Canned food is magical. It lasts years, it is integral to so many recipes, and it is often great for snacking. And because everyone has their delicious go-to canned favorites, we took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to ask if you can tell us about your favorite canned foods and which can of canned food you can candidly consume with glee. In other words, we asked you to name “three canned foods you can’t live without.” And let me tell you, y’all suggested so many great foods that, candidly, we wanted to canonize the best canned foods right here and now in this list of the must-have canned foods according to you.
- The Wet, Salty Snacks
“Garbanzo beans! Refried beans! Black olives for snacking!” —@Annaliesehippo
To be honest, I would 100% snack on any of these things, not just the olives. Read the full rankings of the best black olives & the best green olives
- The CAN Have Your Dessert and Eat It Too
“Lemon pie filling, blueberry pie filling, sweetened condensed milk!” —@Roserietta
I honestly forgot canned pie filling was a thing and now I need to go buy some lemon pie filling and eat it on vanilla ice cream, stat. Read the full ranking of the best pie crust
- The Double ‘Kraut
“Sauerkraut, sauerkraut, various legumes.” —@anxiouspadthai
Sauerkraut—the kraut so good @anxiouspadthai mentioned it twice. And legumes are good too, I guess. Read the full ranking of the best sauerkraut
- The Mixed Bag (er…can?)
“Corned beef hash, Pineapple, Corn.” —@RStruckus
I know @RStruckus probably meant all of these things to be consumed separately, but for some reason, they all seem like they would be great together in a kind of wrong Al Pastor situation. Am I broken? Read the full ranking of the best corned beef hash
- The SPAM, Beans, and Milk
“Spam…refried beans…evaporated milk” —@_idkid
Breakfast of champions? Read the full ranking of the best refried beans
- The Pescatarian Mixed Bag
“Tuna fish, mushrooms, and Thanksgiving cranberry jelly” —@a_m_d_49
All of these things are great—10/10. More people need to eat cranberry sauce straight. Read the full ranking of the best canned tuna
- The Tomato ExtravaCANza
“Tomato sauce, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes” —@gpsinwonderland
I say “tomato,” @gpsinwonderland says “MORE TOMATOES!” and I respect the hell out of it. Read the full ranking of the best canned tomatoes
- The Spaghetti-Oh-Yeah
“Spaghettios, Black olives, Spaghettios again” —@ectofive
This person loves SpaghettiOs and honestly, I love that for them. More people need to love SpaghettiOs. Read the full rankings of the best black olives
- The Soup to Veggies
“Soup, Spinach, Corn” —@TawneyBeans
I mean, no notes. These are all very solid canned things. Especially if you buy cream of mushroom soup. Then it is both literally and figuratively solid. Read the full ranking of the best canned soup from our taste tests
- The “All My Favorite Pizza Toppings”
“Black olives, pineapple, cranberry” —@TooCreateBeyond
I would love all of these on a pizza. Is that crazy? Yes. So crazy it just might work. Read the full ranking of the best frozen cheese pizzas
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!