Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Coles Canned Seafood Variety 3-Pack.  Recently I brought you the 10 Variety Pack from Matiz in the category of tinned fish.  I love that pack but it is very sardine heavy.  Let’s be honest sardines are a thing you either love or hate.  They are oily (beyond the olive oil) and have a deep “fishy” flavor.

No matter how great a sardine is, it still has that deep sardine flavor that some just do not care for at all.  So I thought I would bring you something in this space that is more approachable, more a “tinned fish for beginners” type of thing.  Hence, absolutely no sardines and nothing “weird” to some like octopus, cockles, squid or barnacles.  Yes people eat barnacles.  Let’s save such exotic things for another day though.

Today in the Cole’s Variety Pack we have…

• Smoked Trout in Olive Oil
• Smoked Trout with Lemon & Cracked Pepper in Olive Oil
• Smoked Salmon in Olive Oil
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All three of these are great and are a great store of protein and fat perfect for the prepper pantry.  All three can be used in recipes or simply eaten from the can.  Let me say I love me some sardines but I get why many do not.  They do have that deep and distinct flavor.  These don’t, simply put if you like fish at all, you will likely really enjoy these.  Let me give you my thoughts on each of them…

• Smoked Trout in Olive Oil – The smoke favor is mild, just a nice little background of hard wood smoke.  This is the case for all three varieties. These are nice pieces of filet usually three pieces.  All I usually do with these is add a bit of salt and hammer it right out of the can.  It will also be a great protein on a lunch salad, make a fantastic smoked trout dip and be great on a board, especially for people that are new to tinned fish.  These do have skin on and it will come off easy enough but you really don’t need to worry about it.  The skin literally melts in your mouth and is fully descaled.  I have never heated this up into any sort of meal but it would be fine for that, just add it right at the end to not over do it.
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• Smoked Trout with Lemon & Cracked Pepper – Okay so pretty much ditto for the one above but just add lemon flavor.  As to the cracked pepper, you really don’t notice it that much, I always crack some fresh onto it.  Pepper just doesn’t really come though heavy once in a canned item.  This does have a decent lemon flavor but you may want to add some fresh juice/zest if you really want lemon flavor and acid.  They actually can it with a few pieces of lemon peel, those are delicious too.  This will do anything the regular will do but if you are a pasta peson it screams toss me with white wine, lemon, dill and garlic with angel hair pasta.   It is good on a cracker, good on bread, good on your fingers.  Both of the trout options are mild and delicious even for many who would tend to shy away from canned fish.
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• Smoked Salmon in Olive Oil – Like the other two in this pack this stuff is mild, none of the harsh fish tasted things like sardines have.  Anything I said you can do with the trout options this would work for as well.  I like this stuff but of the three it is my least favorite.  Nothing wrong with it I just personally prefer tout to salmon.  Where this really shines is two places in my opinion.  One is with cream cheese, for you carb eaters think a toasted bagel, some capers, cream cheese, diced chives and this salmon.  The other is salads or wraps.  The olive oil in all of this stuff is great.  Take some romain lettuce leaves, the oil, some mashed avocado, fresh herbs, some pickled veggies or even just some cucumber and this and make wraps.

Of course there are dozens of other things you can do with canned trout and salmon.  For a ton of ideas these two books have some really great suggestions…

• Tin to Table: Fancy, Snacky, Recipes for Tin-thusiasts and A-fish-ionados by Anna Hezel
• The Magic of Tinned Fish: Elevate Your Cooking with Canned Anchovies, Sardines, Mackerel, Crab, and Other Amazing Seafood by Chris McDade
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In any event as I keep saying tinned fish are a wonderful addition to the prepper pantry.  They give you a huge hit of fat and protein the two hardest long term storage macros to see to.  The expiration date on my latest Cole’s smoked trout is Oct. 2026.  Trust me under the eat what you store and store what you eat plan, they have no prayer of making it that long.  Honestly none of them will see Christmas this year.

So whether you are a tinned fish connoisseur or new to the concept I think you will love these.  If you tried sardines in the past but just could not get past the strong smell and taste, try these the difference is beyond night and day.   The real beauty is you will get to try three varieties and find your own personal favorite.   So give the Cole’s Canned Seafood Variety 3-Pack a shot today but be warned you will likely soon find yourself ordering 10 packs of one or more varieties.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

P.S. – Which one do I personally like best?  All round the Trout in Olive Oil.  Reason being I can always add some fresh lemon and pepper if I want to or go another way.  The plain trout is also the most affordable in 10 packs.  Side note the Lemon ones are like 78 bucks for a 10 pack but 99 for a 5 pack right now.  Why, likely some stupid error, this happens on Amazon always check the pricing on multiple quantity stuff, more per order does not always equal less per unit.
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Anyway with 10 pack pricing the plain Smoked Trout in Olive Oil ones are 59.99 or call it 6 bucks a can.  A damn solid deal on a delicious item, with a ton of good fat and great protein and a 3+ year shelf life for the prepper pantry.  Honestly I think these may be the canned fish the most people will find enjoyable even right out of the can.