Creamed tuna, also called creamed chip tuna or tuna gravy, is made by creating a butter-and-flour roux and stretching it with evaporated milk. Canned tuna is added, along with frozen peas when available. The dish can be served over toast, biscuits, or crackers, or mixed with pasta and baked as a casserole. Its reputation as a Depression-era meal comes from affordable ingredients and the rise in popularity of canned tuna in the early 1900s. The dish is inexpensive because tuna, flour, evaporated milk, and butter can be purchased at low prices, making it a practical option during hard economic times.
"Creamed tuna, also called creamed chip tuna or tuna gravy, is a dish you can imagine pretty easily. It's incredibly similar to creamed chip beef as both dishes start by pulling together a butter and flour roux, which is then stretched with evaporated milk. At which point, canned tuna is added. Plus, a few frozen peas, if you have them. You can eat the dish over toast, biscuits, or crackers. You can even stir it in with pasta and bake it as a casserole. The beauty of this vintage fish dish is that it's as versatile as it is inexpensive."
"There are two main factors that give creamed tuna its reputation as a Depression-era meal. First, it's made with affordable ingredients that have long been considered simple pantry staples. Secondly, canned tuna started to gain seriously popularity during the first three decades of the 1900s. (These are just some of the reasons why some recipes refer to this dish as "Hard Times Tuna.") However, the dish's earliest origins actually precede A"
"Canned tuna can be purchased as low as $0.96; flour, just $0.54 per pound. Some cans of evaporated milk run around $1 a can, and the most expensive ingredient, butter, is about $4 per pound as of April 2026. This all adds up to one cheap meal."
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