I cook with a lot of beans. When I first started my plant-based journey, I used beans as a primary meat replacement for protein. I could do everything from make burgers to smoothies (yes, I make a delicious bean smoothie that doesn’t taste like it contains any beans). So if you found nothing else in my kitchen, you found a LOT of beans.
In the beginning (because I can be a food snob), I only used dried beans. That means prep time was a beast. I had to soak them overnight (who wants all that gas inside their body?), before cooking them and freezing them in bags for individual recipes. To say that this process was tedious is an understatement. But I had the time at that time so I didn’t worry too much about it.
When I founded Habibi Sport, everything changed. Not only did I lose that time, I also started building a roster of clients who were not interested in all that prep time. I realized that in order to make the nutrition programs practical, I’d have to shorten the prep time. So I turned to canned beans. Initially I was hesitant because I had it in my head that canned (cooked) beans were not as healthy as me doing it from scratch. But I quickly found out that this is not the case. Plus, because the beans have chilling in their own juice until you crack the can, that gas factor is a non-issue!
I will still go back to dried beans when I have the time, but most of my recipes now call for cans vs. cups of beans as the listed ingredient. It makes things easy, saves a ton of time, and you still get all the benefits of incorporating beans into your daily nutrition. I love both and will continue to go back and forth as needed, but if you’re looking to save time and still make the most of your meals, canned beans is the way to go.