Ultra processed food - help!

[Ossoduro2]

Just looking for some guidance on ultra processed foods. I’ve been feeding my kids whole meal seeded bread from tescos for years thinking it’s healthy but looking at the list of ingredients I now think it’s probably in the ultra processed category - can anyone advise on this and what to look out for. I don’t have the time or the will to bake my own bread so what’s the best option for me?

Also, for breakfast I’ve been feeding them shreddies and weetabix (Tesco’s own brand version) and again these seem to have more ingredients than I expected as well as added iron and vitamins. I assume being fortified doesn’t make these foods ‘ultra processed’ but perhaps the other ingredients does. Are these cereals all that bad or are they OK? It’s so confusing!

final point, I saw reference / link to a talk or podcast on ultra processed food on here a week or so ago but I can’t find the thread. If anyone remembers that and can point me in the direction of the link, I really wanted to listen to that.

Good quick options for breakfast that don't involve any UPFs could include:
Natural (unsweetened, preferably whole milk) yoghurt, plus fruit, nuts, topped with some rolled oats and/or seeds. Maybe a drizzle of honey, you could mix spices into the yogurt if you like.
Overnight oats - there are huge numbers of recipes online to do this. Stick to those that just use oats, seeds, nuts, real fruit, spices, milk or pure fruit juice as the liquid, & use yogurt, nuts, seeds, honey etc as toppings.
Porridge - takes very little time to cook if you soak it overnight in the fridge. Thick rolled oats take about 2 minutes. Even pinhead oats (where they're not steamed & rolled but just cut) only take about 5 minutes. You can do it in a pan or on the hob, obviously be careful not to let it burn/boil over, it needs gentle heat & frequent stirring.
If breakfast cereal is an absolute must, how about shredded wheat or an unsweetened muesli? You could add your own toppings, similar to those above.
Breadmaker if you can afford it & have room. Ideally make 100% wholemeal bread, but 75% or even 50% would be better than shop bought long life stuff. Most models have a timer, you can set it to go over the day, it will be ready to take out & cool in the evening when you get home & it will be ready to wrap (in a cloth such as a clean tea towel) & put in the bread bin, or slice & freeze (in an airtight plastic bag) by bedtime.
Eggs plus any combination of tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, peppers, courgettes. Do a scramble, omelette etc. Have with toast or just plain. If you precut the veg ahead of time it's pretty quick.

I can't eat most UPFs due to additives (I never know what's going to trigger a migraine) so I make most of my food from fresh. It also helps if you stop considering them as real food - I used to really struggle but I don't any more, I went out with a friend for coffee the other day & said no to all the cakes etc. She commented that I was really disciplined about food & I replied that food isn't nearly as appealing if you know it's likely to make you ill. UPFs do make you ill, it's just that the effects are less immediate.

FFS - meant to say, you can do porridge in the microwave or on the hob. I swear I proof read that...

I've massively cut down on refined carbs and therefore upf.
So small amount of potatoes or rice instead of pasta dishes. Sweet potato or roasted squash otherwise. Make wedges from potatoes. Loads of green veg. Quality sausages where the only ingredients are pork and seasoning. Chicken thighs or breasts.
No processed cereals apart from oats.
Peanut butter on apple slices instead of biscuits.
Strawberries after a meal instead of pudding.

Bread and processed meat very very occasionally rather than daily.

Is there a bakery near you OP? Most will slice the bread for you on their machine, and if you go on a Sat you can buy a couple of loaves and pop on in the freezer for later in the week.

If anyone's looking at breadmakers, look on ebay / Fb first. They're one of those things that people buy and don't use, so they are readily available 2nd hand for about £20.

Thanks for all your responses. This is really helpful.

The reason I was focusing on wholemeal bread and weetabix / shreddies because I was surprised that these were bad for my children to eat and they eat breakfast everyday and sandwiches (ie bread) in their packed lunches. I even feed weetabix and toast to my baby.

i am very time poor so I don’t think making my own bread is the answer although I’d love to be able to. I will check out the bakery and see if I can find something better. I’ll also try and persuade the kids to have porridge for breakfast - they eat it all winter so they like it. I’ll just have to ‘forget’ to buy the other stuff until they get back in the habit.

we do eat lots of UPF like preprepared pasta sauces, breaded frozen fish and ready made pizzas as well. I think I’ll just try to be more mindful when doing the shop and see if I can cut down where possible.

The podcast WAS the one mentioned by the first responder. I listened to it after seeing it on here and found it very thought-provoking. I returned to try and thank the original poster but I see it's been taken down.

I have tried baking bread this week and it was easier than I expected. Actually very quick - most of the time needed was for it to prove, during which time you can do other things.

I also feed DC Shreddies and have been trying to think of a healthier alternative. They really don't like porridge or eggs. When they're older I might try a granola which has very few ingredients but for now might end up being yoghurt and fruit! Watching this thread for inspiration!

@Tryagain2020 What about pancakes for breakfast? You can make a stack and freeze them in foil - just put them in the oven for 10 mins. They don't need anything added.

Obviously you can microwave them as well.

Maybe not for every day but as part of a rotation. I know it's white flour so not ideal as 'unprocessed' but better than cereal.

The batter is the same for Yorkshire pudding and as a child in Yorkshire I loved having them cold for breakfast - we had them with golden syrup but that's not going to help with nutrition.

I don't think weetabix/ shreddies for breakfast the worst thing in the world as part of a balanced diet including fruits and vegetables etc. Don't need to start making your own bread either if you are time poor and can't afford it.

If you don't think making bread at home is for you, for whatever reason, fair enough, try to buy bread with a proper crust, that goes stale rather than mouldy. That's generally an easy way to tell if it's relatively simple in terms of ingredients. Proper bread made the old fashioned way, doesn't last long out in the open air. Modern bread (the presliced type, usually in plastic bags), lasts several days but the flour has often had a lot of the natural bran, vitamins etc refined out of it, flour improvers & various other things added to improve the texture & colour, & vitamins artificially added back in as the bread would otherwise be nutritionally fairly poor.

So having said I didn’t think I had time to bake, I made pizza and some bread rolls from scratch. However, the ingredients on the dried yeast includes ‘emulsifier ( sorbitan monostearate) and flour treatment agents (asorbic acid, alpha-amalase). Does this not matter because the amounts are effectively tiny - being max 7% of the yeast which is only 7g of the whole recipe?

also, Heinz baked beans … ultra processed or not? I’m still confused about what is and is not ultra processed!

I think with baked beans you are fairly safe.

Heinz beans have:

Beans (51%), Tomatoes (34%), Water, Sugar, Spirit Vinegar, Modified Corn Flour, Salt, Spice Extracts, Herb Extract.

If I were to make baked beans at home I'd be putting similar things in the slow cooker.

With tinned food I think you have to look at the ingredients and think whether you could 'home can' and if you did would you use the same ingredients?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p09by3yy?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Tim Spector episode is interesting 😊