A week ago I was enjoying a bowl of soupe de poissons with a friend. It was not fresh, but came out of a can. Agreeing with her that the saffron-and-anise-scented fish soup from Provence is one of the best ready meals you can buy, I told her about my stash of canned Breton lobster bisque, bought last year on a trip to St Malo.

Admittedly, it was the design on the tin that prompted the purchase: the daffodil yellow background with orange lobster graphic – a beautiful piece of artwork. But the soup was excellent, too, even better with a blob of cream and a dash of cognac added at the last minute. I kept the tin to hold pencils on my desk. Similar cans sit in the cupboard and I know that they, too, will one day come into use.

I hold a similar sentiment for Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup. I was brought up on it; the orangey-red smooth soup came with us on family picnics, hot in a Thermos. Decades later I still keep a supply, alongside the posh French bisque. When I read last week that sales of canned soup slumped by more than 8 per cent last year and that £27.4 million has been wiped off sales of Heinz soups, I felt a pang of loss, and a little bit older.