Packaged Soup Has No Body

Sad but true; the food in Ireland is not great. Expensive, sure, but traditional Irish food is not exactly my cup of tea (actually, the tea here isn't bad). True, I've discovered a few good places to eat, but none of them are Irish (Italian, Asian, Indian). There is a terrific "chipper" at the end of my street, but the chips there are really the only good Irish food I've had. (And I'm trying to limit my visits there to once per week.) My single attempt to do fish and chips was a disaster; the chips were cold and the fish had bones. Bones! I may have to wait until I'm home to get decent fish and chips again...and to think, I tried not to eat them before I left!
That said, I have been trying to eat my own food as much as possible, since it is so expensive to eat out here and I'm unwilling to spend good money on bad food. As you probably know, I'm not much of a cook in the best of circumstances, and the circumstances here are not the best. The most extravagant thing I've done is roast sliced up carrots with garlic powder and honey, then mix them with rice (Uncle Ben's, I admit) and soy sauce. Actually, it was pretty good, but even I can't claim it as a major culinary achievement.
Not surprisingly, I'm eating a lot of carbs. A lot may be a bit of an understatement. My toast consumption, always impressive, has grown beyond normal limits; the other day I ate 12 pieces of toast, and only stopped there because I ran out of bread! It's not pretty. I'm trying to maintain some semblance of control in the pasta department, an attempt that Celia does not help by consuming pasta at least once every day. Crackers aren't such a problem because they get soggy so quickly in this climate, but cookies...well, I've been trying not to buy them, but those that have entered the apartment have left very quickly. And don't even get me started on the chips...oh, sweet, wonderful chips...
In my more sane, less starved moments I make myself tuna salad and soup. The soup, unfortunately, is almost inedible after years of my dad's soups. The dehydrated vegetables in the powder are beyond pathetic, and the whole affair is weak and lifeless. No body. My tuna salad isn't too bad; I put celery and red pepper in like my dad, and even splurged on brand name mayonnaise (more of dad's teachings). Despite the large quantities of pepper and salt that I add my tuna just doesn't have the zest of what I'm used to at home.
I'm actually having fantasies about what I'm going to eat when I get back!
And here's the craziest part of food in Dublin; there is no KD. That's right: Kraft Dinner, Mac + Cheese, that essential of the non-cook's kitchen, is nowhere to be found here! Oh, the depravity! I never thought I'd crave KD, but here I am, admitting that I do. I feel so cheap. So used. SO ANGRY AT KRAFT! How could they do this to me?
Okay, that's my food rant. I promise not to repeat--just had to get it out of my system.