This Trader Joe's Canned Item Is The Be-All And End-All Of Convenience Foods

My search for foods to prepare quickly and eat on the go, if needed, usually ends up at Trader Joe's. A few years ago, the company introduced four Greek-style recipes to the canned goods section. While all of them are convenient, tasty, and, thankfully, shelf-stable, one has become my favorite. That's Giant Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce, which is a version of gigantes plaki, a Greek food everyone should try at least once. The other three — Greek Chickpeas with Cumin and Parsley, Dolmas, and Grecian Style Eggplant with Tomatoes & Onions — are all good, but I don't think the dolmas and eggplant have a lot of fiber or protein per serving, and the Greek chickpeas contain oil that tends to congeal into a globby mass.

None of that exists with the baked beans — the oil doesn't congeal and I think the dish has a decent amount of fiber and protein. Each 9.6-ounce can technically contains 2.5 servings, but I've eaten an entire can's contents in one sitting plenty of times. The beans are also the cheapest of the four options at $2.29. The cans are shaped like pucks, sort of like large tuna cans, which make them very easy to stack, and the pop top means I don't need to drag a can opener out of the depths of a drawer. If I'm in a rush, all I have to do is open the can and dig in.

This product wins in terms of convenience. You can eat it hot, cold, by itself, with pasta, rice, or salad, or mashed and spread on bread or a tortilla. The beans take only a few minutes in a covered pan on the stove to warm up, too. More than a few people online have suggested mixing them with scrambled eggs, and I'm sure you could toss a few meatballs in with the beans. Baked beans in tomato sauce are great for a fast meal, emergency pantry food stockpiles, a packed lunch for work, meals for meatless Mondays, and just about everything else.

Note that the beans by themselves aren't a nutritionally complete protein. They do have some protein, fiber, carbs, and fat from the oil in the recipe. However, they don't contain complementary grain or meat to provide all of the essential amino acids you need in your diet. (Not enough people know about this protein rule.) And you should keep an eye on the best-by date if you're buying these for a pantry stockpile. I've gotten a lot of cans where the best-by date was about a year out. So, you'll have time, but don't plan on storing these for several years. Instead, buy newer cans and rotate older cans out.