How did you reduce your Ultra Processed Food consumption

[RollingInTheCreek]

Have just listened to the 'A Thorough Examination' podcast and was horrified. I thought we ate well, we cook a lot from scratch but especially with the kids foods etc. We use the odd packet (e.g old el paso), they love ham and sausages although I have really tried to reduce this due to the carcinogen risk, and they love ice lollies etc.
We are going to use up obviously any cereal, fishfingers etc so it doesn't go to waste but then I am really going to try and make some changes to our eating habbits. As I said we do eat fairly well and have an allotment so lots of homegrown fruit and veg but we can do better!
My plans are:

• Make fingers/chicken goujons myself with breadcrumbs


• Less bread/crumpets etc overall and buy from local bakery instead of supermarket


• More fresh produce, eggs, etc


• Dippy egg, porridge/overnight oats or yogurt and fruit for breakfast


• Less processed kids snacks e.g malt loaf (would appreciate ideas for alternatives! Cucumber sticks and hummous etc.?)


• Eat less meat generally and more veg based meals and fish

If you have tried this do you keep using things like marmite? I know its processed but we all love it and I feel like making big changes will mean small things like that should be fine.
Appreciate anyones experiences!

Ah ok. I’d still be a bit suspicious of date syrup. But definitely better than normal shreddies. I miss cereal!

I’ve only recently (I’m in my 50’s!) learnt that I can make home made chips really easily (thanks Gousto!) by chopping up potatos into chips, drizzling with olive oil and bit of salt and putting in oven. They are much nicer than frozen chips, even the kids prefer them.

I do a lot of food tracking (not for everyone I realise) and I would say that if you aim primarily for 30g fibre a day you will find that you end up eating a lot of wholegrains and veg and that's half the battle really. Choose protein sources that you can cook from scratch, have the occasional hammy bacony cripsy treat and you're probably doing all right. But I also have a lot of sympathy for those who have long hours and big commutes because the last thing you want to do when you get back is start prepping a mountain of veg. It's got to work for you and your family or what's the point?

It's worth looking up Delia's recipe for 100% wholemeal bread, by the way - absolutely delicious and foolproof (I am that fool)

I’m realising how much of my kids’ diet is UPF. They’re both fussy and staples of their week are sausages (once a week), wraps and mayonnaise. Along with crisps and breakfast cereals as weekend treats. And ice-lollies too. Sausages will take a long time to wean them off - it’s their favourite dinner. Wraps I can prob switch them off relatively easily as I already make my own bread, which they like. I’ve made my own wraps/ flat breads too. Mayonnaise though? Are people making their own??

Same. DH does a few scratch meals but generally there's a lot of sausages, burgers and nuggets. I try to cook decent stuff when I'm off work but it doesn't make up for it!

I really want to start doing this but it's so daunting. My oldest boy basically eats ready brek, fruit and pesto pasta with the odd sausage or ham sandwich thrown in. I've no idea how im supposed to get him to eat things like vegetable curry and salmon traybake

Good quality sausages can be category 3 food- so processed, but not ultra processed.

You can make your own pesto, and then it wouldn't be UPF, ham is level 3 (as long as good quality) and bread from bakery or homemade. It doesn't have to be vegetable curry. It's about swapping what you already eat for non-processed versions if you can.

Some people on another thread were making their own mayo, but apparently you can buy some in shops that is less processed.

@SunflowerGardens agreed, this all seems very very daunting not to mention expensive and time consuming . Some of us are struggling to feed our kids at all at the moment

Following - really helpful thread , thank you !

@lollipoprainbow were working on an 80/20 approach and managing to keep the food shop under £75 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids (6 and 2) but I don’t know your budget.

breakfasts - porridge with fruit, weetabix, bakery bread toast (with shop bought jam but I cannot make my own)

lunches - one at school; one at nursery, I have salads or soups or jacket potato

dinners - homemade chicken nuggets or fish fingers. Roast chicken and veg. Tonight is salmon tacos. Last night was homemade burgers with steak mince from the butcher. Sausage and mash (butcher sausages) Thai green curry. Tomato and Boursin pasta.

I haven’t heard this pod cast but will do , I tend to low carb so pasta bread aren’t in my diet anyway
i always find little tweaks , get used to them , and then some more tweaks , eventually your new way of eating will become the norm

@TorviShieldMaiden where does one find out what level a food is?

I cool almost entirely from scratch but I have found amongst my peers I seem to be the exception rather than the rule. My mum never scratch cooked so maybe it's generational. Regards to breadcrumbing. It's much tastier that way (and you can season how you wish) and is easy as pie to do

Thanks so much, that's really helpful

@Flockameanie, regarding making your own mayonnaise, I’m seriously considering it, especially if I’ve made cakes with eggs whites which then leave me with spare yolks. Even though most recipes call for a mixture of oils in the mayonnaise, I have olive oil made from arbequina olives which doesn’t have that harsh taste that can spoil it.

world.openfoodfacts.org/nova-groups

This has the classification and a list of foods.

The basic rule though is if the ingredient wouldn't be found in the average domestic kitchen, then it is upf.

Well this thread was the final push to order the breadmaker I've wanted for years!

This is a better general list and info:

world.openfoodfacts.org/nova#:~:text=Group%204.&text=Ultra%2Dprocessed%20foods%2C%20such%20as,any%20intact%20Group%201%20food.

Joining this thread as recently listened to the podcast, and oh my, was really shocked at how much our ' we cook from scratch ' was actually UPFS ...
I'm having trouble about a few things, but the main thing is veggie sausages and veggie mince...we eat a hell of a lot of that stuff in our house ..any good alternatives..have read through the thread, but may have missed as have covid atm !

Thanks @TorviShieldMaiden - I’ve downloaded the app

I've been reading this with interest and adapted my online shop accordingly today.

Once you start looking at ingredients it's pretty shocking.

The only thing I am concerned about now is milk and yoghurts and soft cheese - my children and I are dairy intolerant so have to use the soya versions and they are full of stuff! Not sure what I can do?

We go eat goats cheese but the kids love soya milk with their cereal and the yoghurts in packed lunches or with fruit for dessert.

Any ideas?

Thanks

If anyone drinks non-dairy milks, a lot of them are UPF. I get the Plenish brand, only 3 ingredients.

Plenish

My kids love crisps and I wondered if anyone has seen a foolproof recipe ? I remember when I was a child there was a street food vendor near our house who did fresh crisps and they were so delicious and only potato, oil and salt I think.

This is so helpful thank you .
we have a nice butcher and deli nearby so I’m going to get the occasional sausages and ham from them as treat food as will be more ££
I might also try making some mayonnaise.
this thread has been really helpful so thanks for all the responses and it’s a great place to share recipes! I’m planning on trying to Jamie Oliver yogurt flatbreads with grilled chicken tonight for dinner!