Emergency Locker Tuna, Corn, and Pasta
Three cans and a bag of pasta. The meal you build when the fridge is empty and the nearest shop is a day away.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 900 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Short dried pasta | 6 oz | penne or fusilli, nothing long |
|---|---|---|
| Canned tuna in oil | 2 cans (5 oz each) | oil-packed, and keep the oil |
| Canned sweetcorn | 1 can (7 oz) | drained |
| Grated hard parmesan | 1/4 cup | the shelf-stable shaker kind |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper and salt | to taste | |
| Chili flakes | 1/2 tsp | optional |
Method
- Bring about 900 ml of water to a boil and salt it. Add the pasta.
- Cook until it is just soft, eight to ten minutes depending on shape and altitude.
- Drain off most of the water. Leave a few spoonfuls in the pot so the sauce has something to cling to.
- Tip in the tuna with its oil, the drained corn, oregano, garlic powder, and chili flakes. Stir over low heat for a minute.
- Kill the heat, add the parmesan, and stir until it coats everything. Pepper on top.
This is the meal that lives in the bottom of the food crate for the whole trip and gets eaten on the day nothing else is left. Everything in it keeps for years at ambient temperature, which is the entire point. There is no fresh dairy and no fridge step; the parmesan is the hard grated kind that sits on a shelf.
The oil from the tuna is doing the work of a sauce. Drain it away and you get dry pasta with fish in it, so pour it in and let the starch left in the pot bind it. Corn adds sweetness and bulk against the salt, and the cheese thickens the whole thing as it melts. It is heavy food for a vehicle or a boat, not for a pack.
Packing
Pasta and the spice mix go in one bag together so there is one thing to measure. Cans ride at the bottom of the food crate; they are the heaviest thing here and they do not care.
Variations
- Skip the stove entirely: cook the pasta at breakfast, and eat it cold at midday with the same additions.
- A can of chopped tomatoes in place of the corn, cooked down for five minutes, turns it into a red sauce.
- Swap the tuna for a can of chicken or a foil pouch of salmon.
https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/calling-all-foodies.14379