We’ve all been there. You just heated up that delicious leftover chili for lunch at the office, and return to your desk to find out—dammit!—you don’t have a spoon!

Eating soup of any kind is going to be extremely messy and difficult without a spoon. You might be thinking “What gives? All workplaces provide free plastic utensils to their employees.” But with many companies “going green”, grabbing a spoon from the lunch room may not be an option.

If you’re really hungry and determined to consume your chili or soup, you’re going to have to get creative.

• Unless you’re wildly antisocial or don’t want to be a bother, you could ask around. Someone probably has a spoon somewhere. Offer someone a buck for a spoon.
• If you don’t mind a little dumpster diving and germs, there’s probably a used spoon in the trash somewhere. Give it a thorough cleaning with dish soap before using, though.
• It may draw unwanted attention to you, but you could always just drink the soup from the container. If you have your own office, or at least some privacy in a cubicle, it would be less embarrassing.
• Consider other utensils. Got a knife or fork? A fork is a bad option, but if the soup is thick and/or chunky, you can at least get some of it to your mouth. This is also a good way to control your portions!
• Straws are another option. Fork out the meat, vegetables, beans or noodle parts with a fork and then suck the broth up with a straw. Gross? Well, yeah… but you’re in a bind, gosh darn it!
• Look around your desk for anything that could function as a spoon. Got a pill bottle and a pen? Empty the bottle, tape a pen to the side of it, and you’ve got a really awful single-use makeshift spoon.
• Likewise, a styrofoam cup could theoretically be used to spoon the soup into your mouth if you cut the top 75% of it off. With a nub of a cup remaining, you again could tape a pen to it and messily ladel the soup to your mouth.
• Consider scrounging around your car for a fast food spoon. You’d be surprised what you’ll find under your floormats or under the seat!
• A makeshift spoon can actually be quickly fashioned from an empty soda bottle. Just cut out the shape of a spoon along the curvature of the bottle!
• The last resort should be to use your hands, but if you’re desperate, you could theoretically just lap the soup up to your mouth by forming a spoon shape with your index and middle fingers.

Got any other great spoon substitute ideas? Leave them in the comments for a chance to win an autographed photo of podcast hosts Ryan and Bart!

My Hot Take:
I have this happen at work pretty regularly, and I have almost always managed to find a spoon before resorting to another method. If anything, I’ve got spoons lying around but no forks, and wind up having to eat a piece of chicken with a spoon.

tl;dr
If you need to eat soup but don’t have a spoon, consider drinking it our fashioning a makeshift spoon.