WHEN callers "drop in" in the afternoon or evening, don't you often wish you had some light refreshment to offer them? A few modest purchases and a little planning will enable you to refresh your guests with a cool drink in summer and to cheer them with a hot one in winter.

Among the products that are useful for concocting quick beverages are:

Fruit Juices

Grape (red and white), loganberry, apple, pineapple, lime, cider, raspberry, strawberry.

Sparkling Drinks

Ginger ale, Apollinaris water, vichy.

Cocoa And Chocolate

Instant powders.

Coffee

Instantaneous powders and extracts, cereal coffee powders.

If a bottle of concentrated sugar sirup (made by boiling equal quantities of sugar and water for 10 minutes and bottling hot) is kept on hand, cold drinks can be easily and quickly sweetened. Lime juice, which can be purchased in bottles, will often replace lemon juice and saves the trouble of squeezing the fruit. Fresh mint is a great addition to many drinks.

The use of prepared cocoas and of coffee powders and extracts is a great convenience when company drops in unexpectedly, and you do not want to stay away from them a moment longer than is necessary.

Evaporated milk makes hot drinks rich and palatable.