Freezing pulses

seraphina

Hi OS peeps,

I wondered if any of you had tried freezing pulses? I almost always use canned pulses (mainly chickpeaks and kidney beans) because it's far quicker than soaking overnight and then boiling for 45 mins. However, if I were to do a big soaking/boiling session once every while and then freeze the beans in can-sized portions, would they defrost okay? Could I just chuck frozen beans straight into a stew/curry or would I need to defrost them first? Or would it go horribly wrong?

Thanks in advance!

comping_cat

I have never frozen pulses on their own, but i regularly freeze other foods (such as a stew) which has lots of pulses in and i know people who freeze chillis, and they would have kidney beans in, so i would guess you would be fine to freeze them seperatly. I would prob defrost them before cooking them tho.

comping_cat

Just looked on the food standards agency website, and they say yes, you can freeze them!!!!http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/keepingfoodsafe/asksamstoringpreparing/#A220080 look at the heading should i refridgerate cooked pulses!!!

thriftlady_2

Hi Seraphina,
You certainly can freeze pulses this way,I do it all the time,and I add them by the chunk from frozen to stews etc.I've got a whole packet of borlotti beans soaking at the mo.Going to cook them tomorrow and freeze in tubs-as convenient as tinned beans but cheaper you can't lose :j

seraphina

WooHoo!

Thanks guys - will get boiling then! I nab the plastic pots that ready made pasta sauces come in off my friends - I plan on filling one of those up with beans and sticking them in the freezer

davidspd

Just been doing a cupboard check and realised i have a large number of tins of various beans (bought 3 for £1 at Sainsburys), but realised i never use them as i'm the only one that eats them. I also have various packets of dried beans but can never remember to presoak etc the night before for when i acutally need them.

So, is it possible to do a batch cook of my dried beans and then freeze them (in small portions for one)? If so how long do they last and do i freeze after soaking or after cooking?

Thanks
davidspd

Ted_Hutchinson

Freezing Cooked Beans
How to Store and Freeze Beans

Gingham_Ribbon

There's an older thread on freezing pulses, so I'll merge this to it to keep all the answers together.

overlykeensaver

I buy a 5kg bag of chickpeas at our local Chinese supermarket and do bulk soak, cook and freezing sessions of 800g (dried weight) at a time. I haven't tried freezing other pulses but chickpeas freeze really well. I soak and cook them then freeze them in 300g (cooked weight) bags. the only slight problem is if you decide to put some in your food but they are not defrosted - chucking a pile of frozen chickpeas into your simmering pot cools things down quite a bit but it soon heats up again!

nicki_2

YAY!!!!! I've been meaning to ask this for weeks :rotfl: I have a shelf almost full with dry pulses and I'm constantly forgetting to put them into soak overnight. Now I'll start a little production line of soaking, cooking, freezing and clear some much needed space in my food cupboard :j

DonnaP

Hi

I have also been meaning to ask this!

I thought I might try freezing them on a tray like you would freeze other vegs and then transfer them into containers when they are frozen.

That way you can get whatever quantity out of the freezer you want.

Donna