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Discarding soaking water can reduce some oligosaccharides associated with gas and other soluble compounds. It can also carry away minerals and nutrients. There is no single rule for every legume: fresh cooking water may help digestive tolerance, while using the soaking water can also be reasonable if you tolerate legumes well.
An overnight soak is a convenient target for chickpeas and many dry beans because it gives the seed time to hydrate before cooking. Longer is not automatically better, and a bowl that will sit beyond overnight is better kept refrigerated.
The lowest-calorie meats are usually very lean cuts. Per 100 g cooked, skinless turkey breast can be around 135 kcal, lean pork tenderloin ~141 kcal, very lean eye of round beef ~157 kcal and roasted skinless chicken breast ~165 kcal. Fat content changes the ranking more than the animal name itself.
Among commonly eaten fish, salmon, herring, sardines and mackerel stand out for EPA and DHA. NIH lists about 1.83 g EPA+DHA in 3 oz (85 g) cooked farmed Atlantic salmon, ~1.71 g in Atlantic herring, ~1.19 g in drained canned sardines and ~1.02 g in Atlantic mackerel.
Canned legumes are not nutritionally inferior simply because they are canned. Once both forms are cooked, protein, fiber and carbohydrate are broadly similar. Added sodium is often the biggest difference, and draining and rinsing can reduce it substantially.
You do not have to rinse canned beans for safety. Rinsing is useful when you want less sodium or less packing-liquid flavor: one study found a 36% sodium reduction after draining and 41% after draining plus rinsing.
A 90/10 label describes the raw mixture: roughly 90% lean tissue and 10% fat by weight. It does not mean 100 g cooked meat will contain exactly 10 g fat, because cooking changes both water and fat content.
Meat kept continuously frozen at 0°F (-18°C) remains safe indefinitely, but texture, flavor and juiciness gradually decline. Ground meat is generally best within 3–4 months, while many whole beef cuts can retain good quality for 4–12 months and fresh pork cuts for about 4–6 months.
Foam on chickpeas, beans or lentils during cooking is normal. Proteins, saponins, starch and other soluble compounds move into the water and help stabilize bubbles. It is not dirt and does not mean the legumes are spoiled.
Cooked 90/10 ground beef is about 230 calories, 28.4 g protein and 12 g fat per 100 g. Cooked 84/16 pork is about 289 calories and 20 g fat, while 96/4 pork drops to about 187 calories and 7.2 g fat. Fat percentage changes the result more than species alone.
Cooked Atlantic mackerel provides about 262 calories, 23.9 g protein and 17.8 g fat per 100 g, including roughly 1.2 g EPA+DHA. It is also exceptionally rich in vitamin B12. Atlantic mackerel should not be confused with high-mercury king mackerel.
As a conservative guideline for cooked leftovers, lentils should be used within 3–4 days when promptly refrigerated at 40 °F (4 °C) or below. Cool large batches in shallow containers and do not leave them at room temperature for more than two hours.