Chickpeas and salt?

[Namechangeymcnamechange11]

A bit of an odd one.

Don't shout if it's a stupid question please

Just doing my shopping online and I normally buy Tesco chickpeas in a tin at 55p. The east end ones are 40p a tin, but they are in salt water as opposed to the Tesco ones in plain water.

If I buy the cheaper ones and wash before use, they won't be any saltier will they? Does salt get absorbed in chickpeas? With the amount we get through (veggie household), it could be a good saving if it's not going to increase the amount of salt in our diet

My guess is that they will be a bit saltier, and probably much smaller too. Some of the budget chickpeas are tiny.

Have you consider soaking and cooking your own chickpeas, then freezing them in batches? It works out much cheaper and then you know exactly how much salt they contain. I buy mine in big bags from the Turkish grocer.

400g tin of chickpeas is about 50p

500g dried chickpeas, which makes about 1kg chickpeas when soaked and cooked, is £1.15.

I buy dried. Also much nicer texture when you cook them yourself.

Should add: the 400g weight of a tin includes the water the chickpeas are suspended in in the tin. So probably only about 275g chickpeas.

I use the East End chick peas, I just drain and rinse them.

I don’t have the time or inclination to cooked chick peas from dried.

We use the East End ones and I haven’t noticed a difference.

Thanks everyone, I shall give them a try. I have often thought about getting the dried ones, but there is nowhere in my local area that sells dried goods like that. Aldo, chickpeas for us are 'convenience' food - quick curry, humous, falafels, tagine etc so having to plan ahead to soak them would be a bit counterproductive I think.
Thanks everyone!

I use the east end ones with no problem.

I soaked and properly cooked chickpeas this weekend... and remembered why I hardly ever bother.

It's low effort to do it from scratch, but requires more forward planning than is warranted by the quick meals I generally shock chickpeas into!

I do what BaronessB does. I soak then cook a whole bag at a time, then freeze them. They freeze individually, not as whole block and therefore defrost quickly. You use as many or a few as you need. It's like frozen peas.
I get mine from Asda. I would have thought that most supermarkets stock them.

Oh, and I do other things, too eg lentils and kidney beans.

It is a bit time consuming to cook them from scratch, unless you have a pressure cooker, in which case it takes 10 mins. I just put them in a bowl with water the night before I want to make something with chickpeas, or in the morning, so don't find the soaking a problem.

I do a whole bag at a time as they keep well in the fridge for a week.

Are you using a South Asian targetted brand? If so you absolutely need to wash the chickpeas before you cook them otherwise they will be too salty.

East End ones are nice quality, not tiny at all! And I don't notice any saltiness.

I always fully rinse tinned chickpeas and tinned beans in a sieve before cooking, the salt will usually be in the liquid preservative so this cuts salt content down dramatically.

Your tinned chickpeas are cheap! Here they cost 1,45 euro for 310g, which is 265g when drained. At 40p a pop I'd probably stop cooking my own.