Stretch Your Food Dollar: Canned Good Creations
An article in yesterday’s New York Times made me smile. Food companies are shifting the focus of their advertisements and trying to convince consumers that convenience foods can help families stretch their food dollars. According to the article:
Kraft and Nestlé, which make those products, are among the growing ranks of marketers playing up the perceived value of packaged foods. They are seeking to capitalize on the opportunity presented by consumers’ dining out less.
But shoppers eager to save money are trading down from full-price, brand-name fare to cheaper private labels and store brands. That means advertisers concerned about losing market share must make persuasive arguments about the value propositions of their wares.
If you’re a Queercents regular, you’re probably already doing this yourself. Your pantry is most likely stocked with store-brand canned goods and bulk varieties of dried goods like beans and pasta. Hopefully you’ve started putting a little extra aside for a rainy day. You probably even rotate canned fruits and veggies into your weekly menu to keep your stock up to date. If not, here are a few recipe suggestions to help you get in the habit.
Canned Beans
Try mixing up canned green beans, kidney beans, and corn. Season with a little bit of olive oil or butter, some Mrs. Dash, and you’re set. You could serve this hot or cold. Personally, I like it cold. You could even substitute the corn with fresh bell pepper if you’ve got one. Or you could swap out different kinds of beans for the variety factor.
Chili is really easy to make with canned beans. Yes, I know . . . it’s cheaper if you use dried beans. But sometimes you forget to soak your beans the night before, or you get home late from work and you need to make dinner in a hurry. Canned beans are the perfect solution. If you have 2-3 types of beans and some tomato sauce in your pantry, you’re in business. Season with a little chili powder and some chopped and sauteed onions and dinner is ready.
Canned Fruit
I like my green salads to have a little bit of fruit. Canned Mandarin oranges are the best! I also like dried cranberries, raisins or dates. For the Mandarin oranges, I just put them with my salad greens, some almond slivers (which I always have in my pantry), and crispy Asian noodle. I make my own sesame seed dressing, but every store seems to have its own brand.
Carrot and raisin salad is another one of my favorites. Grate up some carrots, add about a handful (or more) of raisins, some canned pineapple, a handful of cashews, and enough mayonnaise to just moisten the salad. This salad actually gets better in the fridge, because the flavors have a chance to mingle.
One of the downsides to using canned vegetables is that the salt content is usually pretty high. So just be conscious of this as you cook your food and season with a light hand. Canned veggies also have a tendency to taste a little different than the frozen varieties. But as you can see, the trick is to mix them in with fresh ingredients.
I hope these simple recipes inspire you to start stocking your pantry. If you’ve got a recipe for a canned good creation that you’d like to share, I’m all ears!
Hey,
If you are really concerned about the sodium content of canned veggies then drain and rinse them. This simple act will remove 25-35% of the sodium. That should at least help some.
Good point, Candirn.
Serena: I never used frozen vegetable until I met Jeanine. She taught me how to doctor up canned soup (e.g. chicken noodle or chicken and rice) with frozen peas or frozen spinach.
Actually, frozen peas are an excellent stand in for the fresh variety and I’ve never heard anyone complain about skipping the tedious task of extracting those little buggers from their pods.
just make sure you don’t misplace the can opener 🙂
I really like this Stretch Your Food Dollar Series because I love cooking and hate spending or wasting 🙂 I stock up every six months at a local supermarket’s canned good sale extravaganza (anyone else familiar with the Shop Rite Can-Can sale?). Although a lot of items go on deep sale, I mostly buy tomatoes, beans, and veggies at $0.50 a can, and fondly remember the grad school days of $0.33 a can.
As for recipes:
A shortcut pasta fagioli based on canned goods: 2 drained cans cannellini with one partially drained can of diced tomatoes (preferably petite cut) over sauteed onions and garlic with Italian seasoning. Excellent on its own over pasta and/or with carrots, spinach, or other healthy veggies, canned or fresh, added in.
Mediterranean bean salad (a takeoff of balela): 1 can each of rinsed black beans and chickpeas mixed with diced tomatoes & cucumber, olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice, and parsley and mint. Excellent on its own or served over couscous or bulgur. I usually buy the herbs at a farmers market for the first batch of salad, then run them through the food processor with olive oil and freeze the mixture into cubes for future salads.
Black bean salsa: 1 can each of rinsed black beans and whole kernel corn mixed with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and cilantro.
Hummus: blend 1 rinsed can chickpeas pureed in the food processor with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and cumin. Can throw some jarred red peppers in there too for variety.
Marinara sauce: 1 28 oz. can tomato puree or crushed tomatoes, depending on if you like it chunky, 1 small can tomato paste, mixed well and slow simmered with sauteed onions and garlic with basil and oregano. I will sometimes add a cube of red wine (frozen from other recipes) or a cube of pesto in too.
Kim, I’m glad you like the series! Thanks for sharing your recipes. I am a HUGE fan of hummus. Instead of canned chickpeas, I like to use green lentils. My partner is allergic to chickpeas (how the heck does that happen), so I developed an alternative. It has higher protein, and it tastes just as good.