And it’s a certified classic.

Key Points

• Barbra Streisand’s favorite nostalgic meal is tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.


• Streisand discovered this meal while working late nights at a theater camp as a teen.


• Adjust this classic duo by making soup yourself or adding veggies to your sandwich.

Barbra Streisand has been wowing fans for decades through her career as a singer, actor, filmmaker and philanthropist. The Grammy and Oscar-winning icon released her 37th studio album, The Secret Life: Partners, Volume Twoin 2025 and delighted fans with the release of her memoir, My Name is Barbrain 2023.

It’s in the pages of her long-awaited memoir that Babs drops the three-ingredient dinner she says there’s “nothing better” than. It’s cheesy, it’s comforting, and there’s a good chance you have everything in your pantry right now to make it for yourself.

In the book, Streisand, who turns 84 this month, dishes about fibbing about her age to get into the summer apprentice program at Malden Bridge Playhouse in Upstate New York. “By the time I went, I had turned 15,” she writes, “which I thought was grown-up enough.”

The Manhattanite says she learned about this acting program by reading a paper that appeared on NYC newsstands called Show Business. The program cost $150 to enroll, and Streisand convinced her mother to take money from an inheritance she’d received from her late grandfather to pay the tuition. She landed a walk-on role in the play Teahouse of the August Moon and worked hard as an apprentice in the program. It was here she discovered her favorite simple meal.

“My favorite time was when we knocked down the set at the end of each week to repaint the flats for the next show,” Streisand writes. “As we all worked into the wee hours of the morning, the delicious Campbell’s tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches would appear. Nothing better!”

There’s nothing quite as comforting as a warm bowl of tomato soup, especially when it’s easy to heat-and-eat straight from the can. (Plus, tomatoes bring some delicious health benefits to the table, too.)

And, when you use an easy-melting cheese like American or Gruyère, a crusty, buttery grilled cheese can really hit the spot as well. Comforting grilled cheese sandwiches might not have the healthiest reputation, but every dish can be enjoyed in moderation.

But this three-ingredient dinner wasn’t the only thing Streisand learned to love while at theater camp. “I think I also discovered peanut butter and jelly, on soft white bread, while I was there,” she wrote. “I was used to bologna and Velveeta cheese.”

However you decide to replicate Babs’ beloved meal, her birthday month is certainly the perfect time to try it out, especially since there’s no better way to remember The Way We Were than to serve up such a nostalgic pairing.

If you’d prefer to make a more in-depth version of Streisand’s go-to, easy meals, you could always try one of our favorite recipes—here are a few to get you started: