Once a staple in lunch boxes of blue-collar workers, sardine cans now collect dust in pantries and cupboards — the last resort in a power outage, perhaps.

Nation’s Last Sardine Cannery Closing

Sandwiches

1. Rye or pumpernickel bread, red onion, slices of hard-boiled egg, sardines, mustard and/or mayonnaise to taste.

2. White or whole-wheat bread, sardines, mustard, a couple drops of hot sauce if you have it. (This is the simplest, and also my favorite. If you are out of bread you can apply the mustard directly to the sardines and eat with a fork.)

3. White or whole-wheat or anadama bread, sardines, a fancy spread: spicy chutney or a good red pepper jam.

4. Baguette slices, sardines, drop of olive oil, drizzle of lemon, chopped parsley.

5. I’ve never tried this one myself but someone told me sardines and mashed avocado with a squeeze of lemon juice, on sourdough or other sturdy bread, is delicious.

Pasta

1. Thinly slice and roast one fennel bulb. Saute an onion in some olive oil, then add a large jar of crushed tomatoes or your favorite jarred pasta sauce. Stir in the roasted fennel and a can or two of sardines (remove bones and flake). Toss with cooked rotini or other twisty shape. Garnish with chopped fennel fronds and black pepper.

2. Stir a can of de-boned, mashed sardines into a bowl of leftover plain pasta, any shape. Squeeze of lemon. Lots of pepper. Eat.

2a. Variation: Stir a can of de-boned, mashed sardines into a bowl of leftover plain pasta, any shape. Squeeze of lemon. Some leftover cooked cannellini beans and/or a few handfuls of strong-tasting greens, like arugula. Asparagus or fiddleheads would work too. Pepper. Eat.

Etc.

1. Sardine dip: Put 2 cans of sardines, a block of cream cheese, the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon or two of minced onion or scallion, and a tablespoon of minced parsley in a blender or food processor.

2. Fried sardines: Pat dry. Dredge in flour, roll in seasoned crumbs, fry. Careful, they fall apart.

3. Sardine pie: Use sardines instead of canned salmon in your friend’s Canadian grandfather’s famous salmon pie recipe (sorry, I can’t give you any more details than that).