Heinz Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce
A fibre-rich, mostly whole-food pantry staple with no artificial preservatives, colours or sweeteners. Its main drawbacks are moderate added sugar and salt.
Ingredients (9)
Haricot Beans (Navy Beans)
Beans are a good source of plant protein, fibre, iron, folate and potassium. Their fibre supports gut health and helps with satiety and cholesterol management.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes provide lycopene, vitamin C and potassium. Cooking and processing make lycopene easier for the body to absorb.
Water
It is used to make the sauce and has no nutritional downside.
Sugar
Added sugar adds calories without nutrients. The amount is modest compared with most sauces, but it adds up if you eat beans often or alongside other sweetened foods.
Spirit Vinegar
It gives tang and balances the sweetness. At these levels it is entirely safe and also helps with preservation.
Modified Cornflour
Physically or chemically modified starches are thickeners that regulators consider safe. Their presence does mark the product as processed, but there are no meaningful health concerns at these levels.
Salt
Salt is needed for flavour and preservation, but canned foods can add a lot of sodium over a day. This is a concern mainly for people with high blood pressure, or for anyone eating several salty items in the same meal. Reduced-salt versions are available.
Spices
Spices are used in tiny amounts for flavour and have no safety concerns.
Herb Extracts
Plant-derived flavourings used in very small quantities are not a safety concern.
Healthier alternatives
It has the same familiar taste with noticeably less added sugar and salt.
Find on AmazonShort ingredient lists with no added sugar or modified starch.
Find on AmazonYou get the fibre and protein and control the sugar and salt yourself, for example by simmering them in passata with herbs.
Find on AmazonHeinz baked beans were first sold in the UK in 1901 at Fortnum & Mason in London, as a luxury imported product, long before becoming an everyday staple.