If you are a working person who struggles to maintain a healthy diet based on home-cooked meals, then you came to the right place to look for effective ways to cook and save your meals for a longer time.
We know that you are often too busy or too tired to cook, so preparing food and freezing it for later is your best option. In fact, freezing your home-made dishes will not only save your money and energy but also highly boost your physical health and breaks your habit of consuming fast food on a daily basis.
Nothing beats the joy of coming home after a long day at work, to find a nutritious and tasty meal that you can get ready in only a few minutes. After all, Nutrition Bars and Protein Cookies can only last so long. How could our ancestors survive without a Chest Freezer or at least a Compact Refrigerator, I wonder?
However, it is essential to know that not all meals can be frozen and reserved. Some dishes are only good to eat when freshly cooked since freezing them can considerably change their taste or texture.
Yet, some of the healthiest and most delicious food can be frozen and preserved for months! Baked beans, for example, takes a lot of time to prepare initially, but it actually keeps its rich nutrients and great taste for a long time if you know how to freeze and preserve it properly. In other words, this article can be a true life-saver for baked beans lovers!
So, if you are looking for practical guidelines on how to save a baked beans meal for a longer time, continue reading to find out!
What Are the Health Benefits of Eating Beans?
Beans are a legume of the Fabaceae Family that is considered an indispensable source of fiber and protein, which are fundamental elements of any healthy diet. Also, beans are rich in amino acids and vitamins that make them excellent food with numerous health benefits.
The health benefits of Beans include:
Beans Offer Vital Nutrients
Beans contain essential nutrients that are considered critical to the wellbeing. It is also an excellent source of folate, which is mainly crucial for pregnant women for its high capability to hinder neural tube defects in a fetus. Lack of folate results in feeling weak and irritable, loss of appetite, and even heart palpitations. Moreover, beans are high in Zinc, Iron, and Magnesium.
Beans Are Rich in Protein
Protein is indispensable for almost every function your body does, and beans are an excellent source of amino acids that take part in the composition of protein.
Even though beans do not provide all nine amino acids, complementing your meal with grains or dairy products is enough to supply your body with the needed amount to function properly.
If you are following a vegan or vegetarian diet, beans could be your best protein source. It is also essential for people who have to control their intake of saturated fat or calorie-count in case of deficiency.
Beans Contain a Lot of Antioxidants
Beans consist of an essential antioxidant named polyphenol. Antioxidants aid your body to fight free radicals and hinder the major health drawbacks in which they might result. Free radicals are the leading cause of many body processes such as physical aging, inflammation, and cancer.
Beans Decrease the Risk of Cancer
As explained before, beans have essential antioxidants that are anti-inflammatory, and that can drastically lower the risk of cancer. Numerous studies on intestinal cancer have proven that fresh and Canned Black Beans contribute significantly in slowing down the growth of colorectal cancer.
Beans Enhance the Heart Health
Beans are essential for your cardiovascular health since they reduce remarkably the risk of many heart illnesses mainly heart attack and stroke. Some studies have also concluded that adding beans to your diet stabilizes your cholesterol level at a standard rate, which hinders the risk of heart diseases.
Beans Can Help with Weight Control
Eating beans help you feel full for longer and prevent your unwanted food cravings. This is explained by the high levels of fiber and protein in these seeds as well as starches that aid you to regulate your blood sugar level. As a result, you will better control your weight and even lose some kilograms eventually. If beans were an appliance, we’d add it to your list of Kitchen Gadgets for Healthy Cooking.
Beans Hinder the Risk of Diabetes
Since beans are rich in fiber, they have an essential role in maintaining healthy glucose metabolism. In fact, it reduces and maintains blood glucose levels, which actively fights diabetes.
What’s the Best Way to Store and Preserve Cooked Beans?
It must be great for bean-lovers to know that there is an effective method for how to freeze fresh and Canned baked beans without losing their good taste or texture. There are only a few steps to follow. We will be detailing the method below, but we insist that you have to stick to the guidelines and apply them correctly. If you fail, you will end up ruining your meal and losing both the taste and texture of these seeds.
