Simple & Quick Dishes You can Make with Bulk Canned Foods
If you are planning to surprise your family with some unique dishes and check your pantry to find numerous canned items like canned vegetables, canned fruits, and canned non-vegetarian items like anchovies and salmon. You might be surprised that you can make various dishes using these canned items, and some of these dishes can be relatively healthy.
One of the primary reasons for this is that canned products often have ingredients like soy, salt, and oil already added to it. So you don’t need to add these ingredients separately.
Say, for instance, you are in the habit of using canned olives in your food. It would help if you tried using the liquid in which the olives have seeped as a salad dressing. This liquid often has the essential vitamins and minerals used to be a part of the olives, which you lose when you discard the liquid.
So when you scatter olives on your salad, drizzle some of the liquid in which the olives seeped. This will ensure that the minerals and vitamins permeated into the liquid become a part of the salad. So you get the wholesome goodness of olives. The same applies to other canned food items.
Quick Dishes to Make with Canned Foods
Some of the dishes that you can easily make using canned food items are as follows:
1 Quick and Easy Sticky Rice
Rice dishes are one of the most versatile and filling food items. You can enjoy it as a part of your lunch or your dinner. If you have canned vegetables lying in your pantry, this is the primary ingredient you require to make your sticky rice.
The other main thing that you need is, of course, rice! Usually, amateur cooks are often concerned when it comes to cooking sticky rice. But this is one of the easiest dishes to cook. So if you are cooking sticky rice for two, then you will require:
- 1 cup of rice
- 1 can of frozen vegetables
- 1 cup of Soy sauce
- Salt
- 5 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Honey
- ½ tbsp Grated ginger
- ½ tsp Garlic powder
- Sesame oil
- Cornstarch
In a saucepan, heat soy sauce sugar, salt, honey, ginger, and garlic. When the whole mixture reduces to half, add the cornstarch slurry, and continue to heat. This forms your Teriyaki sauce. Now boil your rice separately as you would usually do. If you are using canned vegetables, you need to discard the liquid and strain them well.
If you are using frozen vegetables, then thaw them. After that, gently stir fry the vegetables in sesame oil. Add some Teriyaki sauce, and your base for the sticky rice is ready. When your rice is perfectly boiled and well-cooked, add the vegetables to the rice, and your sticky rice with canned vegetables is ready.
2 Black Bean Burritos
Another item that you can get in the market is canned black beans, which can be used in making Mexican food like burritos. You can also use store-bought tortillas to make the burritos if you don’t want to make the tortillas from scratch.
However, as you did with the canned vegetables with the black beans, you need to discard the liquid in which the beans were steeped.
Once you have stained and rinsed the beans, set these aside. In a skillet, heat some oil and add finely chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic, and jalapenos. Usually, the tortillas’ stuffing is quite versatile, and if you like, you can make your additions and even add items like chicken or cheese.
When the tortilla stuffing is ready, you need war tortilla bases. It would help if you placed the bean stuffing in the middle of the tortillas and roll the burrito. This is not only a healthy but also a comparatively cheap food item that you can make with the help of canned black beans.
3 Potato Side Dishes
A side dish of potatoes can uplift your lunch or dinner completely. If you have canned potatoes in bulk, you can consider serving baked potatoes as a side dish. If you are thinking of serving a dish that primarily consists of potatoes, you can consider making any one of the following:
- Caramelized baked potatoes
- Spicy mashed potatoes
- Sliced potato gratin
- Golden potatoes
Each of these dishes is easy to cook and can be made with canned potatoes. Take, for example, caramelized baked potatoes. For this, all you need is a jar of tinned potatoes, which have been strained and cleaned.
After that, you need to bake the potatoes in the oven until they are well-cooked.
Take the potatoes out of the oven and let these cool a bit. Heat a skillet and heat some oil. Put some garlic in the oil, gently toss the baked potatoes, now add the sugar, and caramelize the potatoes. Garnish the potatoes with a sprinkling of thyme to give added flavor.
If you want to make mashed potatoes, you started with the canned potatoes you have baked in the oven. Mash these potatoes well and add the spices that you like in them. Heat some butter in a skillet and add the mashed potatoes.
Add salt and sugar to taste. You can also add some milk to make the mashed potatoes smoother and give it a creamy texture. All of these can be eaten with a side of rice or meat.
Conclusion
Thus, canned food can prove to be an excellent substitute for the original food items, especially if you want to avoid the hassle of cutting and chopping the vegetables. You will also not be compromising the taste and integrity of the vegetables by using the canned version of the products.
