Food from cans: the good, the acceptable, the horrifying

Cafe Society
1

I’ve generally had a prejudice against canned food. In fact, I distinctly recall that in my 20s I did not even own a can opener for at least four years, though in retrospect I am puzzled how I managed a total canned food renunciation. (There’s almost always been room in my kitchen for tomato paste.)

Over time I have become more accepting of a few canned items, though I still kind of look down on them. However, I recently read an article (sorry, don’t remember where so can’t link) comparing the nutritional values of fresh, frozen, and canned produce, and was surprised to discover that canned stuff holds up pretty well in terms of maintaining vitamin content. The negatives, of course, are that canned foods tend to be high in sodium and to have less palatable textures. However, these aren’t big problems if you’re just throwing together a stew or something similar: just add less salt than you otherwise would, and you probably wouldn’t want crunchy beans or carrots in a soup anyway.

So I have resolved to be less anti-canned. Here’s my current list of stuff I find acceptable, to one degree or another:

[ul]
[li]Tomato paste - I always keep it on hand to add to bean stews, as a binder for calzone filling, and to invigorate a homemade pasta sauce.[/li][li]Corn - While I would not serve it straight up as a side dish, it is great for soups, stews, and casseroles. [/li][li]Kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas - In theory I would prefer to start with dried ones that I soak myself, but I often turn to canned, especially for vegetarian and vegan recipes, because they are so convenient.[/li][li]Coconut milk - brand matters; some is good and some less so. Fresh is such a PITA that I capitulate.[/li][li]**Whole (or diced) tomatoes **- Not bad if I’m just throwing together some sauted veggies and meat for a wrap, or making a bean stew in the crockpot.[/li][li]Evaporated milk - I have some baking recipes that call for it. If there is any leftover, I use it with my morning coffee.[/li][li]Beets - yuck, I hate beets. But I have a great recipe for pickled beet eggs. The beets get thrown away after all the eggs are eaten.[/li][/ul]
That’s about it for me. If I didn’t live in Hawaii, I’d probably use canned tuna and canned pineapples sometimes. But here, that would be a crime.

The most utterly despicable canned foods, IMHO, include any canned pasta, fruit cocktail, and string beans.

How about it, folks? Should I expand my repertoire to include any other canned goods?

2

Canned pasta (e.g. Chef-Boy R. D.) is its own thing (and not a subset of “pasta”), and to me counts as occasional comfort and/or convenience food.

Similarly for canned chili and soups.

Canned fruit (e.g. fruit cocktail) is useful for putting in jello. But I do not miss the part of my childhood when we had a can of peaches for dessert.

You say you live in Hawaii? Somehow I was under the impression that Hawaiians love Spam.

3

When I was a kid in the early 70’s we ate almost all our vegetables out of cans.
Canned spinach and asparagus are the worst, they’re basically mush. Those are 2 of my favorite vegetables now, and I only buy them fresh.
We used to buy La Choy brand canned chop-suey. Again, overcooked and terrible. The bean sprouts were so sad.
Canned mushrooms and pineapples are nothing like fresh.
Canned things I do eat are sardines in hot sauce or mustard sauce, tuna, condensed milk for coffee.

4

Still haven’t tried those tamales.

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The Good (and I realise I’m going to be on my own here): tinned strawberries. In Thudlow’s words, this “is its own thing” (and not a subset of, well, anything). But the taste (nothing like strawberries) and texture (nothing like anything) are uniquely appealing.

The Acceptable: Dunn’s River ackees. Where in the hell else am I going to find ackees?

The Horrifying: Fray Bentos Pies. Dear Jesus - one pie in a can would be horrifying, but there’s a whole range of them. Winner?

j

6

Bean dip. Just sayin’

7

Oddly, brown bread from cans is quite tasty, but a little sweet for everyday use( I like the one with raisins) . It makes great PB&J sandwiches and is nice to eat with a little butter.

On that I have tried both canned butter and canned cheese. Both fall into the “survival food” category.

Hormel chili is great.

8

Escargot comes in a can.

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In my kitchen (and I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty): tomatoes in many forms, tuna, sardines, beans of all types, soup, pineapple, mandarin oranges, evaporated milk, condensed milk, pumpkin, sauerkraut.

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Corn, beans, tomatoes all are good as ingredients for stews/soups/etc.

Sardines, tuna, salmon, and anchovies, for salads and sandwiches.

Canned pate (Flower brand) for budget Banh Mi sandwiches (probably considered “it’s own thing” as it’s quite different from fresh pate).

11

Actually, scratch those tinned strawberries (as inexplicably appealing as they are). Confit de Canard comes in a can. Never had a bad one.

j

12

The same list as the OP, plus tuna and salmon, corned beef hash, black olives, refried beans, and those tamales in a can if I can ever find them again. Green vegetables in cans occasionally taste good but the texture is awful.

13

Refried beans from the can are also pretty decent, certainly not restaurant quality but acceptable. I eat a lot of beans on Fridays during Lent, especially when I get so burned out on fish I think I’m growing gills.

I’ve even made Hamburger Helper with canned beans or refried beans, it’s a nice throwback to college.

14

The Spanish and Portuguese especially have made an art form of canning and aging sardines, octopus, clams and other seafood.

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I love canned fruit cocktail. I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.

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Atomic Shrimp Youtube channel run by our own Mangetout.
Among other things, he likes to sample Weird Stuff In A Can.

17

There are lots of really good canned soups. Chili also does well in a can. You mentioned a few types of beans, but I think they’re pretty much all fine from a can. Green beans and string beans are vegetables for purposes of this discussion, however, and vegetables should not be canned except for emergency use.

I like canned peaches, though I don’t always like canned fruit. I prefer the light syrup made from pear juice or similar, not the heavy cling syrup with a ton of added sugar. Generally the more ingredients listed, the less I’m going to like it.

18

I was mostly considering ingredients but I did list corned beef hash. Including complete dishes in a can there are plenty of canned soups that are fine.

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I’m fine with pretty much all the canned staples (tomatoes, beans, etc…)

Soups are more of a hit or miss.
Dinty Moore beef stew is the best “meal in a can” on the planet.

20

You want horrifying?
I give you canned vegetarian haggis for the win.