First, you have to keep in mind that there are two types of cooked beans: the homemade and the canned kind of meals. So, each type has a particular technique of freezing to avoid ruining it. While most people prefer the home cooked version, too much knowledge is never an issue, so make sure that you can prepare great food either way.
How to Freeze Home Cooked Beans?
Preparing bean-based meals might need a lot of your energy and time, but it is all worth it when you finally have a rich and delicious dish. To avoid doing it too often, you can prepare more than you can eat at once and keep the rest for later. It’s time to get your Onion Chopper, Salt and Pepper Grinder Set, Brown Sugar, and Sauce Pans, isn’t it?
A significant advantage of homemade beans is not only can they be frozen but they also keep their delicious taste for up to six months. To get the best freezing results, here the tips to follow:
- Freeze the baked beans on the same day you have prepared them.
- Before putting them in the freezer, make sure the beans have cooled down to the room temperature on the Cooling Rack.
- The best container that ensures ideal food preservation is the airtight, freezer-safe Food Storage Container. It’s made of either plastic or glass, but you always have to close the lid tightly to keep the moisture locked inside.
- If you choose to reserve your food in freezer bags, you have to extract all the air before sealing them. It is effortless to do so just by squeezing the bag and zipping it simultaneously.
- Whichever storage package you opt for, you should label it with the date of freezing before putting it in the freezer. Hence, you will know whether the beans are safe to consume when you take them out.
- In case you want to be sure that your meal will last longer in the freezer, it is possible to season it with salt before placing it in the fridge. In fact, salt is an excellent natural preservative. Therefore, you will add more days to the quality of your frozen beans.
- Before freezing your food, you should remove as much air as you can out of your bag. In this way, you will make sure your food is preserved for a much longer time. In fact, excessive air in the freezer bag can hold harmful bacteria which contribute to the deterioration process and accelerate the spoiling of your meals.
How to Freeze Canned Cooked Beans?
As soon as you open a can of beans, you have to either consume the entire content or preserve the quantity left in a suitable container for later. You must never leave the seeds in an open can because this may result in severe food poisoning.
Many people believe that homemade beans are much better than canned ones, and only turn to ready meals when they cannot find time or energy to cook their own. Yet, there are plenty of brands that prepare canned beans while ensuring good taste and healthy intake. So, whatever your reason for choosing canned food, it is good to know that it can be frozen and kept for a long time. However, unlike homemade beans, the canned type can only last for three months in the freezer.
Here are the instructions you have to follow to preserve your canned beans in the best way possible!
- If you heated the canned beans, you have to let them cool down first and then put them in suitable containers or freezer bags just as we explained with the home-cooked ones. A glass container would be convenient too.
- Remember to save the freezing date on the label to avoid any confusion once you decide to consume them later on, especially that canned cooked beans are only safe for consumption within three months after opening and freezing.
- You should always freeze cooked beans rather than uncooked versions. In fact, baked beans can maintain well their taste, texture, and composition during the freezing time. Nevertheless, raw beans are very likely to result in a crumbly texture at the end of the preservation process.
How to Reuse Your Baked Beans After Freezing?
You probably already know that you should never put any food directly into the Convection Oven or the Microwave after taking it from the freezer. Instead, you have to place it in the refrigerator for some time until it defrosts.
For instance, if you intend to have a beans dish when you get home from work, take out your cooked beans from the freezer and place them in the refrigerator before leaving your house. That way, by the time you get back, you will find it ready for heating.
If you prefer to eat your beans hot, set your oven to the low setting and heat them, but don’t set the temperature too high or you might risk ruining the composition of the beans.
Our Final Thoughts
It is great to have a healthy and delicious meal such as baked beans, and it’s even better to know how to freeze and preserve it for a long time. So, whenever you cook beans and save some for later, you just have to follow a few easy preservation guidelines, and you’ll get the chance of having a rich and tasty dish whenever you want!
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