I eat both fresh and canned tuna but I don’t think they’re the same at all. But I’ve never made a tuna salad sandwich using fresh tuna, and think there’d be a huge difference in flavor and texture. That’s why, and also WHAT, I’m asking about canned chicken.
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A canned chicken sandwich is going to taste very different than a grilled chicken sandwich. It’s comparing apples and oranges. But that doesn’t make the canned a bad product, just different. It has its own uses. As has been said above, it is very tasty in chicken salad, and would probably do well anywhere you are using a poached chicken.
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I was comparing tuna salad to chicken salad, not grilled chicken. When I make chicken salad I use leftover roasted or grilled chicken but it’s cut into small chunks. Your poached chicken reference is more like what I’d think canned chicken would be like. I suppose not all that different. Next time I’m in a market I’ll buy a can and give it a try.
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The dearth is just my experience. There are exceptions; last year a client gave me two cases of a boutique brand that was very good.
And I’m not a canned tuna snob. I don’t mind StarKist, COTS, etc. in the things you mentioned. But if I’m going to the trouble of doing a nicoise for company, I splurge on good tonno, usually from Italy.
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I can appreciate that, and also tell you I don’t have a single friend who cares as much about good food as I do. They all eat relatively poorly, or mindlessly, or with many restrictions, and seem to find little pleasure in it.
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I was lucky to have been raised on the “Live to Eat” side of the line. Sounds like you were, too.
This is what I find to be sad. We may as well enjoy the pleasures of life.
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Agree that fresh and canned tuna are two very different things. If I’m craving a classic tuna sandwich, I’ll go for canned every time, which is Costco albacore in water. An excellent product to which I’ll add good Mayo, or a bit of olive oil and Greek yogurt. BUT I do keep Italian tuna in olive oil on the shelf for certain things, like salad, or to put out with crackers. I wish it was easier to find, and not so expensive. Hoping that will change soon. Canned chicken is of course different than fresh poached, but still good in it’s own right. (I also like to have a can of red salmon on hand.)
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What, no diced apple, too? Are you some kind or heathen???
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Apparently so, just one of my many flaws lol!
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I agree, and that’s why I use these boards - to find like minded friends. But, and I’ve mentioned this before here, my husband and I speculate based on how poor the prepared foods are at our local coops, that some people find bland, unappetizing food virtuous. Different strokes…
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Bought some Sprouts brand canned organic white meat chicken yesterday and will probably make some chicken salad with it in the next day or so. It was $4.99 for a smallish can, and there’s a convenience factor I guess, but I couldn’t help but flash on the fact that a whole roasted chicken is that same price at Costco.
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Yes, and usually the Costco rotisserie chickens are enormous. Tonight will be meal #3 for us and the dogs from just one such bird.
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Definately a convenience thing, and an emergency prep thing. We live on/near the Cascadia Subduction Zone (earthquake country). Our local government recommends we keep a 90-day supply of food and water, as we’ll be cut off from major urban areas when (not if) The Big One hits. We keep some canned food around, among other things, for that reason. We rotate it out, so nothing gets too old or goes to waste. Thus, we eat canned chicken now and again.
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That’s prudent, and you’d eat better than you would with the dedicatd prepper fare.
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I hear you, Kaleo, but I am not sure I agree about the “better” part.
Cheaper, maybe, but dedicated prepper fare of the freeze dried sort is pretty darned good now and has been for some time. The problem with prepper food is that it is more expensive than canned goods, though it is frequently more interesting and much more shelf stable (20+ years easy) than even canned goods, plus many of the freeze dried foods are more tasty than many canned goods.
I always kept a decent pantry of canned goods, (and a spare 20 lb bag of long grain rice) stacked on shelves by their use by date. Worked well for me until I sold my home this halloween.
The bad news is I had to give a bunch of canned goods away. Good news is it probably did the local food banks a small good turn.
I wish I could afford to store the same amount of freeze dried meals in my pantry, instead of canned foods. Maybe next time I have a house I will fill my pantry with equal amounts of cheap canned goods and dehydrated foods and more expensive but longer lasting freeze dried foods.
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When Covid hit, we changed our ways and got into a bunker survivalist mode. We live out outer Cape Cod and don’t have access to many grocery stores in normal times but canned chicken was a staple for us and it’s truly not bad if incorporated properly.
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Yes, it’s almost hard to remember now that there were times when the shelves of stores even in cities were bare of various essentials. TP. Milk. Meat. Eggs.
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To each his own. I’ve eaten more than my share of freeze-dried “outdoor” food and MREs (I represented a maker of MREs). For various reasons, I’d prefer to keep stocks of canned and dry foods and other conventionally prepared ingredients, and cook from them in myriad combinations, rather than be limited to pre-prepared whole dishes. The Army’s “palatability” sec for my client’s turkey tetrazini MRE contract ran to more than 100 pages, and I think the end product was intended to keep our soldiers fighting mad, not well-fed.
