You know how it goes…
Beans, beans, the musical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
Now you’re ready for another meal!
Sorry, I had to! 
Canned beans are a great way to save money and boost the nutritional profile of your meals. My local grocery store, for instance, often offers a 2 for $1 sale on canned beans, which I always snap up. Canned beans are great to have on hand because they’re easy to toss into salads, pasta dishes, or even mashed and spread on a sandwich. Plus, they add lots of filling fiber and protein as well as a plethora of vitamins and minerals to meals. Beans sound like the perfect food, huh?
But, the thing about canned beans is that they’re not all created equal. Their scores vary depending on what (besides the beans) has been added to the can. For instance, my seemly nutritious Goya Black Beans only scored a 54 on the NuVal scale. (I’m not going to lie, I was pretty surprised.) It turns out the sodium content (460 mg) brought down the score. Bummer.
So, I scoured the NuVal database to trade-up my canned beans. Here’s what I found at the top of scale:
- Eden Organic Black Beans (NuVal score: 100)
- Eden Organic Navy Beans (NuVal score: 100)
- Eden Organic Pinto Beans (NuVal score: 100)
- Eden Organic Aduki Beans (NuVal score: 100)
- Eden Organic Black Eyed Peas (NuVal score: 100)
- Goya Black Beans Low Sodium (NuVal score: 91)
- Goya Chick Peas (NuVal score: 88)
- Hanover Chick Peas (NuVal score: 72)
As you can see, the Eden Organic Beans totally rock! I’m definitely going to trade up my black beans the next time I am at the grocery score. A 100 is a lot better than a 54! 
Developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts, the 
What about the Goya low sodium beans? That’s what I usually get and they’re way less expensive and easier to find than Eden…
If you rinse the beans first before you use them, doesn’t that get rid of all the sodium?
I’m curious if the score goes up if you drain and rinse the beans because that’s what I do and they’re not salty at all!
@Beth @ Beth’s Journey to Thin: @Lindsay @ Summit Sandwiches: It gets rid of some of the sodium which is found in the liquid; however, there still may be some sodium that has been absorbed into the bean.
Rachel S. Rodek MS, RD, LDN, CSSD
Or you could just avoid the sodium issue altogether by purchasing dried beans and then cooking them yourself.
I look for store brand, no sodium beans because they’re the cheapest for the health, but I’d love to try this eden. I also just cooked beans from scratch for the first time this week and it was so simple! just soaked them, cooked with salt, pepper, bayleafs, and an onion, and they took on a ton of flavor.
in order to also avoid the BPA (though doesn’t Eden claim to be BPA free? not that I completely trust that..) just make your own! dry beans are so easy to cook, I freeze them in 15 oz portions (just like a can of beans) so they are ready whenever. they cook FAST in a pressure cooker.
I need to find me some no-salt-added black beans. I do get the organic kind, but there’s still “organic sea salt” in it, and it reeeeally ups the salt content of my food.
I am excited to hear the Eden variety scores so well because those are my favorite ones to buy