In some parts of the world, baked beans are a staple that are served with many different meals, at many different times of the day. Fresh and canned baked beans have been a savoured treat for many years, and with good reason. This affordable, delicious, and easy to freeze dish is someone that allows flexibility in taste, and easy preparation. In parts of the world, many people primarily eat baked beans from cans to complement an unhealthy breakfast, but the truth is that baked beans are among the best recipes to master and enjoy - whether fresh, or frozen for later.
Baking beans is a skill that requires a small amount of planning and patience, but one that will serve your taste buds and your budget for years to come. By mastering a good recipe for frozen baked beans, you’ll be prepared to add a healthy, tasty, and easy to heat side to any meal of the day.
One thing you might be surprised to learned is that freeze-baked beans are actually a stew. Most commonly, baked beans will be a stovetop creation that allows them to simmer in sauce,absorbing the flavour.
Are baked beans healthy?
Baked beans, frozen, fresh, canned, or made at home, are a nutrient-dense and protein-rich food. Beans themselves are an energy powerhouse, providing a lot of calories and healthy protein that you can use throughout the day. That said, many baked beans are made with recipes that provide a lot of additional sugars, unhealthy additional ingredients, and empty calories.
Beans and other legumes are an excellent source of Vitamin B and other important minerals. Beans are a key part of a healthy diet, and when eaten in place of unhealthy foods, can help to reduce unhealthy blood sugar, and can help to bring down cholesterol. Anyone who exercises a lot and has a focus on a balanced diet will also be happy to know that baked beans are a source of calcium and potassium.
In some people, eating too many beans can lead to indigestion, and may prompt migraines in sensitive individuals. That said, beans are suited for the diet (and palate) of most people, and are a wonderful way for those who are trying to reduce their meat intake to ensure they are still receiving the protein they need every day.
Where available, most varieties of baked beans are made from Haricot beans, but many beans are suited for stewing (hence their popularity in dishes like chille).
Learning to Freeze Baked Beans
One of the best parts about baked beans is how easily they freeze. Unlike many staples, baked beans retain their flavour when frozen, and can even be more delicious when reheated. Beans are a hearty legume, and their tough exteriors help them to stand up to cooking, boiling, reheating, and freezing very well. When you freeze baked beans, you’ll want to follow a few key tips to be sure they stay delicious when you heat them again. Follow the tips below and you’ll find the best way to preserve your beans for later enjoyment:
Find a baked bean recipe that suits your taste buds
Many baked bean varieties can be sweet, made with preservatives, prepared with meat products, or be a little bland for some people's’ taste. By finding a great recipe to enjoy, you open yourself to the option of making and freezing baked beans to enjoy regularly.
Choose appropriate storage
Select and air-tight container to store your baked beans in when you’ll be freezing them. Be sure the container is airtight and appropriate for the freezer.
Cool before freezing
Before placing your baked beans into the freezer, be sure to give them the time to cool to room temperature to avoid freezer burns and issues with condensation
Stay fresh
When you’re freezing your beans, be sure to seal your chosen container tightly, and to mark the container with a date. Baked beans will stay delicious from the freezer for 5 to 6 months after their preparation date. Be sure to note the date so none go to waste!
Extra sauce
We recommend a little extra sauce in the recipe if you’re hoping to freeze a batch of baked beans. This tried and true secret will allow your beans to be covered when frozen, allowing you to avoid freezer burn. As an added bonus, additional sauce can make it a bit easier to reheat baked beans, providing a boiling area for beans to heat slowly from frozen
Undercook beans for the freezer
When preparing a batch of fresh baked beans for the freezer, many cooks have a trick for ensuring their baked beans turn out perfectly every time. By slightly under-soaking or under-cooking your recipe, and leaving the beans a little tougher than you desire, you’ll be sure that beans that come out of the freezer for reheating stay fresh, and never get too mushy
Baked beans are one of the few meals that taste just as good fresh as they do out of the freezer. Ensure you follow these tips to allow you to enjoy months of freeze baked beans after one afternoon of cooking. One bonus tip: freezing beans allows you to try refried baked beans recipes - a perfect Sunday morning treat.
Cooking with Baked Beans
Beans are a versatile legume, suitable for many sensitive diets, and very versatile when baked (or, stewed really). In general, baking beans involves coming up with a tasty and delicious sauce that seeps into the beans through the cooking process. But, the choices you have for your sauce are endless, and there are countless recipes you can try for sweet, sour, savory, or spicy baked bean recipes. With such a simple preparation method, it can also be very easy for you to develop your own signature sauce for baked beans.
Once you’ve gotten used to having beans in your diet, you’ll come to appreciate the versatility and easy healthy addition that freeze baked beans can bring to any meal. One of the benefits of cooking with beans is being able to plan and freeze ahead. But, an added benefit you may not have considered are some of the tried and tested recipes that are based in bean leftovers.
Twice-baked beans, refried beans, and other indulgent and delicious treats have been developed to take advantage of this delicious and cost-effective leftover. One of the best benefit of cooking with beans is that, although these nutrient rich legumes add so much to your diet, they also cook up deliciously in a variety of ways to make for a savoury and delicious treat.
