Canned Tomatoes Good for Your Health, Easy on Your Pocketbook
Canned Tomatoes Good for Your Health, Easy on Your Pocketbook
Did you know that canned tomatoes are good for your health and easy on your pocketbook? Learn more about why they are a pantry staple favorite, and which ones you should stock up on!
Canned tomato products, ranging from whole peeled tomatoes to tomato paste, are not only convenient and economical, they all provide the health benefits of fresh tomatoes. In fact, in some cases, they are more concentrated sources of the nutrients found in fresh tomatoes, such as the antioxidant lycopene (cooking breaks down the tomato’s cell wall, releasing lycopene), blood-pressure-lowering potassium and wound-healing vitamin C—all for about one-third to one-half the cost per pound of fresh tomatoes. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, fresh tomatoes range in price from $1.29 to $3.48 per pound, while canned tomatoes average about $0.91 per pound. Tomatoes destined for canning don’t have to be beautiful so they can be harvested by a machine rather than by hand, reducing the cost. Of course, you’ll pay more for organic and imported and specialty canned products, but generally, canned tomato products are real money savers.
Here’s a guide to the most popular types of canned tomato products that significantly cut costs from your grocery budget, shave off tons of time from food preparation, and provide a real nutrition boost. And check out the delicious recipe ideas for each type of canned tomato product.
Feel free to stock up because canned tomato products last 12–18 months when stored at room temperature.
- Whole peeled tomatoes—like the name says, these are whole peeled tomatoes packed in tomato juice. They’re probably the most versatile of the tomato products. You can use them whole, dice them, or put them in a food processor or blender to make tomato puree or tomato sauce. Great in soups and stews. http://tomatowellness.com/chicken-ratatoullie
- Diced tomatoes—are chopped tomatoes and are usually packed with tomato juice and with calcium chloride to help them retain their shape. If maintaining their shape isn’t the goal in the dish your cooking up, then diced tomatoes aren’t necessary. They are available in a variety of flavors, including fire roasted for a smoky flavor. http://tomatowellness.com/easy-gazpacho-2
- Stewed tomatoes—these are tomatoes that have been cut up and cooked, usually with seasonings, like salt, sugar, or spices. Ingredients vary among brands, so be sure to read the ingredient label. If you use them in recipes calling for plain tomato products, the added seasonings may change the flavor of the dish. http://tomatowellness.com/mushroom-bean-and-roasted-pepper-chili
- Crushed tomatoes—have a texture somewhere between diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. They have a thick consistency and may contain small pieces of tomatoes. http://tomatowellness.com/mushroom-minestrone
- Tomato puree—is smoother than crushed tomatoes, but maintains a thick consistency, but not nearly as concentrated as paste. It can often be used in place of crushed tomatoes. http://tomatowellness.com/artichoke-turkey-pizza-2
- Tomato sauce—has a pourable texture and may have spices, such as garlic, oregano, onion powder, or basil added. If you’re cutting back on salt, no-salt-added varieties are also available. http://tomatowellness.com/crimini-and-pork-albondigas-meatballs-with-chipotle-tomato-sauce
- Tomato paste—is easily identified because it comes in small 6-ounce cans and is the thickest of the canned tomato products. Add water and you’ve got tomato sauce. It also comes in flavored varieties, from pesto to roasted garlic. http://tomatowellness.com/bean-stew-with-chicken-sausage-2
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Making Canned Tomatoes New Again
The secret to good cooking and healthy eating? All it takes is having the right tool for the job. Putting the right ingredients to work makes your job easy, so make canned tomatoes great again with these tips and tricks.
Canned tomatoes may sound like old news, but their savory umami and versatility in the kitchen make them indispensable in your pantry. Sure, plant-powered eating often thrives on a DIY attitude and recipe hacks. Canning your own tomatoes is fabulous, but many of us lack access to fresh tomatoes during in-season or are otherwise unable to embark on such a project. Canned tomatoes are one of those convenience products that save you time, yet don’t compromise your values of healthful food or environmentalism.
Canned tomatoes in all of their forms – diced, crushed, stewed, sauce, paste – are canned during in-season and within hours of their harvest. This minimal processing makes the canned version far more sustainable than eating off-season fresh tomatoes shipped or flown from hundreds of miles away.
Not to mention the expense! You can find canned tomato products at inexpensive prices year-round, whereas the fluctuating prices of fresh tomatoes can be an obstacle to a tight food budget.
