Fill your house with tinned food, we’re told. Make sure you can feed yourselves for three days, the government says. Over the past 10 days, purchasing possibly unreasonable volumes of tinned goods has become a widespread hobby. Is stockpiling the middle class Doomsday bunker? And what should we reach for past tuna and tinned tomatoes?
As the nation mobilises into a stockpiling frenzy – Iceland reported sales of tinned goods up 40 per cent last weekend while Ocado said it had run out of some brands of soup and bottled water – I’ve put together a list of some of my favourite tinned food, along with a few suggestions to stop things from getting too boring, should we ever have to rely on this store.
Very many of us don’t have the luxury to think a meal ahead, never mind three days. But if you’re lucky enough to be able to stockpile at short notice, it’s worth doubling up on the products you buy weekly, such as the aforementioned tuna and tomatoes, and adding in a few extras here and there.
All the flavours of a steamy French summer simmered down and locked into a single can. I can’t promise this will taste anywhere as good as your homemade version, but I do think we need to look past beans and tomatoes when we’re restocking our food cupboards.
Sainsbury’s Green Lentils in Water
Green lentils are a godsend for adding quick, tasty bulk to a meal and work well cold or hot. If you really do find yourself restricted to tinned food, mix these with a can of tuna (in oil) and some drained tinned peas and chickpeas then season well for a quick dish offering a variety of flavours and textures.
£2.20/400g from Sainsbury’s (currently £1.50 with Nectar)
This is my nostalgia soup because I ate it most weeks when I was at university, before I worked out how to make my own soup. Filling, tasty and comforting on a cold night. Eat it with a spoonful of yoghurt or cream and add chilli flakes for more heat.
M&S Collection Hot Smoked Peppered Mackerel
This smoky mackerel packed in British rapeseed oil is one of those tins that needs no adornment, just peel back the top and dig in.
Espinaler olives stuffed with anchovy
£3.05/350g
Green Spanish olives stuffed with anchovy paste – moreish salty treats and proof that Perelló aren’t the only tinned olives worth your attention.
Parmentier Sardines in extra virgin olive oil
Is it even a stockpile if you don’t have a can of sardines? This humble superfood has enjoyed a global glow-up recently, with wellness nuts claiming a sardine-only diet is a shortcut to great health while the more sane experts praise these little fish for their many genuine benefits. “Sardines are nutritionally dense,” specialist dietitian Nichola Ludlam-Raine told me when I was investigating them earlier this year. “They provide high-quality protein, Omega-3 fats (EPA and DHA), vitamin D, calcium (if bones are included), iodine and B12.”
While these are high quality sardines in olive oil, you can get basic cans for 55p.
I recommend getting in a few tins of coconut milk, but as so many of us are struggling for space, you could save a few inches with coconut cream, which is denser and fattier. Use to add an intense coconutty hit to soups and curries, or dilute with water if you want to use as a replacement for the milk.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Albacore tuna steak in spring water
Pretty pale albacore tuna with a lovely soft texture that I buy again and again. Price-wise, it hits the midpoint between cheap ‘n’ nasty and special occasion, without needing a gallon of mayo to disguise its shortcomings, which plenty of tuna does.
Mutti finely chopped tomatoes
£1.20/400g from Sainsbury’s (Nectar price)
You might have heard people talking about these superior tinned tomatoes and I am a fan. However, given the price, I tend to buy in bulk when there’s a discount and save them to use in dishes where the bright, sweet flavour has a chance to shine, rather than sauces which are simmered for hours.
Waitrose Duchy Organic Chickpeas in water
I did a taste test of chickpeas recently and the Duchy Organic product was my favourite out of all the tinned options. That said, they’re quite expensive compared to some others, and I found the Essential Waitrose at just 55p a tin a worthy buy, too. Unless you actively dislike them, chickpeas are such a useful addition to any stockpile for their versatility. Use in soups, stews and curries, smush on toast with lots of oil and salt or, if things get that bad, they’re tasty straight out of the tin, too.
The British Heart Foundation lists baked beans as a “surprisingly healthy” tinned food, pointing out that they count as one of our five-a-day and are a good source of plant-based protein and fibre, containing 10g dietary fibre per half tin (200g), which is a third of the recommended daily intake.
Heinz baked beans, the OG, contain 7.5g fibre and 9.5g protein per half can in the no added sugar version. May as well buy in bulk when Tesco has eight tins for £6.50.
Perelló pulses bundle
If you want to upgrade your beans and pulses, Perelló, the Spanish company that brought us the cult olives in a can, recently launched some really tasty chickpeas and butter beans in tins. Cooked in water and salt, they’re then canned in their cooking juices which keeps them fresh and juicy with lots of flavour.
£2.20/400g from Ocado or two for £3
This is the only tinned custard for me! It’s possible there are other brands out there doing a similarly good job with the stuff, but we’d need an actual lockdown for me to find out.
£4.40/115g from The Fish Society
Another space saver, tinned cod liver – fish foie – is exceptionally nutritionally dense, and soft and spreadable just like a pâté.
Del Monte prunes in juice
I know, tinned prunes appear as unglamorous as it gets, more of a medicinal requirement than anything else. But in addition to their well known benefits to one’s bowel movements, they are a beautifully sweet treat to keep in the cupboard and add to porridge or custard.