11 Best Ready-To-Eat Canned Foods

There are times when a hot meal, or even a fresh, refrigerated one, is out of the question. Maybe you're going camping and you won't have access to a heat source, or perhaps the power goes out and you don't have a way to cook or keep your perishable food cold. That's when canned food comes in handy. Unfortunately, a lot of canned foods have to be heated up, or they just don't taste very good. There are some exceptions, though, like the products featured on this list.

These are some of the best ready-to-eat canned foods that can be eaten directly out of the can, with no heating or other prep necessary. Of course, if you have a few extra ingredients on hand, you can make them even more delicious, but if you don't, you'll still have something to eat that tastes good. Keep some of these stashed at the back of your pantry just in case you ever need a snack or a meal that'll come together with basically no prep at all.

There are a lot of canned bean brands out there that are exceedingly dull. Since they aren't a completely prepared food by themselves, it's not enjoyable to eat them straight out of the can. And even when it comes to some types of seasoned beans, like refried beans, heating is required to make sure that they're as tasty as possible.

But Siete's Vegan charro beans are an exception. These are honestly some of the best canned beans I've ever eaten, with a texture that feels like you made them fresh. They come in a flavorful sauce made with onions and chipotle, the latter of which lends the beans a subtle smokiness that adds richness and complexity to the beans. You can eat them with tortilla chips if you want to incorporate some crunch into the food, but honestly, they're so delicious that you can just grab a spoon and eat them directly out of the can and call it a meal.

Canned beans don't have to be boring, and Trader Joe's giant baked beans in tomato sauce are proof. These cannellini beans are huge, ensuring that every bite is satisfying. But what makes this canned good stand out from other options is the sauce. It's a tomato sauce, yes, but it's more oil-based than tomato-based. That oiliness lends a ton of flavor to the beans and gives them a texture that you won't find in plain canned beans.

These beans are perfect for serving alongside fresh veggies on a particularly hot summer day when you don't feel like cooking, and since the oil thins out the sauce, you don't even have to heat them up to make them taste good. It's a great option to have on hand for times when you won't be able to cook, but you still want a canned main course that's enjoyable all on its own.

Canned bread may sound strange to the uninitiated, but it's one of the best canned products to have on hand if you're trying to eat right from the can. B&M original brown bread doesn't necessarily taste like bread you'd buy from the bakery section of your local grocery store. Texture-wise, it's quite dense and moist. It's more like a moist cake than a bread, but that's part of what makes this stuff so appealing.

It's made with molasses, which gives it a complex, slightly sweet flavor that tastes great when paired with coffee. Admittedly, it may not be the most delicious bread you've ever tasted, but it's completely ready to eat from the can, and it has that nice moistness to it. Overall, it's a versatile canned product to have on hand. If you want a touch of extra sweetness in your brown bread, choose the variety that comes with raisins.

If there's one vegetable-centric canned product you have to try on this list, it has to be these Embasa carrots in escabeche. If you ask me, they're one of the best canned vegetable products on the market, particularly if you like spicy food. These pickled carrots are prepared with onions and jalapeños in a vinegar sauce that infuses them with a ton of flavor. The result is a crunchy, savory, and spicy snack, side dish, or salad topper that'll make you rethink how you approach canned vegetables in your kitchen.

I'm not usually a big fan of carrots, but these ones in escabeche are so good that I can eat an entire can all on their own in a single sitting and still crave more. Of course, if you want to pair these carrots with other dishes, you can use them in a variety of ways, including as a topping for sandwiches and hot dogs; they also make for a healthy, savory snack that you can always keep stocked in your pantry.

There are times when you may be limited to canned foods but still want to get some meat into your diet, and that's when these Grace hot and spicy chicken Vienna sausages come in handy. Sure, canned meat may have the reputation of being salty and ultra-processed (and that's certainly the case when it comes to these Vienna sausages), but that doesn't mean they can't be tasty. And although Spam gets most of the love on the canned meat front, I happen to think hot and spicy chicken Vienna sausages are worth trying as well.

Basically, these taste like mildly flavored hot dogs. They're not too spicy, but they have extra flavor you won't get from the plain variety. You can pair them with a slice of bread for a hot dog-like situation, but you can also eat them directly from the can with a fork for a salty snack. The texture is nice and soft, with a creaminess you might not expect from meat. They may not be for everyone, but if you're already a hot dog lover, there's a good chance that you'll like these as well.

