Have you ever been slaving over a burger on the grill and wished that
you could just pull one out of a can? Well, believe it or not, canned cheeseburgers
actually exist, and they were even kind of popular once upon a time.
It's no secret that boxed mac and cheese is a pantry staple in the United States.
In fact, nearly 9 million Americans chowed down on five or more boxes per month in 2020.
Incredibly, mac and cheese has been around since the 1700s,
though Kraft is credited with popularizing the dish. Processed cheese made it possible
to box it up, making for an affordable and fast option for working-class families.
While boxed mac and cheese is popular on this side of the pond,
the United Kingdom has gotten its cheesy fix from a tin can instead. Both the boxed
and canned versions tend to be low-cost and convenient. But even though brands like Heinz
and Chef Boyardee have brought canned mac to the U.S., it hasn't really caught on over here.
SpaghettiOs were once a staple of the American childhood.
While it's still available in supermarkets today, it seems to have lost its luster.
This could in part be due to changing attitudes towards red meat. In October 2015, for example,
the World Health Organization identified processed meat, including hot dogs, as a Group 1 carcinogen.
Nevertheless, you'll still find no shortage of hot dogs at ball games and in your local
grocery store's cold case. And you can also still find classic SpaghettiOs with Franks.
This version features the brand's signature slippery O-shaped pasta in tomato sauce
topped with bite-sized slices of hot dogs, which are made with chicken, pork, and beef.
Kids are still eating them, even if the frank version has lost some traction in recent years.
Unless you were snacking on pudding cups back in the 70s,
odds are you don't miss this next entry, as you probably didn't even realize it ever existed.
Canned pudding snack packs didn't just become less popular. Instead,
they were replaced with upgraded packaging, designed to avoid cutting lips and fingers.
The Hunt's Snack Pack was first introduced in 1968
after the brand developed a shelf-stable milk pudding.
Suddenly, those looking for a sweet treat didn't have to spend an hour slaving over a hot stove
stirring up a thick pudding. Hunt's also created a mascot: a friendly talking horse named Snack Pack.
"Snack Pack! My brother loves your delicious dessert,
but he can't open the can right." "Here's how you do it: slowly now!"
But within just a few years, the dangerous cans were replaced with plastic cups,
similar to those still in use today. Flash-forward a few decades when an episode of the Netflix show
Stranger Things featured the throwback snack, and fans demanded a release of the vintage packaging.
So who knows? Maybe one day shoppers will be able to relive those halcyon days.
When you think about canned food, you probably don't think of cheeseburgers. In fact,
we'd imagine that a juicy patty between two buns might just be the last food you'd ever expect to
find in a can. These backyard barbecue staples may be quick and simple to prepare, but placing
them on a shelf for months on end likely doesn't sound very appetizing to most burger fiends.
But this hasn't stopped manufacturers from canning entire cheeseburgers, toppings and all.
While a variety of canned cheeseburgers are available today, they're mainly found on the
internet and appear to be aimed at hikers and preppers. So they're not exactly popular among
your average college students looking to save some money on their next dorm room chow down.
Chicken can certainly be found as an ingredient in canned foods.
Campbell's Classic Chicken Noodle Soup is one of the most popular canned soups on the market today,
after all. But even with this in mind, you may be shocked
to learn that you can also buy canned chicken without the noodles and broth.
Whole chicken in a can is largely a pantry food of yesteryear. There isn't a lot
of easily accessible information about the history of this oddity,
but as with many canned foods, it was likely a product of the Great Depression.
During this time, low-cost, easy-to-prepare canned foods became a staple in many American diets.
Canned chicken is still popular today, but an entire chicken in a can
isn't something you're terribly likely to see on a grocery store shelf.
Although, if you're dying to give it a try, you can still find an option on the web.
"You're just a chicken. Cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep."
While the first evidence of tamales dates back to
8,000 B.C., the history of this tasty corn husk-wrapped dish in the United States
began in the mid-1800s on the West Coast. In cities near the border with Mexico,
such as San Antonio and Los Angeles, street vendors peddling tamales became so common
that they were often considered a nuisance. As a result, officials tried to ban them.
Today, street vendors selling fresh tamales are far less common.
While you'll still find them on the menus of Mexican restaurants across the nation,
you might have to head to your local grocery store if you're looking to quickly satisfy your tamale
craving. Cooking tamales from scratch takes a lot of time and a lot of skill to get right.
Microwavable tamales simplify the process, and theoretically so does the canned version.
Canned tamales were first created in the early 1900s,
and while they're still available today, they're a rare sight.
This is likely because of the widespread availability of frozen and fresh alternatives.
Similar to tamales, boiled peanuts got their start as a popular food hawked by street vendors.
