Are supermarket sandwiches healthy?

[Wingingthis]

Opinions? Like Jamie Oliver ones or co op, Sainsbury’s etc

[lughnasadh]

It's a sandwich. Surely you can see what's in it.

And how are you defining 'healthy'?

People get so angsty over food.

[Wingingthis]

I mean healthy as in not too processed etc. Just wondered opinions

[lughnasadh]

Sorry, I sound like an arse .

I just hate having to deal with children refusing to eat cheese, or potatoes, or bread, because some idtiot at school has taught them that there are 'bad' foods, based on a woeful misunderstanding of nutrition.

[netflixismysidehustle]

Healthier than a KFC for lunch.

The ones I've eaten use more butter and mayo than I would

[AriettyHomily]

Well it depends what's in it.

A pret club has pretty similar calories to a Big Mac.

[merryhouse]

The bread will be the same sort of bread you buy off the shelf.

The protein will be the same sort of protein you get by itself - sliced ham, cheese, eggs, tuna and so on. Some of that is more "processed" than others.

The salad is salad - by themselves, lettuce beetroot avocado what have you are nutritious and not messed about.

In order to keep the sandwiches together and stop them going dry, there will inevitably be some kind of dressing. This is where you're likely to get the higher level of fats and extra chemicals (preservatives, thickeners, possibly sweeteners) that might be considered sub-optimal.

I'm not personally a fan of mayonnaise so I generally avoid supermarket sandwiches, but if you'd be happy to eat it in a sandwich you've made up yourself I don't think it being prepackaged is going to made much difference.

[SilverYellow]

Nope I don't consider the vast majority healthy at all. The sad thing is I used to before I started 'logging' all of my calories on MFP.
I was astounded to see that a chicken sandwich was around 450 calories... because of how much mayo was in it.

[Drivingdownthe101]

Depends on the sandwich I guess. And what measure of ‘healthy’ you’re using.
Chicken, avocado and mayo on rye bread? Lots of calories but high in protein and good fats. Slice of ham between 2 slices of bread... lower calorie but less nutritional value.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Healthier than a KFC for lunch

Not necessarily. If I go to KFC I get a ricebox with sweetcorn. Bit of chicken, rice, salad and sweetcorn.

Many supermarket sandwiches will have more calories, carbs, salt and fat than that.

The answer is very much 'it depends'. Some sandwiches are very calorific, especially if taken as a meal deal with crisps and a soft drink. And people consider this to be a 'light meal'.

It's more about what you eat overall and the content of the sandwich itself. Two thin slices of wholemeal or rye bread, salad and an unprocessed filling like plain chicken is fine, but thick white bread with ham and cheese, or chicken mixed with bacon and mayonnaise, not so much, not something you should be eating every day.

[Augustseemsbetter]

@lughnasadh, so true.

Cheese is unhealthy really tipped me over the edge!

[user1471523870]

I tend not to look at the calories when I decide if food is healthy or not. Shop bought sandwiches are not the healthiest option out there IMO, but there is worse.
Bread is processed bread, normally with a higher amount of sugar and salt, sometimes with some sort of preservatives. Ham and other cold meat is processed food. There are normally sauces or spreads.....Everything else it really depends....

[nikkylou]

Depends on your definition of healthy.

By processed. Well by nature they are very processed Someone isn't lovingly crafting each one, roasting chickens to slice off the bone and fresh mayo. They go through all sorts of machines, and the various ingredients go through a number of processes in turn, with probably more ingredients than you add at home, to enable it to stay on the shelf for the full day without going soggy.

A healthy 'to-go' lunch is few and far between. Sandwiches are almost always bundled in a meal deal. So you're looking at I suppose an average of 500-600 including your crisps.

It isn't the worst option, swap your sandwich for a pasta pot, and you could actually end up with it being more. The salad pots also seem better but are often filled with high calorie ingredients to make them less boring.

But none of them compare to getting mcdonalds or kfc for lunch.... or even subway.

And it's not just looking at calories...a pasta pot might be higher in calories than some nuggets, but the pasta pot (hopefully) might contain more nutrients from veggies etc., and fill you up longer.

To be clear I know these places do have a healthy option; subway salads can be amazing and filling. But while you can get a healthy option, the temptation is there for a less healthy option, which when you're hungry and picking the first thing that you see, you have more high calorie low nutrient foods on the menu and therefore less likely to make a 'healthy' choice however you define it.

[sweetbirdofjuice]

depends what's in them but I think a lot of meal deal options can make a reasonably balanced sandwich lunch really unhealthy, adding a large bag of crisps and a coke on a regular basis isn't a great habit.

[MrsR87]

Healthy in terms of having one instead of a McDonalds or KFC then yes.

Healthy when compared to one you an make sure self at home with healthier, more nutritious ingredients and less preservatives, then no.

I consider myself to be a healthy eater and would have these every so often but I wouldn’t have one every day. 😀

[LittleMissA]

They vary a lot shop to shop! I like a certain salad the co-op sell and it's around 350 calories, if you get the equivalent from Tesco or Waitrose it's around 550 calories and not necessarily a bigger portion. Usually the healthy versions of sandwiches are around 270-300 calories. They all have the nutritional info on the front now.