Erin Irish Potato - 84g

Irish potato soup from a packet is a fixture in kitchens all over Ireland: the thing that gets made on a wet Tuesday when nobody has the energy to peel a single spud. Erin is the name on that packet, and it sits in the cupboard beside the teabags as if it pays rent.

People in Canada go looking for it because it tastes of one particular kitchen. Your mum's, your nan's, the damp flat you shared at university. A bowl of it on a cold evening here is a short trip home, no passport required.

It comes as a flat 84g sachet, which means it lives quite happily at the back of the cupboard until the day you need it. Tip it into a pan, add water, keep stirring while it thickens, and that is the soup sorted. Plenty of people quietly use a packet to thicken a stew as well, which is cheating, and works.

Buy two, because one never lasts as long as you think. It sits nicely alongside the rest of the Erin packet soups, a loaf of soda bread and a good block of butter. That is lunch handled, and probably tomorrow's too.