Getting canny with kids: cooking with tins

By this point of the summer break, budgets for food and entertainment are dwindling – and that’s before the cost of living crisis.

Love Canned Food and parent and TV Chef, Dean Edwards, have teamed up to showcase just how much money and time can be saved when using canned ingredients, especially for speedy lunches.

“Canned food offers loads of opportunity to engage kids in cooking, save money and entertain them at a time when they have a lot of pent up energy!” says Edwards. “It’s time to get canny with your kids.”

By switching to canned food, shoppers can save on average 50p per item in baskets. Plus, by choosing canned fruit, veg, beef and fish shoppers can save £656 a year^[3], all ideal for bulking up lunches, making them go further.

Edwards has a whole host of canned tips and recipes to keep mealtimes as easy as possible during the holidays.

Involve the kids

“Taking little ones through the whole process of creating a meal is a great way to keep them entertained for longer. Starting with deciding on a recipe or finding the perfect one online, then writing down the shopping list to help with writing and organisational skills. Going to the supermarket to count every ingredient into the trolley and then onto making the recipe from start to finish. You’ll see a lot of satisfaction from them when they’re being served their own dish! I guarantee they will be more likely to enjoy the meal if they feel they have played their part in the process. Plus, thanks to the pre-preparation many canned products need little to no cooking or preparation before serving so it’s not lots of work for those little hands.”

Think about applicances

“Tweaking the way you cook is a great way to save money too.  By opting to cook with energy efficient smart appliances like microwaves, air fryers and slow cookers, you may keep energy bills low and easier to manage. Canned foods actually come out cheaper on energy bills, as it costs just 1p when using either an electric hob or a microwave compared to 10p for frozen food and 13p for fresh^[5], thanks to the canning process”.

Cook for more than a day

“Bulk cooking is ideal for the school holidays; it means you are not required to cook from scratch every day. Planning is key and make sure to bulk out meals with ingredients that are already sat in your store cupboard. Adding an extra can of food here and there can really make meals go further and bulk up as an extra lunchtime meal on the go during the holidays – canned fish, fruit, pulses, and beans are perfect for this.”

How to get more nutritious

“Adding an extra can of protein such as tuna, or canned fruit, or vegetables into lunchtime recipe is the easiest way to add extra goodness into children’s meals. By adding an extra vegetable or fruit into a dish this will add extra vitamins, nutrients, or another of their five a day into their diets and keep them fuller for longer.”

Love Canned Food and Dean Edwards have created a range of well-balanced lunchtime meals for the whole family, using canned ingredients. Allowing consumers to feel full with less money spent, when opting for canned food, you can find a selection here.

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