Having the clerk open the jar. We sometimes find jars that neither of us can open. Sometimes a table knife works between the glass and the lid helps but sometimes nothing does.

If you are making a "cream" soup or gravy, try using fat-free milk and about 2 TBSPs of cornstarch. It has fewer calories and usually adds just the right creaminess to the soup. Another trick is if it has onions or potatoes in the mix, to dip a few out and mash or blend them, then stir them back into the soup. I often will cook a half or whole onion or small potato if called for, without chopping. That makes it easier to fish out the other ingredients. I take it out near the end of cooking with a little liquid and give it a whirl or two in the blender, leave it sorta mushy, not blended to liquid. Stir it in and watch the soup get thicker. A friend who spent a couple of months trekking in Africa said that they served creamed soup at the beginning of every meal, but out in the bush, they had no cream. They used these tricks, so I tried them and they work.