Comments on: Summer Meal Series #9: Tuna Melts!?

By: Maggie

Maggie — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:40:42 +0000

I’m loving this summer meal series :)

By: borealis

borealis — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 05:30:35 +0000

Get real people. If you are vegan or hate white flour, great, but please realize you are less than 1% of the world. Go to a vegan website, or just happily suggest vegan alternatives.

But if this website adopts crackpot theories of nutrition and organic magic, then it will be as popular as all the other vegan and organic magic websites.mmAnd all the hundreds of millions of people who do not eat organic magic foods, yet somehow live just as long and healthy, will just go to another website.

By: Steve Linderman

Steve Linderman — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:36:43 +0000

Great post on using what you have. I shop for food by what’s on sale. The trick is to stay just ahead of the sales items without wasting them. I love your site.

By: littlepitcher

littlepitcher — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:52:34 +0000

Wrapped in foil? I just toast the bread, add the tuna mix and cheese, and shove’em under the broiler, then top with home-grown ‘mater.
Actually, the tuna has mercury and salmon will work better. I use fat-free ranch dressing instead of mayo, add chopped homemade bread and butter pickles, and chopped pickled yellow squash if I have any open–anything to disguise the taste of canned fish!
You can also delete all of the above ingredients and use some Liquid Smoke, or a good bbq sauce.

By: B-L

B-L — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:07:19 +0000

I am alittle disappointed in your frugal healthy posts. You use a lot of the processed cheese which is not really healthy. IT contains a lot salt and it’s not real cheese. You could buy cheese for the same price as those processed slices but it’s healthy and more real. You focus on organic produce but you might want to look at your whole food intake.

By: reulte

reulte — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:15:26 +0000

I’ll agree with those folks denigrating American processed slices but who still buy them for grilled sandwiches (and Velveeta with Ro-Tel!). Sometimes, ideology comes into conflict with family life.

For my tuna salad — I drain the tuna, add a bit of sweet relish and chopped Granny Smith (or other very tart) apple then a bit of mayo sufficient for it sticking together onto an English muffin half or stuffed into a tomato or wrapped into a lettuce leaf or simply eaten out of the bowl. With the apple the recipe sounds weird but tastes delish.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:24:24 +0000

Land o’ Lakes American cheese. It comes in a 2# package and is usually displayed next to the Velveeta, however, it is REAL cheese and not a “cheese food.” Because of the way is is displayed in stores, most people assume it is just like Velveeta, but costs more (for a good reason!)
It’s my favorite cheese, but it is made in Minnesota and not available in “The Land O’Cheese” (a.k.a Wisconsin) where I currently live. I can find it in Michigan at the Super One stores as they are Minnesota-based grocery stores. The taste is 1,000% better than the Kraft singles or the Kraft Deluxe.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:52:43 +0000

I think processed cheese slices are kind of gross, too–so thank goodness I’m free to make a choice to use something else. Just like Trent is free to choose whatever. I think these posts are great; I get some ideas and adapt them to what I have and what I like. Better a Wonder Bread sandwich than a Happy Meal…

By: Marcia Wilwerding

Marcia Wilwerding — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:31:14 +0000

BTW, Trent allows these critical comments because he has learned what every blogger “in the know” knows: all attention is good attention. There’s no such thing as a bad comment. Bring them on! :)

By: Marcia Wilwerding

Marcia Wilwerding — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:29:29 +0000

We have tuna melts every Sunday night after our evening worship service. It’s fast, easy, and gets in one fish meal for the week.

Our version is made using tuna canned in water (drained and flaked) with about a tablespoon of salad dressing per can to moisten. We spread it thin on wheat toast, add a slice of hard American cheese (deluxe or “classic” style which is more cheese and fewer additives), then pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds to melt the cheese. Tomato would be an excellent addition when in season.

Here is a very interesting article regarding American processed cheese:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cheese

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:15:31 +0000

The seemingly gross lack of reading comprehension on display here by some of the people commenting really makes me want to cry. Some people missed the point of this article by several hundred miles.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:29:08 +0000

When I make a tuna melt I only put tuna on half a piece of whole grain bread, (ie.tuna then tomato slices then cheese, then melt)..

