There is a time and place for making chicken noodle soup entirely from scratch, gently poaching a whole bird to make a beautiful home-made stock then shredding the tender flesh into the soup. Then there’s the madness of Tuesday nights when you just need to get dinner on the table, stat!

When time is not on your side, Vegeta, a vegetable stock powder you can find at supermarkets, makes all the difference to the flavour. Try it once, and it will become your new best friend for clear broths.

SOS checklist

• Fewer than 12 ingredients (excluding oil, salt, pepper and water) ✓
• Less than $20 for 4 servings ✓