Rethought tinned fish after a $3 can of mackerel changed my weeknight dinners

I always figured cheap tinned fish was just cat food, but one $3 can of mackerel in tomato sauce over rice beat my usual $12 takeout and now I keep three cans in the pantry, so what's your go-to budget protein that you initially wrote off?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy_park7622d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, is that a typo or did you really mean tinned fish tastes better than takeout? Because that's a bold claim after eating it once, but honestly I get it. My version of that was canned corned beef, I swore it was just salty garbage until I tried frying it with potatoes and onions one desperate night. Now I keep a stash for when I'm too tired to think, and it's not gourmet but it hits the spot in a way that a $15 delivery burger never does. I also started adding a splash of vinegar to the canned fish thing, cuts the tin flavor right out if you're sensitive to it. So yeah, cheap pantry stuff can surprise you, but I still side-eye anyone who says it replaces the real takeout experience every single time.

willow_garcia22d agoMost Upvoted

The vinegar trick is a game changer, I do the same with canned sardines and it makes them feel way less sad. But yeah, "better than takeout" is a stretch unless we're talking about that one greasy place that always gets your order wrong. Cheap pantry stuff wins on convenience, not on taste, and I think we all know it deep down.

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