Reducing unltra processed food

[Illbefinejustbloodyfine]

Is there a good website/page i could follow that isnt extreme? But more realistic?

Isn't it just basic cooking from scratch, y'know, like our Mothers did years ago? 🤔

Just cut back on things that are in packaging, as said above more homemade.

Yes to cooking from scratch. I do this already but my nemesis is snacking or on the run eating. Any tips here. When I mean on the run I do not have time to prep!

When you have time to cook from scratch, batch cook so that you always have something available instead of buying microwave meals and takeaways.
If you can't live without treats, make your own flapjacks or fruit bars to eat during the week. At least you know what you put in them.

There's a Facebook group called "Reducing Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) UK" that's pretty balanced. Aim is reduction, not elimination.

I have done it over the last year.
80% of what we buy is completely unprocessed (ie milk, eggs, fruit, veg, meat, pulses, nuts, honey, oats, brown rice, herbs,).
17% is processed -flour, bread, Greek yoghurt, pasta, rice noodles, cheese, fruit juice, marmite, oat cakes, nice chocolate, fish fingers, oven chips (with potatoes and oil only), pesto, humus, ice cream (one with predominantly milk, sugar and chocolate), tins of pulses and tomatoes

3% Utraprocessed - Ketchup, fishfingers, chocolate biscuits, baked beans, rice pudding, pizza (though often make our own).

We eat
Breakfast - yoghurt with chia seeds, berries, walnuts and honey or porridge.
Lunch - salad with chicken or eggs or three beans, or an omlete.
Dinner- 100s of things. Meat and 2 veg, curries, noodles, pasta
Snacks - I quite often bake flapjacks or biscuits or have shop boughr or humus and veg sticks, fruit.

The kids will sometimes have fishfingers and DH loves a pie.

It has been really easy. Get year head around processed V Ultraprocesssd and aim not to buy it.

Ok. I am already mostly like this. I bake an apple cake at the start of the week.

My weakness is crisps. Also DH and DC insist on crappy white bread which I also end up eating.

Thank you, thats heloful. I will check it out

Most of our dinners are cooked from scratch. I was lookibg for a helpful resource for things such as breakfasts and snacks. I often have crackers for lunch for example. The dc do eat too many packaged snacks.
But - i am very time/energy/money poor so just want to do what i can without reading that i have to mame my own bread!

I think the easiest way is to just cut out snacks.
I went low carb and found that reduced my UPF dramatically.
I just have meat and salad or meat and veg for every meal. No snacks. I do have cake now if I’ve made it myself. Much cheaper to eat fewer ingredient meals too.

There are a couple cookbooks on Amazon that I’ve found good - https://amzn.eu/d/994rEbP and https://amzn.eu/d/dy3Eyry

We were gifted loads of shortbread for Christmas……OH is quite the connoisseur on it now 🤣. Other than that we have no commercially made biscuits or snacks in the house, when these are gone I’ll revert to making my own.

As for main meals, everything is home cooked and I batch cook so there’s always something to fallback on during busy times. The slow cooker is your friend on this and forward prepping saves loads of time ie dicing fresh meat, peeling and dicing veggies, adding seasoning etc and freezing together ready for use when needed.

We only eat two slices of bread a day and making our own simply wasn’t cost effective, it went stale before we finished it so the bread maker has gone for recycling. Reading food labels is crucial if you want to avoid all the nasty additives.

Tinned soup is outlawed in our house now, there’s so much sugar in the tomato soup! I now make our own using fresh seasonal veggies and lentils, beans etc.

I cannot remember the last time we had a takeaway to be honest, not even been to the local chippy for months.

There are loads of no-cook snack recipes on the internet too. Breakfast is proper porridge in the winter months and overnight oats in warmer weather.

Theres currently a documentary on Channel 4, I think, that follows people reducing their intake of UPF and the benefits this has on their health. Might be worth a watch.

Bread is annoying. It should be easy to bake but time gets in the way.
I am so much better than we used to be and its been easy. The teens do eat.out sometimes but there have been no complaints.

