The Creamy Trader Joe's Soup That Has Instagram Divided

As the weather starts to cool down, you may be thinking of a cozy day on the couch with your favorite bowl of warm, comforting soup. If you've ever heard the term "this soup is like a warm hug," it's actually not far from the truth. Psychology Today reported that several studies have been done on what soup does to us from a psychological perspective. One study found that the human brain relates physical warmth to emotional warmth; another study that had participants do a "word-completion task" suggested that after eating soup, participants were more inclined to use words associated with relationships. 

Of course, besides being comforting and tasty, many hearty soups also provide nutritional benefits because they're usually packed with a variety of proteins and vegetables. The other benefit is that you can usually make a large quantity and then save it for later — you just have to know how long it will take before your soup goes bad. If you're not inclined to cook your own soup or you just don't have the time, Trader Joe's usually has some great options, however, people on social media seem to be divided by this particular option.

Trader Joe's Unexpected Cheddar Broccoli Cheddar Soup has been around for several years now. According to Trader Joe's, the Unexpected Cheddar Cheese is a customer favorite and has been a runner-up in the store's annual Customer Choice Awards, so it makes sense that it ended up in this soup. Instagram user @TraderJoesList posted a photo of the soup saying, "It's back!" Some respondents mentioned that it had never left their particular stores. Other people commented on how much they enjoyed it, yet many others complained about it. "It's so unexpectedly bad," said one user. Many described it as "very watery," while others said it had "too much sodium" and that it lacked flavor. Others were more forgiving: "Not the best broccoli cheese soup out there, but WAY better than canned versions!" 

Reddit users seemed to enjoy the soup a little more than the @TraderJoesList followers. "It's definitely thinner than I was expecting...But it's SO good. I am obsessed," one Redditor posted. Another said, "I really enjoyed it. I just had some for lunch with homemade sourdough."

Several commenters on @TraderJoesList's post also wondered how it compared to Panera's version. Not everyone was on team TJ's — "Go on google and make a copy cat version of Panera bread's broccoli soup. Way better," @gab_newyorkcity suggested.