 Condensed soup (invented in 1897 by John T. Dorrance, a chemist with the Campbell Soup Company) allows soup to be packaged into a smaller can and sold at a lower price than other canned soups.The soup is usually doubled in volume by adding a "can full" of water or milk, about .The "ready-to-eat" variant can be prepared by simply heating the contents of the can on a kitchen stove or in a microwave oven, rather than actually cooking anything.