Forget Beef — Reinvent This Old-School Struggle Meal Using Bread, Canned Tuna, And Basic Ingredients

We're living through an era where beef prices, even for ground beef, continue going through the roof. Times like these are when so-called struggle meals come into play, and one old-school version involves creamed meat over bread. While chipped or ground beef was a popular option for the dish in the mid-20th century, another old-school version is creamed tuna on toast. For many folks, this dish may take them immediately back to either a nostalgic childhood dish, or a reminder of tough times. Either way, it's a struggle meal that's actually pretty delicious.

Creamed tuna on toast is a deliberately simple construction, and the recipe was a popular midcentury solution for anyone who needed a quick, cheap meal. But the history is a little more complex. One obvious precursor was creamed chipped or ground beef on toast, a popular Depression-era family meal and served to the U.S. Army during both world wars. World War II GIs nicknamed the dish SOS (stuff or s*** on a shingle), and it fed a generation of Americans during and following the war.

But creamed, canned fish predates the Depression. According to an article in the Berkshire Eagle, at the beginning of the 20th century, canned salmon was more popular and cheaper than tuna. In New England, a creamed dish called salmon pea wiggle, often served on bread or crackers, was (and is) popular. As was the case where tuna melts evolved from hot sardine sandwiches, canned tuna took the spotlight from salmon in the 1940s and '50s thanks to changing fishing technology and aggressive marketing, and creamed tuna on toast soon became all the rage.

Classic creamed tuna is made in a single saucepan and isn't much of a departure from the WWI Army recipe for chipped beef on toast, beyond the protein choice. You start by creating a roux with butter and flour on the stove, before adding in chilled milk. Seasoned with salt and pepper, this becomes the cream sauce. Toss in the drained tuna, breaking it up, simmering and stirring until everything is nice and hot. Set a couple of slices of toasted bread on a plate and pour the sauce over it.

While there's not a lot that needs to be done to this old-school dish, there are a few ways you can tweak it. Adding seasonings beyond salt and pepper is an easy first choice. Paprika and herbs de Provence both work here (the Army topped its version with parsley). One of the more common additions is baby green peas (canned or frozen work), tossed in to heat up with the tuna. 

You can also try swapping out ingredients. In place of white bread, slice up baguettes and toast them with butter in a frying pan, or melt shredded cheese on top of the bread before smothering it with the cream-and-fish sauce. You can also change out canned tuna for something like canned salmon or Wild Planet smoked mackerel for a bit more flavor. Or go super old-school with the WWI "Manual for Army Cooks" Recipe 251 and blend evaporated milk with beef stock for a unique umami flavor in the cream sauce.