I use it in sangria's. I omit adding any extra sugar because the syrup in the can is so sweet. The stock of fruit mentioned would be nice in a white sangria.

Smoothies or bellinis?

You can do a pork chop with the mandarin oranges and a pan gravy. Or you could always just donate what you don't want to a food bank.

make a cobbler- not as good as fresh, but still yummy :)

Make jello and take it to a party or work. Martha Stewart has lot so fancier, homemade types if you prefer gelatin.

Mandarin oranges are the shizzle in wild rice stuffing.

smoothies!

The Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa cake from Steel Magnolias.

A cuppa sugar. A cuppa flour. A cuppa canned fruit with the syrup. Put it in a baking dish and let it do its thing until a cake happens.

Canned peaches make a pretty good peach pie (not as good as fresh, but still good). There's a recipe in Joy of Cooking. I bet they'd also be good in salsa.

You can always donate the cans to the local food bank.

Don't be afraid to separate the fruit from its packing syrup...especially for the peaches. You could use it as a part of a syrup for French Toast (maybe mix with some brown sugar and a splash of rum) and reserve the fruit for another purpose.

Mandarin oranges in an arugula salad with an oil and vinegar dressing and a touch of coarse salt. Yum!

Ya I vote donate to a food bank or use them in a sangria!

The mandarin oranges are good in an Asian-inspired salad with spinach, toasted almonds and a soy and sesame oil dressing.

The canned peaches would be great in a cake or in an upside down peach cake.

The fruit cocktail has me a bit more stumped.

How about donating it to a food pantry?

I also love canned fruit mixed with cottage cheese - totally forgot about that!! I also agree that it works well in sangria....

the syrup from both the mandarin oranges and peaches is tasty in cocktails. For the peaches I would strain off the syrup and freeze the sliced peaches on a baking sheet, and then have them on hand for smoothies (I'd rather use frozen fruit than fruit and ice cubes, ice always makes it taste watered down to me). Mandarin oranges are great on asian themed salads.

Oh my gosh, canned peaches with cottage cheese! My grandmother served this for dessert almost every single time we had dinner at her house (outside of special occasions/holidays).

I have used mandarin oranges in a dessert called "Pig Cake." Pioneer Woman has a good recipe. You can also use canned fruit in place of fresh fruit in cobblers.

my mom used to make something called ambrosia salad when i was little that my siblings and i would gobble up: canned fruit cocktail & mandarin oranges, coconut, & mini marshmallows. i remember it as being a really special treat, something she would make for parties or birthdays. recipe is something like this one here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/ambrosia-salad/detail.aspx

You can freeze canned peaches, then dump into your food processor and blitz for instant peach granita. This would probably also work for the oranges, although I would put them in a chinese chicken salad.

Food bank.

Mandarin oranges are good in salad. They are also good stuck in the fridge for a while and then eaten out of the can with a fork.

I like canned peaches sauteed in a bit of butter and cinnamon. Serve them with vanilla ice cream! It is a great fast dessert if you are having people over because it only takes you away from your guests for about 3 minutes!

Jacques Pepin to the rescue!

I love this recipe from Fast Food My Way; the Brown Betty: http://www.thecookbookcritic.com/archives/2005/11/fast_food_my_wa_8.html

It makes use of left-over/stale bread and pastry as well as canned fruit. It says to use canned pear, I've used whatever was in the back of the pantry. (how'd that get there?)

Great results, easy to make, this recipe is a nice foundation for variations.

You yourself said you probably wouldn't eat it, so I vote for donating it to the food bank. One just closed near my house because they didnt have enough food. :(

I chop it small and use it in brownies, it makes delicious fruity brownies that are ultra moist

And, if you aren't near a food bank, with Thanksgiving coming, many stores, fire departments, libraries, and schools will be collecting canned goods.

You could probably puree it and make popsicles or an ice cream topping, but I vote for the food bank if you don't think you'd like it.

My favorite use for mandarin oranges is in a salad with cooked chicken, chopped lettuce, chopped cilantro, toasted slivered almonds, maybe some thinly sliced red onion, sometimes a handful of crispy noodles all tossed with Soy Vay's toasted sesame dressing. Super easy dinner salad...especially when using leftover chicken.