Each serving of these products adds to your daily vegetable tally. Look for those with minimal added salt and sugar to maximize their nutrition. Tomatoes in all of their forms feature vitamins C and A, and other plant compounds, like lycopene which has been linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Read on to learn how to make canned tomatoes new again.
Check out these 6 tips for a fresh take on canned tomatoes:
1. Go artisan. Always having a can or two of tomato paste on-hand enables you to get creative and make your very own artisan sauces. How about a curry-inspired ketchup or sriracha-style sauce for your veggie burger? Or a fancy ketchup that incorporates horseradish or balsamic vinegar for your veggie kabobs on the grill. Try something new with canned diced tomatoes in this savory grain porridge of Tomato Basil Steel Cut Oats.
2. Impress your last-minute guests. Toss a can of diced tomatoes, minced garlic, and fresh or dried Italian herbs with a little olive oil, and all you have to do is run out for a fresh baguette. You suddenly have a fancy bruschetta appetizer! Even better, opt for a can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes. Those grill marks will really have your friends thinking you spent all afternoon poring over the grill!
3. Spice up your routine. Have you noticed all the varieties of canned tomatoes available now? A can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes or with added green chilies become the perfect accessory to tacos, nachos, or this Tortilla Soup. A can of crushed tomatoes with minced garlic, bell pepper, and oregano is the best base for marinara sauce smothered over your lasagna or pizza.
4. Too hot to cook? We all need more meal ideas for the hot summer days that come anytime during spring through fall. Enjoy a no-cook recipe that you can make whether fresh tomatoes are in-season or not. Cold tomato soup, or gazpacho, can be as simple as a bruschetta recipe but with an additional splash of flavorful vinegar. You can keep it simple or add toppings like diced bell pepper and cucumber, croutons, chickpeas, fresh sliced avocado, or fresh herbs. Make this Easy Gazpacho and serve in shot glasses for a fun appetizer.
5. Easy as (pizza) pie. With minced garlic and olive oil, simmer a can of crushed tomatoes in thick puree, or crushed tomatoes with basil and oregano, and you will have stellar marinara sauce in no time. With a sauce this easy, you can jump on that homemade pizza trend and focus your attention on the toppings and inventive crusts made from cauliflower or polenta.
6. Up your roasting game. Thin out canned tomato paste with just a little water, then use to coat your roasting vegetables before popping into the oven. Naturally occurring sugars and umami flavors in the tomato are a great way to season your food without adding oil or salt, give it a try!
Images by Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN, The Plant-Powered Dietitian
Philly Cheese Steak Smothered in Tomatoes
This lighter version of a classic favorite Philly Cheese Steak sandwich will help keep Dad healthy, while also keeping his taste buds more than satisfied. Plus, this recipe is full of cancer-fighting lycopene thanks to the canned tomato products! You can have this sandwich on its own, or pair it with your favorite salad and side dish for a filling, nutritious dinner everyone is sure to love!
Canned tomatoes are so much more than convenient pantry staples. They also provide the cancer fighting compound called lycopene! In fact, more than 1.3 million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, and numerous studies suggest that lycopene has cancer-fighting properties. Lycopene can be found in tomato products, which contain anti-carcinogenic compounds, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber. With early detection and higher intake of fruits and vegetables, prostate cancer can be reduced. Thus, it’s important to ensure that you are eating healthy, well-balanced meals and staying active on a daily basis. You can increase lycopene in your diet by adding canned tomatoes into your favorite meals, such as pizza, stir fries, or even smoothies to boost those benefits! So go ahead, try out this Philly cheese steak sandwich and reap the health benefits it provides!
Philly Cheese Steak Smothered in Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb. Lean skirt steak, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small yellow onion, sliced
- 2 oz portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 15-oz can tomato sauce, no salt added
- Ground black pepper, as desired
- ¼ tsp oregano
- 4 oz mozzarella cheese, part skim
- 4 whole grain rolls (hoagie or submarine), split
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet or sauté pan.
- Place sliced steak into the pan and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.
- Add garlic and onions, cooking for 2 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and peppers and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, black pepper and oregano and bring to simmer. Cook until vegetables and meat are very tender.
