5 Things Tuesday —- 5 Favourite Canned Foods

Although it cannot take the place of fresh food, you can’t beat tinned food for convenience. Requiring no special storage conditions and taking up very little storage space, canned food can be a life saver.

Today I ask you to name 5 favourites. These can be ready to eat or ingredients for your recipes.

Here are my favourites:

Heinz baked beans

In our family, this is the only ready to eat canned food that we eat frequently. We occasionally have them with sausages and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We also add them to a dinner menu prepared in a hurry.

Sweet corn & baby corn

We love these in salads, stir fries and Spanish omelette. They make a lovely pizza topping. I sometimes add them to pasta dishes to make them “healthier “.

Button mushrooms

Add cheese and sliced mushrooms to an omelette and you have a gourmet breakfast. In addition, we love to have our button mushrooms in salads, with stir fried veg and in pasta bakes.

A family favourite dinner is chicken with button mushrooms and garlic sauce. It is great served with steamed rice. When my kids were in school, I used to make it for dinner the the last evening of the holidays. It became a back to school tradition.

Tomatoes

Canned tomato paste and tomato puree are a busy cook’s best friends. They make excellent additions to curries and gravy.

Pineapple bits

These are great added to sweets or savouries. They form a convenient base for fruit salad . Add them with sweet corn to pizza topping and you have Hawaiian pizza.

Honourable Mention:

Fruit cocktail

A can of mixed fruit can be a lifesaver when you have to entertain unexpected guests. Served on it’s own or added to fruit trifle or other desserts it is time saving and delicious.

What are your favourites? I would love to know.