A Can of Tuna and a Bunch of Leftover Bits, and I Have Supper on the Table in Minutes

As I mentioned yesterday, I shopped for our Mother's Day brunch while doing the rest of the grocery shopping for the week. What I didn't say was I was using a portion of our week's grocery budget to cover the celebratory brunch. We really enjoyed our meal and don't regret splurging a bit. But it does leave the rest of the week a little more lean than would be normal. No worries. I've got canned tuna in the pantry.

Did you know that the canned tuna industry has only been around since the early 1900s? Prior to this time, the sardines were the canned fish people knew. In 1903, the sardine catch off the coast of California was particularly poor. One forward thinking canner thought to fill his tins with albacore tuna as replacement for the sardines. Canned tuna caught on and folks have been making tuna sandwiches, tuna salads, tuna patties, tuna casseroles, and tuna on toast ever since.

My family loves a handful of ways that I prepare canned tuna. One of our favorites is tuna salad. Tuna salad provides necessary protein as well as some vegetables, at 80 cents per can (WinCo, Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna), tuna salad is budget-friendly, it's quick and easy to make, convenient (as I almost always have a can or two in the pantry), and it's another one of those great leftover absorbers.

In our family, we like to add a variety of extenders and flavor enhancers to canned tuna. 

For extra protein I like to add chopped boiled eggs or rehydrated TVP (textured vegetable protein). For a similar texture to extend a can to feed a couple of people, I also sometimes add cooked brown rice to tuna salad. To add some crunch and good flavor, we like diced bell pepper (red pepper is especially good, but green works too), sweet pickle relish, diced celery, green onions, mayo, and a little bacon or ham if we have it. The bell pepper adds a lot of zip. My daughter came across a hot tuna sandwich from the late 1950s that used diced green bell pepper in the tuna salad. We enjoyed those sandwiches so much that we began adding bell pepper to tuna salad whenever we had some on hand. 

Tonight, as I reached for a can of tuna, I also assessed what leftovers I had in the fridge to use up. I had 2 thin slices of ham (from Sunday brunch), some red and green bell pepper (leftover from Sunday's egg casserole), the end of a jar of sweet and spicy watermelon pickles and its liquid (to substitute for sweet pickle relish), the end of a bundle of celery with lots of leaves, and a ripe avocado. 

I combined diced celery and leaves, diced red bell pepper, diced watermelon pickles, and diced ham with 1 can of tuna, some pickle juice for flavor, and mayo to feed 3 adults. We had our sandwiches open-faced, with a large scoop of tuna salad on homemade whole wheat bread, then topped with diced avocado. On the side I served cubed watermelon and cups of rhubarb jello for dessert.

Our tuna sandwich dinner was perfect for a leaner grocery week. It also was just what I had time to prepare after a busy gardening day.

Key frugal takeaways for tuna salad:

• chunk light tuna is not only the least expensive version of canned tuna, but it's smaller size pieces and flakes work well in tuna salad.
• shop your fridge for crunchy add-ins. Tuna salad is a great medium for wilting celery, or those tops of celery no one wants to snack on fresh, or the last of a bell pepper or cucumber.
• get a big boost of flavor with a small addition of pickle juice (sweet or sour), some bacon bits or ham dices, green onions
• boost protein with chopped boiled eggs, gently mashed garbanzo beans, or TVP
• stretch a single can to feed a few people with the additions of cooked brown rice. Very little flavor and the texture blends well with that of the tuna.

What is your favorite secret ingredient (or ingredients) to add to tuna salad or tuna sandwiches?