u/212tacocat

Over the past year, the Tinventory community has logged more than 3,500+ reviews across 2,100+ tins. Looking through the reviews, I thought what stood out was interesting.

Most Reviewed Brands (Fishwife still dominates) 
- Fishwife (432 Reviews) 
- King Oscar (240 Reviews) 
- Trader Joe’s (158 Reviews) 
- Nuri (153 Reviews) 
- Patagonia Provisions (130 Reviews) 

Highest Rated Trout
- ABC+ Curry Flavoured Trout Fillets 
- Minnow Smoked Trout Filet in Oil
- Cole’s Smoked Rainbow Trout with Lemon and Cracked Pepper 

Most Reviewed Sardine in Olive Oil (Tinventory has 709 sardine tins logged, more than double tuna and three times mackerel.) 
- Nuri Spiced Sardines in Olive and Sardines in Olive Oil
- King Oscar Wild Caught Sardines in Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
- Bela Sardines in EVOO and Piri-Piri 

Most Underrated Fish
- Herring!? - More reviews than squid, trout, anchovies, or oysters! 

Most Reviewed Tuna 
- Fishwife's tuna lineup accounts for the largest share of tuna reviews.
- Natural Catch Spicy Yellowfin Tuna with Spicy Chili 
- Ortiz White Tuna in Olive Oil

Most Wishlisted Tins (We’re freaks for cheeks)
- José Gourmet Sardines in Butter (DEENS IN BUTTAH) 
- Wildfish Cannery Black Cod Cheeks 
- Wildfish Cannery Pan-fried King Salmon Cheeks 

Most Pantried Tins 
Every Fishwife tin… 

3 things that surprised me the most:
Herring has quietly become one of the most reviewed fish.

Tomato sauce is still the second most common preparation by a huge margin.

Fishwife has nearly twice as many reviews as the second most reviewed brand. (I guess not that surprising) 

Just want to say thanks again to everyone’s support. Tinventory has been a blast!

Happy Eating :)

The $3 La Narval sale at The Fresh Market was clutch

Was super easy and they were ready within a week. Loved doing something with the tin after the mussels were all gone. Can't wait to try this again with some more colorful tins.

Was going uptown and stopped by Times Square. Lo and behold there were Drewey's Sardines in Ketchup. $15.

Cute! Never noticed these before. In English and Spanish.

To celebrate reaching 1,500+ tinned fish reviews on Tinventory, I'd like to give away 3 of our tasting forks.

To enter, comment the one tin you'd recommend to someone trying tinned fish for the very first time.

In a few days, I'll randomly pick 3 commenters to receive a fork (and a few tins 🙂).

US shipping only for the giveaway (sorry international fish friends 🐟).

Looking forward to seeing what the community considers the ultimate starter tin is in 2026.

After seeing the Instagram promos I was really sold. They're hilarious.

Instantly bought a 4 pack online, which came out to be about $10/box and arrived in 2 days.

The fish itself is super flaky and super soft. The ingredients don't mention it, but there is a lot of water/juice in the tin, which surprised me.

Like with most white fishes there is a subtle flavor, but the palate is mostly dominated by the salt that has been added.

All in all, it is just as advertised: cod in a tin. I would buy it again, though.

Curious if I have any of your favorites?

Last year, I was tracking tins in my Notes app and Excel but it got messy. So I built Tinventory.co specifically to track tinned fish. 

Since then, more than 200 people have joined and logged hundreds of tins from around the world. 

I genuinely love seeing how real and passionate the community is: 
- endless sardines in olive oil and tomato sauce
- Fishwife debates
- value vs. quality discussions
- Fangst staying undefeated
- King Oscar being a sleeper favorite

Thanks to everyone who’s shared reviews, ratings, and their fish opinions so far. The feedback and support has been amazing! 

I used to think tinned seafood was basically just canned tuna and cheap sardines, but over the past few months I’ve gone deep into the tinned fish world and honestly got surprised by how good some of it is, especially the shellfish, squid and octopus.

Smoked mackerel, mussels in escabeche, squid in ink sauce, octopus in olive oil, and razor clams have become new favorites for me. A lot of the better tins are packed almost like preserved seafood dishes rather than emergency pantry food.

I started keeping track of the different brands/styles I tried because there’s a huge range in quality and preparation styles, and eventually built a small tasting log/review site called Tinventory for it.

Curious if anyone else here is into conservas/tinned seafood, and what your favorites are.

In order of picture: Mussels Escabeche - Calamari in Olive Oil - Sardines in Olive Oil.

Got the Porto Mar Tapas Mix. Was hugely disappointed. My order of preference:

1. The Mussels
2. The Squid
3. The Sardines

The mussels were okay, little pasty. The squid was a bit rubbery and very fishy. The sardines made me very aware I was eating dead fish.

Anyone else tried these before? Would love to hear your experiences.