Do you have questions about nutrition? Send them to us at comer@lavanguardia.es, our nutritionist Aitor Sánchez will answer all your questions.
Are canned stews such as lentils with chorizo or garden beans a healthy option? (Antonio García, reader)
Hello Antonio,
Canned dishes have improved a lot in recent years and we now have very good options in different supermarkets.
The best references would undoubtedly be garden lentils, bean stews or chickpeas with spinach. They are a very good way to increase the consumption of legumes and have very reasonable prices, so they can constitute a very good wardrobe essential. In addition to the cans in which the recipe usually comes cooked and ready to heat, we also have more and more options in cans or jars, and in some cases the recipe is not finished and does not usually include the typical sauce or spices. But it can be a very good idea for those people who want to save time with some chard, spinach or chickpeas that have already been prepared and cooked. It all depends on what we are looking for.
It is a good idea to look at the ingredients, especially in two aspects: the type of oil and the amount of salt. We have more and more preserves that work with olive oil. This is great news because years ago many manufacturers used only sunflower oil. It would also be ideal to choose those cans that have less than a gram of salt, an indicative amount to indicate that they do not have an excess of salt. Finally, we recommend that we not always focus on those recipes that have sausage, it is true that they tend to be very small quantities of chorizo or blood sausage, but precisely for this reason we can focus on the options that are more vegetal.
Also say that they can be the base of a dish if they are scarce. For example, if it doesn't seem like a lot to us, we could reinforce the preserve with some fresh spinach leaves, even if we are very active people we could add a few noodles or a cooked potato. If we want to give a more homemade appearance and a more professional finish, with a little paprika and a splash of olive oil the flavors are much more noticeable and the final result even feels "homemade."
Is there any way to reuse expired eggs? Cook them, for example? (María Dolores Gutiérrez, reader)
Hello María Dolores,
Eggs are one of those foods that do not have an "expiration date" per se, but instead we refer to a "best before" date. If we have preserved them properly, there should be no problem in being able to consume them once that date has passed, not for many days, and as long as they look good. Let's go a little deeper into this.
The key here would be to keep them refrigerated, away from intense odors and protected from impacts. Of course, as would happen with any other fresh product, it is possible that the egg has gone bad if we have not preserved it correctly, for example, if we have damaged the shell, or if it has been hit in some way that has allowed microorganisms to enter. inside and proliferate. So the best before date may not have been passed, but it does not meet all the hygienic guarantees. We should always inspect them visually before cooking, just as we would with an orange or a tomato.
A good indicator is the exterior appearance of the egg, but also, once opened, it is always good indicators of freshness that the yolk does not move too far from the center and that the white does not spread too much. However, we could find the case of an egg in which the yolk has moved slightly and the white is even "scattered", which if it does not present any other alert such as changes in color or changes in smell, could even be in good condition. to be consumed.
One of the homemade tricks that usually works very well if we have doubts is to submerge the egg in a container of water: if the egg remains submerged it is a good sign, while if it floats or rises to the surface it is telling us that it has air has entered inside and it is much more likely that we will have to discard it.
If the best-before date has already passed, we have to do this inspection even more carefully, given that the microorganisms have had more time to reproduce.
