If all else fails, have soup. There are times, however, when you want to fortify your soup, so that it fills you up even better. In most cases, this is best done by means of frying a piece or two of bread in butter and dunking it in your soup. But if you aren’t in the mood to bring out the frying pan (or you’re out of butter), then something else will have to do.

Actually fried bread in soup is best when it comes to creamy soups. When your soup is more along the lines of a stew, then you’re better off finding another way to fortify your soup.

Here’s a simple technique which also adds texture to your soup.

De-can your soup, pour into a bowl.

Heat the soup in the Microwave.

Get a packet of crackers.

Get a wooden spoon or somesuch implement. Smash the crackers.

Take the soup out of the Microwave, open the packet, pour crispy smashed goodness into the bowl.

Get your handy-dandy essential Vietnamese (actually, from what I understand, Thai) style hot sauce*, which is superior to Tabasco because it’s not vinegary and so doesn’t make everything you eat taste more like Tabasco than what you’re eating, and dribble a little bit into your soup. Hot sauce eliminates the taste of the can.

Stir and enjoy.

*Together with Kewpie mayonnaise, a basic food group, along with deli mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire and A1 sauces and Italian dressing.