- Arrange meat, vegetables and sauce over split roll and top with 1 oz of mozzarella cheese.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 597Total Fat: 33gSodium: 531mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 6gProtein: 36g
If you’re looking for other delicious recipes that your dad you will love, check out some of our favorites:
Easy Chicken Curry
Swiss Chard Pecan Lasagna
Black Bean Corn Chili
What this Dietitian Learned on a Cannery Tour
What this Dietitian Learned on a Cannery Tour
TOMATOES, PLEASE!!! Watch and share this adorable animated short that shows how tomatoes go from #FieldToSealed within hours, and the community that you support when you buy USA #CannedTomatoes 🍅❤️🥫#TasteOfSummertimeAllYearLong #EndlessSummer #TomatoWellness #FreshThanFresh pic.twitter.com/VWFyxYG69i
— Tomato Wellness (@TomatoWellness) August 26, 2019
By Leslie Schilling, RD
No foods were quite so delicious to me as a tomato sandwich on the beach with my family in the summertime, or my mom’s baked spaghetti loaded with tomato sauce and canned diced tomatoes. In full disclosure, I’ve always been a tomato lover. So, naturally, I was honored to be invited on a tour visiting family farms that produce around 95% of all the canned tomatoes in the United States. We also visited peach and pear farms and learned how many of these beautiful fruits are picked, transported, and canned, in a matter of hours. Let me tell you what I learned about cans, and about myself.
I had canned food amnesia (and I bet I’m not alone).
To be honest, I’d forgotten about canned produce. Between my formal education as a dietitian and a person who has the privilege to buy fresh produce, canned produce had all but disappeared from my grocery list and kitchen. Seeing the process of produce being picked fresh from the field, carefully prepared, and canned, reminded me that I’ve been missing out on the nutrition that canned foods can provide (and sadly, so were my clients). As a dietitian, my clients deserve recommendations that are both nutrient-rich and cost-effective. This tour helped me remember that cans can deliver quality nutrition and reduce the prep time needed to get busy families around a table together. Regardless of your household food budget, canned produce can play a role in every kitchen.
Steel cans are recyclable – 100% recyclable.
My mind was blown on this one. Did you know that a magnet can retrieve steel cans from a kitchen trash bag that ended up in a landfill? That can you never recycled? I didn’t either. Steel cans are retrieved from either landfills or recycling plants and remade into new cans. This makes steel cans a smart choice for families looking to add nutrition and care for the environment we live in.
Nutrition sealed in time.
The canning process is one that has been around for more than a hundred years. While the technology involved in monitoring a cannery may look like a spaceship control center, the process remains simple, clean, and effective. As I watched tomatoes being placed into a rolling water bath, flash-steamed, and promptly sealed, it reminded of why my grandmother canned tomatoes right out of the garden. She’d say they’re fresh now, and they’ll be just as fresh when we open them in the winter.
Not only is the freshness sealed in, the carotenoids that make tomatoes a nutritional powerhouse are amplified. Canned tomatoes are known for their cancer-fighting compound lycopene, which becomes 2.5 times more bioavailable after the canning process. The canning “process” (which is really just steaming or cooking), also brings out valuable nutrients in peaches. Canned peaches have higher levels of vitamin C and folate compared to the fresh fruit.
Using canned foods can help reduce food waste.
These days, commercially canned produce must include a best by date, which is generally 36 months from the date of being sealed. When these canned foods are prepped, ready to open and add to a meal, we can also reduce food waste. Sadly, I’ve thrown away far too many fresh fruits and vegetables that I’ve forgotten or didn’t have time to prepare. Keeping canned produce in mind in our homes may help us add nutritional value and reduce food waste at the same time.
If you forget about the goodness of cans like I did, try to remember the acronym I created to prevent myself from ever experiencing canned food amnesia again.
S – Sealed at the peak of freshness.
T – Takes less time and money.
I – Can improve overall nutrition quality.
R – Can reduce food waste in fully recyclable packaging.
Let’s help families STIR in cost-effective nutrition that’s as fresh as fresh can be.
Big thanks to Pacific Coast Producers for hosting this amazing opportunity to see the harvest and canning process.
Leslie Schilling
Nutrition Counseling for Families
Leslie Schilling owns a Las Vegas-based coaching practice, specializing in nutrition counseling for families, those of all ages with disordered eating concerns, and professional athletes and performers. In addition to running her practice, Leslie serves as a performance nutrition consultant for Cirque du Soleil® and an eating disorder specialist and supervisory consultant for eating disorder treatment centers in Nevada. With her warm, compassionate, and entertaining personality, Leslie been featured in media outlets like Women’s Health, Self, Pregnancy Magazine, The Yoga Journal, Bicycling, BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, US News & World Report, and on HGTV. You may know her best as the creator of the Born To Eat® approach and co-author of the award-winning book, Born To Eat.
We are the voice of the tomato products industry. We love all things healthy, nutritious, delicious, and tomato!
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