More flamin' tuna? Yes please!

For a few weeks last month it was near enough impossible to find either tinned foods or toilet rolls in the supermarkets as people had a bit of a pre-lockdown panic and demand massively outstripped supply. Thankfully things (and indeed people) have calmed down a bit now, with both shops and shoppers getting used to the new normal.

Which is a relief, because if you've got a tin of tuna and a toilet roll, plus a lighter and some outdoor space, you've got the basis for an extraordinarily tasty meal. Sound bizarre? Yes it is, but let me explain.

Taking Stock (3)

And finally in the stock cupboard trilogy...the beef stock.

I actually remembered to shake the tin before opening this time, but in this one there seemed to be practically no fat at all to be dispersed. Except, weirdly, for this one yellowish clump, about the size of a bean, floating near the surface:

Taking Stock (2)

Next up from my stock cupboard...the chicken stock.

Taking Stock (1)

After my last post, I'm going to try not to dwell too much on the current Corona-situation, as distractions from the news are always welcome at times like this. It may still be the starting point for a post - and that is the case this time, I'm afraid - but I promise I'll get onto the tins as quickly as I can.

In recent days many people will have been paying more attention to the food they have at home, making use of what's in their cupboards and hopefully restricting new purchases to what they really need. Now is certainly a good time for a bit of a sort-out - I have had a couple of very productive and strangely therapeutic afternoons taking everything out of my various cupboards, noting down what I've got, what needs using up first, removing anything that has gone too far past its best and putting everything else back in a more orderly fashion.

It's a good thing there isn't a law that we all have to declare publicly the contents of our kitchen cupboards though, as anyone looking at mine would probably accuse me of mass stock-piling of tins. As it happens, I've not actually bought any since the coronavirus situation kicked off - I've just been slowly amassing them over the years this blog has been in existence, but not really using them up at the same rate. So, there are quite a lot of them. To the extent that having found myself with good supplies of some of the more standard tinned items (tomatoes, chickpeas etc), I took a few a long to the local foodbank collection so that someone who's really in need at this time can hopefully benefit from them.

The more unusual items I have held onto, and will do my best to work my way through over the coming weeks. Some tins I have little memory of buying, and/or are already well past their use-by dates. For example, while doing my stock-take, I discovered that I had not one, not two, but three tins of, errr, stock: fish, chicken and beef, from the John Lusty brand. All were very much out-of-date, but in my defence, they probably were when I bought them, as I think I got them at the posh food shop nearby, where everything is so overpriced that I very rarely buy anything that's not in their bargain box and hence nearing its best before date.