Surprisingly good things in tins...

[BobbyBiscuits]

Hey everyone,

Just thinking about how happy I was to discover tinned 'greek' gigantes beans.
They're delicious and go with loads of stuff, and don't need heating. From the corner shop too so v convenient.

I'd love to know anyone else's favourite foods in tins that require minimum prep. Preferably stuff that's a bit beyond baked beans, tuna, sweetcorn, soup... Ideally available in the UK!

Thank you and looking forward to some ideas x

Stuffed vine leaves

Marrow fat peas and mixed beans not together though.

Tinned french onion soup. Very nice to use in a slow cooker when making a roast.

Stuffed vine leaves are nice.
I also like stuffed aubergine.
With them being in a tin it makes it easier to transport to work, especially if I'm cycling or running there.

Mmmm.. I want tinned prunes and custard now 😋

Cambells condensed soups instead of standard sauces or in vol-au-vents casings with cheese on top.

I also like jack fruit - easy to use in place of meat in curries etc.

I have bought Jack Monroe's recipe book 'Tin can Cook' but not yet looked at it. They line tins with BPA so try to keep the number of canned items you eat per day low.

Pilchards in tomato sauce. Delicious all mashed up on hot buttery toast

Mandarins for a chocolate and mandarin trifle (soak the chocolate cake in brandy). How do they get rid of all the skin and pith?

All the tinned fruit.

And Prince's pie fillings (already mentioned a couple of times). The cherry one is amazing when warmed up and spooned over vanilla ice cream.

They certainly did. They also did a sublime vegetable salad. All discontinued. For anyone who liked their vegetable salad, Tesco sell Lisner veg salad in a pot. It’s almost the same.

Oh....M&S chunky chicken is FAR too nice!

I end up eating the whole tin myself!

Yay! Add slices of hard boiled egg, Branston pickle and crisp lettuce

“Easy to throw up” is one of the funniest food recommendations I’ve ever seen.

I must be among the UK's premier consumers of marrowfat peas. They're superior to every other type of pea.

Tinned new potatoes sliced and fried for a Spanish omelette- or sprinkled with oregano and paprika and air fried

Yes to gigantes beans - I usually get the jarred ones though because I can find them in Sainsbury’s

Mutti chopped tomatoes- the only brand I will eat

Black chick peas and ordinary chickpeas too - for curry or chaat

Butterbeans - in a chilli or in a pie with cider

Green lentils in a veggie sausage casserole

Little tins of vegetable pate from Holland and Barrett - just rediscovered these: a proper blast from the past

Tinned figs with Greek yoghurt and honey

Tinned mango or peaches or apricots blitzed into a smoothie with natural yoghurt

I went to a friend’s for dinner around 1988 when we’d all moved out of home and felt terribly grown up. She served that tinned Russian salad as a side to pasta. It remains one of the most revolting things I’ve ever put in my mouth!

M&S tinned curries are surprisingly lovely. I much prefer them to a ready meal at work and always have a tin in my desk drawer With one of those VeeTee rice packs makes a quick meal that tastes like actual food.

Heinz spaghetti - both in tomato sauce, and the bolognese varieties. Ditto for ravioli, but does anyone else find their tinned macaroni cheese uneatable ? I love macaroni cheese and only bought this once when l was pushed for time. It came out of the tin in a lump - tasteless and a revolting, slimy consistency.

Can I ask which brand of tinned lentils people recommend? The ones I've tried have been sloppy and school dinnerish . They were Sainsbury's own and Biona.

Chickpeas - who has time to soak them for hours?

Anchovies and sardines

Cassoulet (if bought in France)

M&s chicken soup

or warmed up to have on rice pudding or vanilla ice cream

i remember that too. i seem to remember chopped eggs and ham in Russian salad alongside the veg but the dressing was thicker and gloopier than Heinz veg salad, and stuck to the roof of your mouth !!

Spinach
Foul

Lupin beans BUT they are actually in a jar though

Napolina are good, but if you’re after a firmer texture the Merchant Gourmet puy lentils are probably a better choice - they’re pre cooked and sold in foil packaging.