Mandarin oranges were meant for fruit salad. Use sour cream (or "light" sour cream), and about five cups of fruit---one cup of five different fruits. I normally use a banana, mandarin orange, peach, chopped apple, and a pear---canned or fresh is amazing. Just scoop out and measure. No need to drain; the little bit of juice will combine with the sour cream to make the salad the right degree of juciness. Dash some nutmeg over the top. Yum. Add a small amount of coconut and nuts if you want, and some chopped cherries. It is delicious and a great deep winter treat.

You could spoon it over ricotta. My friend makes that as a snack for her kids.

rinse the peaches and use them in peach kuchen, one of my favorite childhood desserts!
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Sour-Cream-Peach-Kuchen

I would donate the fruit cocktail, but the peaches and mandarin oranges are totally tasty in baked goods, salads, stir-fries, smoothies and sauces. (If you spice up the peaches, you can end up with something vaguely chutney-like that's absolutely delicious.)

Peach smoothies are easy, so is freezing the peaches and then running them through a food processor to make sorbet (or you could puree them and run them through an ice cream maker, either as sorbet or with other ingredients as peach ice cream). Fruit crisps are easy too and really fast with canned fruit. You could also add the peaches to yogurt or layer them for a parfait. I'd use the fruit cocktail in smoothies as I actually detest fruit cocktail, and I'd use the mandarin oranges in salad.

You can totally cook with canned fruit. Canned peaches and pears can be used in crisps and crumbles. I love mandarin oranges drained on field greens with a little chicken and thinly sliced red onion with a mustard vinaigrette. Mandarin oranges are also excellent in a cold sesame soba salad. Just toss cooked soba noodles in sesame oil with a little soy sauce, chopped green onions, and the mandarin oranges. Add chicken and/or peanuts (or almonds) to turn it into a heartier dish.

You could also go totally oldschool and make glorified rice. Take cooked rice, add a can of pineapple, a can of mandarin oranges, and a can of fruit cocktail, then mix with cool whip or sweetened whipped cream. "Frog Eye Salad" is basically the same thing, except you use those bitty balls of pasta instead of rice (I forget what they are called). Serve as dessert. You could even add marshmallows for a totally '50s church lady vibe.

For something sweet, combine a few of the cans with some fresh fruit and a half a package of vanilla pudding- you won't regret it.

If you really want to use the fruit cocktail rather than donate, you could always make dump cake like my grandma always used to make. Basically you put the fruit cocktail in a baking dish then dump a yellow cake mix on top and bake. There may be a bit more to it than that but not much. I'd google a recipe first just to be sure if I was going to make it.

Yeah. I know. Kind of gross but I get nostalgic for it sometimes.

It blows my mind that someone would even consider throwing canned goods away, and not donate them.

For the mandarin oranges, drain well and add them to a salad with mixed greens, toasted and candied almonds (melt some sugar in a small nonstick pan together with some sliced almonds until they're candied), thinly sliced cucumbers (optional), sliced red onion, and a handful of craisins. I usually serve this salad with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

If the peaches are packed in a heavy syrup, or even a light one, you can rinse them before using. I would suggest this popular recipe from the Salt Lick restaurant in Austin, TX:

http://www.food.com/recipe/peach-cobbler-31901

(You can cut the sugar and butter in the recipe.)

I don't have any suggestions for fruit cocktail.

Heat the peaches in their syrup with maybe a little sugar and serve with semolina. Stodgy comfort food!

I know it sounds weird, but my husband puts fruit cocktail on cooked fish with some chopped red peppers and a dab of peach hot sauce we picked up on vacation. The fish+fruit combo wasn't a new idea, but I hadn't thought of using canned before. It was delicious!

Or if you're feeling philanthropic...Thanksgiving is coming up and you can always donate those cans to a shelter of some sort!

Dump it all in a baking dish. Sprinkle it with curry powder (the more the better, but that's personal taste.) Bake at 350 for 45 min or so. That's it. Delicious fall/winter comfort food. I used to take a thermos of it when I worked night shift outdoors.

I just had the same problem with a can of pineapple and canned mango. I'm not a huge smoothie fan, so I blended it up and made popsicles! (I also had a little extra coco lopez/ cream of coconut that I threw in, mmmmm!)