This tuna melt looks disgustingly fattening and I’m in agreement with @Kai and@Michelle that the “plastic cheese” has to go for a healthier alternative (low sodium?). I definitely would NOT eat your version of a “tuna melt”..

Another thing..Um, where is the “seasoning” in the tuna? I’ve always made tuna with chopped red/green peppers, onions, celery, mayonnaise, spicy brown mustard,boiled egg, fresh garlic, paprika, and oregano! This has to be the most bland tasting tuna melt ever! Ew! To each his own I guess. Sorry Trent, just my opinion..

By: JB

JB — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 06:37:37 +0000

Wow, I’m surprised how harshly people can scrutinize you for making just a good post on a fast, healthy dinner option. Also don’t see anywhere where you are blaming your wife, lighten up folks you are reading something that isn’t there. Reading the comments on this was disheartening. People request recipes and then when they come try to tear them down.

I grew up eating the Kraft singles slices, they make great grilled cheese sandwiches too. As someone else mentioned they melt really well too.

I don’t understand how one roll qualifies as too much refined flour, etc. One roll?!

I made the calzones last night and they were absolutely delicious, restaurant quality but better since we made them ourselves! Thank you for sharing these recipes Trent.

By: Moneyedup

Moneyedup — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:40:30 +0000

I am not a big fan of tuna melts, I would prefer a tuna salad sandwich. I do an interesting meal that includes tuna and only three other ingredients. Those are egg noodles, broccoli and Alfredo sauce. You can substitute salmon instead of tuna. I consider it to be frugal because it has so few ingredients, but it tastes great and you can make it really quick.

By: Cheap Texan

Cheap Texan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:37:56 +0000

I have to say that this doesn’t look appealing to me at all. I splurge on canned tuna and it’s worth every penny! I am also with some of the other posters about the ‘white’ breads and what’s up with the iceberg lettuce salad?

This doesn’t seem healthy at all, although I guess that’s not the qualification. I think if I were in the same boat, I’d use my fancy canned tuna and make a spinach nicoise salad.

For grilled cheese, Tillamook cheddar melts fabulously and tastes SO much better than the sliced crap.

As a disclaimer…I too buy velveeta – RoTel is necessary with a good Tex-Mex meal.

Frugal, fast meals do NOT have to be unhealthy.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:56:44 +0000

Do you drain the water from the tuna? Article doesn’t mention this. Seems like it would be a soggy mess unless water was drained from tuna. Open lid with can opener, press lid into contents of can and drain off water. Cat gets the liquid. I like tuna salad with lots of finely diced onion and a bit of cracked pepper. The idea of open face, on English muffins, under the broiler, with real cheese, sounds delish!

By: Brittany

Brittany — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:10:46 +0000

I’m with Leah W.nthat American cheese is gross-except for melting. It’s the absolute best melted cheese for grilled cheese, potatoes, mac and cheese… mmmm. I buy essentially no processed food…. except the occasional block of velveta. It’s so horrendously delicious.

By: Kristina

Kristina — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:01:03 +0000

I think the point of soaking the sweet potatoes is to rinse off some of the starches. that way, when they are baked the natual sugars in them dont start to burn before the potatoes are cooked through.

By: Skirnir Hamilton

Skirnir Hamilton — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:49:57 +0000

I also would like to know on the soaking in cold water for the sweet potato fries. That is something we should try and we have tried the Alexia sweet potato fries as I had a free coupon from bzzagent and my husband really liked them and he bought some sweet potatoes not long after. So freezing some homemade sweet potato or potato fries and baking them up would be a great time saver and sodium saver. Great way to use up my potatoes that just don’t seem to stay in good shape very long this time of the year.

By: Penny

Penny — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:01:37 +0000

I have a similar problem with my crockpot several times a year. It makes me crazy having to throw out a pot of food.