Unlike those corn husk-wrapped Mexican snacks, though, boiled peanuts continue to be sold fresh
and hot at roadside stands, gas stations, and convenience stores across the American South.
Nowadays, boiled peanuts at a wedding would no doubt be seen as a trendy touch or
the sign of a laid-back couple. But believe it or not, they were a common dish served at high
society parties, especially during August and September when peanuts are harvested.
The popularity of this salty snack, as well as its short shelf life,
may be what inspired manufacturers to can them. However, the trend hasn't caught on with the same
vigor as its fresh cousin. While fresh boiled peanuts are still a regular sight throughout
Georgia, South Carolina, and other Southern states, the canned variety is far less common.
They're available in many different sizes and with added flavors like Southern barbecue
and Jalapeno Garlic, but this is a delicacy that's largely relegated to
die-hard peanut fans rather than your average grocery store shopper.
"Anybody want a peanut?"
Another regional canned food that's never been widely enjoyed in the United States
is brown bread. Canned brown bread, which is available with or without raisins,
is a pantry staple native to the New England area. And unlike some of the other entries on this list,
the canned and fresh varieties enjoy near-equal popularity. Canned bread is
not only convenient and fast, but it's also touted as a delicious sweet treat.
"Wow! They have it! Canned bread!"
B&M is the brand behind this popular bread. The company started in 1867
and canned a variety of meats, seafood, and corn. If you've never had bread from a can, you might
wonder how it's consumed. Don't reach for a spoon after opening your can; instead, you'll need to
open both the top and bottom of the can, then gently shake it until the soft loaf slides out,
ready to be sliced. It's good on its own or topped with spreads like butter, jam, or cream cheese.
While canned brown bread is still available in New England,
it's lost some of its popularity and has never been widely available outside of the region.
Similar to B&M's Brown Bread, this next canned food likely fell out of popularity because it was
largely a regional item. Pepper pot soup has been a staple of Philadelphia for at least a century.
It was once sold by street vendors, as well as in taverns.
There's even a widespread myth that this soup was what helped George Washington
and his troops survive a terrible winter during the Revolutionary War.
And then came along Campbell's, which has long been made in nearby New Jersey. The company cashed
in on Philly's signature soup by canning its own pepper pot soup in 1899. But then sometime in the
mid-1900s, the soup began to fall out of favor. Campbell's continued to produce its version for
several more decades. However, in 2010 — more than 100 years after it was first released — the
company discontinued the product, much to the chagrin of loyal Philadelphia residents.
If you're still dying to try it, though, you can find plenty of copycat recipes online.
The 70s, 80s, and 90s saw a boom in movie tie-ins
with popular food items — particularly junk food. From fast food to soda cans,
popular film characters adorned just about every type of culinary packaging you could
possibly imagine. But some tie-ins were more popular — and more appetizing — than others.
Smurfs Beef Ravioli & Pasta by Chef Boyardee was one of those tie-in products that hasn't
exactly stood the test of time. Fortunately, the popular cartoon characters that decorated
each bright blue can didn't share the same color with the pasta inside. Instead, Chef Boyardee was
simply cashing in on the Smurfs craze that had swept the country in the 80s. While you can still
enjoy canned ravioli by Chef Boyardee today, the Smurfs edition fell out of fashion a while ago.
Several other franchise partnerships have appeared on Chef Boyardee cans over the years,
but this is one that isn't likely to make a comeback any time soon.
"That is freakin' smurf." “Yeah.”
While spray-style cans of Cheese Whiz continue to be a popular, if questionable, pantry item,
other varieties of canned cheese have largely fallen out of favor. But then there's Cougar Gold.
This is a variety of canned cheese that's produced by a creamery owned by Washington
State University. Despite its canned placement, this strange cheese product would be more at
home on a fancy charcuterie board than it would be alongside sprayable cheese.
In the 1940s, a Washington State professor answered the American government's call to
produce cheese that could be better preserved and sent overseas to troops. Before Cougar Gold, the
only option for keeping cheese safe to ship was to dip it in several layers of wax. This process was
unfortunately prone to cracking, which would cause the cheese to spoil. Because bacteria can grow
easily on living foods like cheese and yogurt, simply placing it in a can wasn't an option.
But then Cougar Gold was born. A special bacteria culture is added to this cheese,
which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the can to keep it from blowing out,
thereby preventing bacterial growth. The result is a crumbly cheese that's creamy and milky sweet,
with some gentle sharpness as well. Despite the groundbreaking process behind Cougar Gold,
this cheese hasn't caught on and may be tough to find outside of
Ferdinand's Ice Cream Shoppe at the Washington State University Creamery.
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