Are frozen baked beans affordable?
Baked beans are a very affordable source of healthy protein, nutrients, and fibre. They make a perfect replacement for meat in an affordable meal, and there are many ways you can enjoy this delicious staple without having to spend too much. One of the most affordable staple recipes in the world involves eating beans and rice, and having baked beans prepared and available for this simple meal is an easy way to save on food costs for busy families and students.
Canned baked beans are the true staple in many parts of the world. While the majority of baked beans tend to be priced fairly affordably, they are also a staple item that tends to go on sale occasionally. If you’ve developed a taste for beans, or freeze baked beans, stocking up when these canned beans are on sale is a great way to save on money, and always have a staple on hand.
Truly, the most delicious and affordable way to enjoy baked beans is to buy in bulk and make your recipes at home. Finding a recipe you like, or coming up with your own allows you to buy dried or fresh beans and create a recipe that is low-salt, free of preservatives, and suited for your own taste and dietary restrictions. If you’d like to do a little more cooking with beans, be sure to familiarize yourself with the bulk section of your local grocery store, or with a health retailer. Keeping an eye on sales can help you to prepare baked bean servings for only pennies apiece.
Baked beans, and freeze baked beans are particularly affordable because they so rarely go to waste. Useable as a side dish for any meal of the day, and as an addition to easy recipes, beans will not lose their flavour or appeal when frozen.
Meal Prepping with Frozen Baked Beans
Freezing baked beans is one of the healthiest, easiest, and most delicious ways to add protein and flavour to your meal prep. Suitable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the right baked beans recipe can compliment almost any meal, and turn something bland into something you look forward to. Freeze-baked beans are perfect for meal-prep, as they provide the flavour, sauce, and freezer-proof texture that is needed for a great meal-prep base. Baked beans are also a perfect dish to introduce picky eaters to legumes, as even those who are sensitive to taste tend to enjoy this delicious and tasty treat.
Meal prepping is a wonderful way to monitor your diet, work toward health goals, and to save money. Baked beans and frozen baked beans compliment this goal perfectly. If you’re vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, low-protein, or struggling with your cholesterol, be sure to add baked beans to your weekly meal prep rotation.
Baked beans are particularly ideal for those who may be looking to lose weight, a real motivator for meal-prepping. The filling nature of beans (and all legumes) can help people to feel fuller after consumption, helping to limit the urge to snack or to cheat on a strict diet. Once you’ve mastered the basics of soaking, boiling and baking your beans, the taste is your to play with. You may find yourself experimenting with a variety of different flavours, and even expanding your ingredients to include delicious spices, and even expanding to currying an freezing your beans.
On their own, beans are a fairly bland, tasteless, and tough legume to eat. But with the right preparation, they tend to absorb the taste of sauce beautifully, lending to a comforting, consistent flavour that most people can’t get enough of.
Digestion issues with freeze baked beans
While freeze baked beans are an excellent and healthy choice for most people, we all have our individual digestive challenges, and some people may have difficulty with digesting baked beans. In some individuals, digestive issues and sensitivities can lead to suffering from migraines. Others may find they get a stomach ache after eating too many beans, or that they suffer from the legendary flatulence that comes along with eating beans.
Making your own baked beans
Baked beans are abundantly available in cans, and a key staple food. In fact, it may not even occur to some people that this is a dish that you can actually make at home, from scratch. The option to make baked beans at home allows you to play with flavour, customize for dietary restrictions, and allows you to freeze large batches of this delicious side-dish for future use.
But, cooking baked beans may take a little more time than you had anticipated. Beans are naturally a very tough legume, with a tough exterior and shell. To make them palatable for recipes, it is important that you soak them overnight, or bake before use. This all comes before selecting the perfect baked beans recipe, which can vary from spicy, to sweet, to vegan.
One of the key skills you’ll want to master, particularly if you’re aiming to freeze baked beans, is the art of cooking long enough that beans are palatable, but not so long that they become mushy.
It is very important that you soak or boil your beans to soften them before use, and this will also have an impact on your final product. It may take you a couple of batches to learn to perfect the art of stewing your beans perfectly - but you’ll be so happy when you come up with a tried and true recipe you can rely on.
Freezing baked beans is an essential skill to master
Once you’ve mastered the art of baking and freezing baked beans, you’ll want to always have this staple available in your freezer. Unlike a lot of foods that we freeze, baked beans provide a healthy and cost-effective meal addition without losing flavour or texture through the freezing process. This is a perfect thing to have on hand for families with unpredictable schedules.
As many families move toward the healthy approach of cooking their own meals, shopping for fresh ingredients, and saving by planning ahead, baked beans are a staple that should definitely be incorporated into the weekly meal rotation. Perfect with breakfast, lunch, or dinner, baked beans can be made to suit any palette, and are a filling and delicious comfort food for days when you don’t feel like cooking. Plan ahead and freeze baked beans to ensure you always have a quick, delicious, and affordable snack available to you in the freezer.
