Canned Beans

When you hear the term canned beans, you probably squinch your nose—they sound unappealing, I know. But it's too bad that so many of us have this impression, because canned beans are one of the all-time great convenience foods.

While beans are an important health promoting food, they can be prohibitively time consuming to prepare. Dried beans need to be rehydrated in cold water overnight and then cooked for 45 minutes to three hours depending on the bean. Unless you are dedicated to bean cuisine, it's unlikely that you're going to go through the process three nights a week and yet that's how often health experts tell us we should be eating beans. (Many recommend eating them even more frequently!)

Given the importance of beans to our health and the time constraints most of us are under, canned beans are a great solution and luckily, finding good quality beans that are free of additives isn't that difficult. Better brands of canned beans generally contain only beans, water and salt. Just make sure to check the label carefully before choosing your brand.

Unlike canned vegetables, the nutritional content isn't degraded during the canning process, so canned beans are equally as nutritious as dried beans that are cooked at home. The biggest drawback to canned beans is the high levels of sodium that many contain. Some contain almost 30 percent of the salt you need per day in just one serving. So always purchase low-sodium beans and make sure to drain and rinse them in order to get rid of excess salt (as well as the complex carbohydrates that cause gas).

Beans are a great source of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. A 1/2 cup serving provides 30 percent of the fiber that adults need each day, as well as 15 percent of the protein and 10 percent of the iron. They also contain folate for your heart and cancer-fighting phytochemicals.

So while canned beans may seem like the most boring food around, they are actually a quick and convenient source of inexpensive protein that can be added to salads, pasta, grain dishes or turned into soups, stews, loafs or dips. When using canned beans in place of dried, remember that they are fully cooked already and only need to be added into a recipe long enough for them to be reheated and flavored.