Cooking with tins?

I figure I'm too old to worry about additives now, I've eaten huge amounts in my time and the damage is done tinned food is fine by me but I draw the line at turkey twizzlers. BTW I do love a bit of butterscoth angel delight, a lovely bowl of pure chemicals.

I know what you mean about turkey twizzlers!  I bought some once to try. It was like chewing on a giant rubber band!

I thought that was squid although to be fair I am very fond of squid in any form.

Have you ever wondered what part of a turkey's anatomy becomes a "Twizzler"?

Most so-called smoked fish is not actually smoked....especially the yellow stuff. Bacon unless air cured is the same. The smoked taste is chemically added.

It's like people believing organic overseas produce is free from chemicals, it may be grown organically but treated before shipping.

But not all additives are bad...garlic can be added or onion....its the E numbers you need to avoid.

I've moved away from always using dried beans and chickpeas and the like because I reckon it probably uses less energy for a factory to produce lots of tins than each home to boil their own. And the costs seem to be about the same.
My guilty secret used to be treacle sponge in a tin

I caught a bit of The Food Programme today - about Eco-labelling. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014648
They asked someone to choose which was the more Eco-friendly - rashers of bacon from UK pigs or plant based "meat" made from soya grown abroad. I may have this wrong as I was driving at the time!
The Eco-labellers take all sorts of things into account - like transport costs, how much water is used in production, whether a fruit grown abroad (where conditions are right) and flown to the UK is better, or worse, than a fruit grown close to home but in a heated greenhouse. (I may have made that last bit up).
I can't help feeling that the most eco-foods are the ones we grow in our own gardens where we have control over the input and no need to use additives.

I caught a bit of The Food Programme today - about Eco-labelling. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014648
They asked someone to choose which was the more Eco-friendly - rashers of bacon from UK pigs or plant based "meat" made from soya grown abroad. I may have this wrong as I was driving at the time!
The Eco-labellers take all sorts of things into account - like transport costs, how much water is used in production, whether a fruit grown abroad (where conditions are right) and flown to the UK is better, or worse, than a fruit grown close to home but in a heated greenhouse. (I may have made that last bit up).
I can't help feeling that the most eco-foods are the ones we grow in our own gardens where we have control over the input and no need to use additives.

I have tried plant based eco bacon before. I don't care how eco friendly it is they can stick that disgusting stuff where the sun don't shine I try to be eco friendly wherever posssible but taste has got to play a big part in whether I find it edible and would buy it agan.  

Yep, I agree veggie, I greatly enjoy food from my allotment where I can be sure of its lineage.

I've tried those plant based things too, Vinny. How gullible would you have to be to think that a chopped and shaped sliver of red and white coloured gloop is "bacon". They all taste of "smoke" too - as if they've been wiped around an ashtray first.

I've moved away from always using dried beans and chickpeas and the like because I reckon it probably uses less energy for a factory to produce lots of tins than each home to boil their own. And the costs seem to be about the same.
My guilty secret used to be treacle sponge in a tin

You would have to include the energy that goes into mining/processing the ore and creating the tin, then recycling the empty tin.

Having said that, it isn't that easy to compare.
Tescos have 4 different cans of red kidney beans for example that seen to be roughly the same analysis at 30p (Aldi equiv.) 55p own label 79p organic and 85p branded.
240g drained weight 268cal per tin. The organic ones were less calories.

2 dried beans, both branded:
500g  266cal /100g£1.40
2kg   337cal/100g  £4

So avrg of the 2 dried beans is about 90g for 268cal.

which costs 25p or 18p depending on the pack size - no Aldi equiv. price for dried beans.

Then of course energy you use at home would depend how cooked. A pressure cooker is far quicker and cheaper than in an ordinary pan.

^^^ "Then of course energy you use at home would depend how cooked. A pressure cooker is far quicker and cheaper than in an ordinary pan."

How does that compare to a slow cooker? So many variables!
Maybe we need to go back to Hayboxes?

I think it's really good to have this kind of discussion, even if just to raise awareness. Having said that, if I knew the slow cooker used slightly less over six hours, what I can do in two hours in the pressure cooker, I would often still choose the pressure cooker just because of the time saving. I make up for the electricity use by having solar panels and very efficient fridges and freezers