What are you eating?

[brewski]

By the way, when you freezed your beans, do you dry them off first?  Or freeze them in their cooking liquid?  I've never frozen just beans before now.

It's fine to freeze them in the liquid, especially if you seasoned them and the liquid might be useful for soup, but usually I drain them and freeze them as is. Works great. Initially I cook them with minimal seasoning, e.g., salt, pepper, and maybe roasted garlic powder.

[brewski]

Update for @Kalevala: this excellent article yesterday in The Guardian on beans suggests freezing cooked ones in their liquid "to keep them plump," so I will probably try that the next time.

[Kalevala]

Update for @Kalevala: this excellent article yesterday in The Guardian on beans suggests freezing cooked ones in their liquid "to keep them plump," so I will probably try that the next time.

Thanks, I'll check it out.  I did do a bit of googling after your comments about freezing, and from what I recall reading, they all suggested freezing them in their cooking water; which makes sense.    Do you have a spare freezer (chest or upright)?

K

[Kalevala]

@DavidW How is the change in diet going?  Do you have any favorite websites/books?  A couple which came to my mind when you mentioned what you were trying to do:  Cooking Light and Eating Well.  I'm sure that it's not easy making changes when you're working full time, I do get that.  I find it helpful at my end is to make things that I can get a number of meals out of and/or freeze recipes or use something like, say a roast chicken, to make other dishes out of it [I sometimes buy a roasted chicken from my co-op].  And freezers don't need to be big:  there are ones from (for example) 3.5 cubic feet on up (Did a quick google).  Reheat and add some fresh veg on the side and/or salad and bing!  You have dinner or lunch!  Or a soup, etc., to bring to work to reheat.  Just some ideas.  I get that it's hard to change ones diet and be "ultra healthy"; none of us are perfect [Some better than others].  You are not alone.

Best wishes,

K

p.s.  Food doesn't need to be boring/dry, etc.,  to be healthy

[brewski]

Do you have a spare freezer (chest or upright)?

K

I do not, alas, just the compartment above my refrigerator. Most of the time, it is enough space to store leftovers, a loaf of bread or two, some frozen fruits and vegetables, and ice. 

p.s.  Food doesn't need to be boring/dry, etc.,  to be healthy

And just chiming in to say, "I agree!"

[Kalevala]

I do not, alas, just the compartment above my refrigerator. Most of the time, it is enough space to store leftovers, a loaf of bread or two, some frozen fruits and vegetables, and ice. 

And just chiming in to say, "I agree!"

And @DavidW too. The hard part with using a freezer/fridge combo is that if you don't use the food quickly enough, it can and will get freezer burn [Fridges with a freezer have an automatic defrost cycle which is nice in terms of not having to empty out the freezer section, put it in coolers, and shut off and defrost and clean out the freezer, BUT there's a trade off in terms of lifespan of the food and quality].

One of the nice things with having a strictly-only freezer is that you can buy things on sale, pick your own fruit, cook and freeze meals, etc.

Just some thoughts.   

K