When you’ve got good stuff in your pantry, it’s easy to pull together a nutritious, satisfying dinner in just minutes. Pull it together? Yank it is more like it. California Chicken Burgers rely on some unlikely ingredients -- chicken in a foil pouch, roasted peppers from a jar, carrots in a bag that are already shredded and 100-calorie, fiber-rich “sandwich thins.”

We used to use  canned chicken, but a few years ago chicken followed tuna into the no-drain foil pouches found on the “canned meats” grocery aisle. This chicken is shelf-stable for over a year and is much fresher tasting than its canned cousin.

Sandwich thins are a new type of bread that offers fewer calories (often 100 for both slices) and lots of whole grains and fiber. Packages typically contain eight “buns,” and the extras store well, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator.

For those who are cooking for one or two people, the chicken patties themselves refrigerate nicely for up to five or six days, and freeze well also. (Package them individually before freezing for quicker thawing. Then you can either zap them in the microwave, or reheat in a skillet for a crisper crust.)