Canned meats are great in all sorts of recipes, not just as sandwich fillers. Using my canned meat tips, almost any recipe can be adapted to use canned meat. The main difference is that you don’t want to brown the canned meat, and you need to alter the way you prepare the dish so that you add the canned meat as late in the preparation as possible. You’ll find recipes for these meals in our book, The Boat Galley Cookbook.
Use the list below to stir your imagination:
Ham
- Pasta alfredo or pesto
- Ham cakes (basically, crab cakes made with ham)
- Scrambled eggs with ham (good with onions, green peppers, cheese, tomatoes, etc., too)
- Ham loaf
- Ham salad sandwiches
- Pasta primavera
- Jambalaya
- Hobo dinner
- Rice or pasta salad
Chicken or Turkey
- Enchiladas
- Chicken paella
- Stir fry
- Hobo dinner (sauteed with potatoes, carrots and onions)
- Pesto pasta with mushrooms
- Soup
- Pasta primavera
- Chicken or turkey salad sandwiches
- Mexican Chicken Casserole
Tuna
- Tuna cakes (variation on fish cakes)
- Pasta alfredo
- Rice or pasta salad
- Tuna casserole
- Tuna salad sandwiches
Crab
- Crab cakes
- Pasta alfredo (particularly if you get lump meat)
- Stuffed tomatoes
- Crab Rangoon
- Crab dip
Shrimp
- Pasta alfredo
- Shrimp cakes (like crab cakes but made with tiny shrimp)
- Stir fry
- Pasta primavera
- Stuffed tomatoes
- Shrimp paella
- Rice or pasta salad
Corned Beef
- Meat cakes
- Sandwiches (if you can’t refrigerate it and slice it, try mashing it up with some diced onion and ketchup)
Roast Beef
- Chili
- Goulash
- Spanish rice
- Beef enchiladas
- Hobo dinner (saute carrots, potatoes, and onions, add roast beef)
- Stew or soup
- Meat pie
- Sandwiches, hot or cold
- Also good just heated up!
Clams
- Clam chowder
- Linguine with clam sauce
- Paella
Oysters
- Jambalaya
- Oyster stuffing
- Paella
- Pasta with oysters
- Oyster stew
More Ideas from Boaters
Readers have added some good ideas over the years.
Cutting the salt. Canned meat can be salty. Reader Becky drains it, soaks it in fresh water in a salad spinner, then spins it dry or lets it drain. Jackie points out that canning your own meat lets you control the salt; the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (Amazon) has instructions.
Other canned meats to look for. Reader Dave likes Yoder’s canned beef (Amazon), chicken (Amazon), and bacon (Amazon). They come in much larger cans and cost more than supermarket brands. And if you cruise the French islands (St. Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique), Lynn says the grocery shelves are full of good choices, including duck confit.
Ready to Go Further?
Canned meat is one piece of eating well without refrigeration. My book, Storing Food Without Refrigeration, shows how to cook canned meat so it keeps its flavor and texture, plus how to keep fresh produce, eggs, cheese, and more without a fridge, with over 60 main dish ideas.
From The Boat Galley Store
Storing Food Without Refrigeration
Confidently store fresh food and cook real meals without a refrigerator
- Store fruits, vegetables, cheese, eggs, meat, and more so they stay fresh and usable without refrigeration
- Choose foods and quantities with confidence: no more guessing what will spoil first
- Get 60+ meal ideas plus a 4-day sample plan you can follow step by step
- Stop depending on ice, constant grocery runs, or a bigger fridge to eat well
Paperback also available on Amazon
Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey, making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Carolyn Shearlock says
The recipe looks great. Thanks for adding it! I used the Kirkland chicken a lot in Mexico — several stores there carried it — and also liked it.
I’ve just added a recipe for Making Your Own Sour Cream — it’s very simple, the ingredients are easy to find, and they’ll last almost forever.
Carolyn Shearlock says
I’d never heard of them, but I did check out Yoder’s website after reading your comment. Unfortunately, they don’t sell online and don’t list retail outlets other than their own store in Shipshewana, IN. But I did find a couple of places that sell their canned goods online (warning: they’re not cheap):
Camping Survival — they also have canned cheese and butter on the same site.
Amazon also lists the Yoder Canned Beef (https://amzn.to/2NR82c0), Chicken (https://amzn.to/2mQunuD) and Bacon (https://amzn.to/2mTfI1W) but they are all occasionally listed as “unavailable.”
Alex says
Please share other solutions. I just looked at my cans of tuna and salmon, and they have 10% or less than RDA for sodium. That seems very reasonable to me. The canned mushrooms next to them have much more. Not everyone needs to watch their sodium. Personally, as an endurance athlete, I need extra sodium intake. I appreciate these inspirational articles. Also, having made dinner last night with no power due to hurricane, the thought of having canned meat as a backup if it lasted more than a day was comforting.
The Boat Galley says
We enjoyed it too!
Carolyn Shearlock says
I have put links where the recipe is on this site. Almost all the recipes are in The Boat Galley Cookbook and hence not online.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Spam is just ham and spices . . . the name comes from SPiced hAM.
Michael says
SPAM: Stuff Posing As Meat
Wanda says
How do you make barbecue beef out of the commodity beef
Carolyn Shearlock says
I rinse the gravy off and then add some BBQ sauce and heat it up.
Kathy says
My husband & I LOVE corned beef hash. I cut my potatoes in small squares & cook them in butter w/ diced onion. Then add a can of corned beef & I like to get a little crust on the beef too! Yummo for breakfast or any meal!!
With cabbage for dinner!!
Lisa Turk says
We were brought up on Corned Beef Hash. My mother used canned, added canned potatoes diced, onions salt and pepper. Fried till started to brown and made holes in the corned beef. Broke an egg in each hole, covered it till eggs were done to your liking. Also when she made a fresh corned beef, she would chop up the leftovers, add a can of corned beef, a few chopped potatoes and fresh onions. Fried up the same way. I still do her way today. And often. She also would give us this for breakfast. We always put ketchup on it.