Opting for canned foods doesn't mean you can't include fruit in your diet. Whether you're just trying to save money or you want to keep some shelf-stable fruit on hand, canned peaches have you covered. I like these Del Monte sliced peaches in 100% juice. A lot of canned peaches come packed in a super thick, sugary syrup, which makes them taste more candy-adjacent than like actual fresh fruit. Picking these juice-packed peaches instead gives you a more natural flavor.

The canned texture is different from their fresh counterparts, but not necessarily in a bad way. They're much softer and don't have a lot of the typical fibrous material you'll find in the fresh variety. That softness, though, makes these canned peaches easy to eat, and their fruity flavor helps you feel refreshed and hydrated, just like you might feel after eating a fresh peach.

There are plenty of different canned tuna brands to choose from, but Cento is one of the best. The most important factor is how this tuna is packed. Oftentimes, you'll find canned tuna packed in water, which may be the worst way to enjoy this protein-packed snack. When tuna is stored in water, it takes on a particularly fishy flavor that's not appealing, especially when it's eaten on its own. 

When packed in good-quality olive oil (as is the case with Cento's canned tuna), the fish takes on a richer flavor profile and keeps its original texture, meaning you get a flavorful bite that doesn't need anything to accompany it.

Canned tuna is best enjoyed when it's combined with other ingredients, like in a tuna salad. But if you're going to eat it all on its own, Cento is the way to go. It might just make you think about this affordable protein source in a whole new light.

This one may not be for everyone, but hear me out: Chef Boyardee's Beefaroni (the best of all the Chef Boyardee products out there) doesn't taste bad cold, straight out of the can. In fact, I'll go even further to say that Chef Boyardee's Beefaroni tastes pretty good like that. The pasta is soft, and the sauce that comes in has a tomato-forward flavor while delivering the salty, umami quality you'd want in a beef-based pasta dish. And once you stir it up (in the can, even), you'll find that the ingredients don't separate.

A lot of the other products on this list are essentially just ingredients, but this Beefaroni is meant to function as a meal all on its own. Therefore, it may be one of the more filling options on the list if you're trying to eat an entire meal from a can. It may not be the most gourmet dish, but it tastes good and will keep you full until the next time you can enjoy hot food again.

I love shopping at Trader Joe's because there are so many products you can find that can be enjoyed straight out of the packaging, just as they are. And one of the most delicious of those products is Trader Joe's Greek chickpeas with parsley and cumin. It's the best canned bean option you'll find at the popular grocer, thanks largely to its ultra-flavorful marinade. These beans come soaked in olive oil seasoned with a hearty dose of cumin and parsley, which makes them shine all on their own, with nothing else added. They also have a nice touch of acidity that counteracts all the fattiness you'll find in the olive oil.

After you drain a bit of the oil out of the can, you can eat these chickpeas alone. They have a dense, firm texture to them, along with plenty of salt, so you don't need any seasonings. Enjoy them as a quick and easy lunch, or serve them alongside a big salad on a night when you don't want to heat up your kitchen.

Chicken breast is a good source of protein, and because it has such a neutral flavor, it can be added to just about any meal. But if you're like most people, then you probably don't have time to make chicken breast from scratch all the time. That's when canned chicken can come in handy. Yes, it may not have quite the same texture as fresh chicken breast, but it's close enough that it'll fulfill your poultry craving when you don't have the time or availability to cook.

When it comes to canned chicken, I prefer Swanson's white premium chunk chicken breast. It has a nice saltiness, which means you don't have to add any other ingredients to make it taste good. It also breaks down easily if you want to have more of a shredded chicken situation instead of full-on chunks. Just make sure you drain out the extra liquid before you dig in, as that chicken water isn't great when you eat it cold and from the can.

There are a lot of so-so canned salmon brands out there, but Wild Planet is not one of them. And if you don't mind paying a bit of extra money for premium canned salmon, then you have to check out the brand's wild sockeye salmon. It's on the pricier end of the spectrum, especially compared to most of the other products on this list, but that's because you are getting a high-quality piece of salmon with this product.

Open up the can, and it looks like a real piece of fish inside. The meat is nice and flaky with a salty taste. The flavor is a bit more concentrated and complex than that of fresh salmon, which makes for a more interesting flavor profile than what you'll find in a lot of other canned fish products out there.

I chose products based on their ability to be eaten cold, directly from the can, without any additional ingredients needed to make them taste better. I prioritized products that had a decent texture (not too soft or "canned-tasting") along with a flavor that was complex and seasoned enough to enjoy on its own. Although not all the products listed are conventionally served at room temperature without heating, they all taste good even without reheating.