I just made a quick trip to the grocery store for a few items and decided to grab a few cans of chickpeas.  Yes, I use canned beans sometimes.  Beans are not difficult to make and once you get them in the pot to simmer they’re pretty much a no fuss meal.  But they take time as far as pre-prep and getting to the finished product.

To go quickly, I use canned beans. By the way, the secret to canned beans is to rinse, rinse and rinse some more. Pour them into a colander and rinse all of that water off of them.  That’s helps with the “gassiness” factor so many fear with beans.  It also gets the sodium and other stuff in the can off the product better (although not all).  You don’t want an excuse not to eat this protein rich vegan food.

But what I found today was a bit of a surprise.  I’m pretty good at reading food labels but hadn’t thought to read the labels on the garbanzo (chickpea) bean can.  I just figured it was beans in water.  But there was a price differential on two brands so I just took a look. I was shocked to see that the name brand had sugar in it. Why would there be sugar in canned beans?  Of course, that’s a dumb question.  Have you ever had canned baked beans?  They’re full of sugar.  Bargain brand didn’t have sugar.  Plus the sodium content was much higher than the bargain brand.  I’d been buying the bargain brand anyway so this just confirmed it was a better choice.

Don’t be like me and take for granted that canned beans or similar vegetables are simply what it says it is.   Yes, you would probably take a lot of the sodium and sugar off with the rinsing but why chance it?  Read the labels; the bargain brand just might be your go-to choice when you need beans for a fast meal.