sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
Handful of fresh spinach and Napa cabbage
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
Handful of frozen peas
½ cup diced tofu
1 kaffir lime leaf or fresh lime juice

Layer ingredients, starting with moist ingredients. In this example, start with the ginger and end with lime leaf. Put lids on, refrigerate for up to three days. When ready to eat, boil about 1 cup water, pour over ingredients in jar and let sit about five minutes. Remove lime leaf and enjoy.

Calories: 543, carbohydrates: 105 g, protein: 16 g, sodium: 96 mg

The information in this column is meant for people who want to keep their kidneys healthy and blood pressure down by following a low-sodium diet. In most cases, except for dialysis patients, a diet high in potassium is thought to help lower high blood pressure. These recipes are not intended for people on dialysis without the supervision of a registered dietitian.

[Katy G. Wilkens is a registered dietitian and department head at Northwest Kidney Centers. The 2014 recipient of National Kidney Foundation Council on Renal Nutrition’s Susan Knapp Excellence in Education Award, she has a Master of Science degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Washington. See more of her recipes at www.nwkidney.org.]