I'm doing similar. Want to stop buying as much upf. Will use up what we have in the house, not do the dramatic throw it all away like on tv. I have joined the facebook group, as it can be easier to keep something up with a community. I didn't even think of things like my aldi 85% chocolate being upf, but it has emulsifier in. I need to try divine chocolate to see if it tastes ok as a reasonably priced alternative. Also considering a bread maker, but not sure if it would just end up being an expensive counter decoration.

Breakfast is the meal I struggle most with. I often make a batch of pancakes or waffles at the weekend that I can use in the week or freeze and reheat. Banana, greek yoghurt, honey and oats. Some Tesco croissants are just processed not upf (though they have a short shelf life and lots of plastic packaging). Toast and jam with homemade bread and Bonne maman jam (or occasionally homemade jam).

I do make my own bread now- it is so much nicer so there is no going back. It also helps with the snack problem - toast or bread and butter! I make 2 or 3 loaves at a time and freeze it. I don't use a bread maker. A pp said that loaves go stale and I did have that problem, but I saw a tip to freeze the bread ready sliced then you only need to defrost what you will need. And I turn stale ends into stuffing, breadcrumbs or croutons. And on bread making day I often make extra dough to turn into homemade pizzas.

I am not obsessive - reducing not eliminating is key. This year I'd like to get more into making stock/ stock cubes but I'm time poor and storage space poor.

mellongoose

you can have crisps, I have these non upf ones 😊

You won’t get shop brought low upf snacks from what I have seen. I’d just try and eliminate snacks altogether. If you are eating real food with lots of protein you don’t need the snacks.

I agree with this. I try to avoid ultra processed food but there is a difference between processed and ultra processed. Cans of tuna are processed but they’re a staple in my diet.

Definitely try and avoid anything with modified oils and starches, many seed oils and most nut milks such as almond, oat milk.

There are Facebook groups. Some will berate you for using tinned tomatoes and fruit (you must buy your own fruit trees, duh!)

Rule of the thumb, don't buy anything with more than 5 or 7 ingredients. Don't buy if it has something you don't know what it is or you know it's a flavour enhancer, colouring or wird preservative. Also be wary of water content.

I agree to cut out the real UPFs first - so the packets with huge long lists of ingredients.

Crisps are processed but are just oil and potatoes and salt. Things like Monster Munch or other ‘corn snacks’ are a lot more processed so avoid those.

Buy vegetables ( fresh or frozen) and add them to your plate in abundance. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. They’re so good for you and will reduce the need for snacking later.

Try reduce your UPFs steadily not overnight. It will be much easier to maintain if you do it gradually.

edited for typos

If you want more info try The Public Health Collaboration's Real Food Rebellion.
The PHC is a UK based charity with the aim of improving the metabolic health of the UK.

https://phcuk.org/rfr/

They have a free course over 8 videos on YouTube.

Bake your own biscuits, flapjacks and cake. Lots of loaf cakes last 3-4 days and a batch of cookies is easily done. Depending on the age of your children get them to do the cookies.

I got a breadmaker 2 years ago and now hardly eat packed bread. I can bake from scratch and love it but I just don't have the time in the morning to have fresh bread at lunch so the breadmaker does it for me.

Replace shop bought snacks with plain yoghurt with honey/fruit/oats at home. If you have a blender, make smoothies. Or just fruit, a slice of bread with jam or butter.
I decided it's not worth the battle and accept that crisps are there to stay but buy the ones which are potatoes, salt and oil and don't get Pringles or similar crap.

Being out and about is the main time when I just buy what's there but it's now seen as a treat and not a regular thing.

Speak for yourself. My mother raised me on ready meals. She doesn’t even make her own roast potatoes!

Try to have home made food where possible, especially every day food (bread, porridge, pizza).
Don't sweat the small stuff, like soy sauce on your stir fry or mayo with a salad.
Remember "processed" isn't UPF, traditional made foods like cheese, bacon etc are mostly ok. And preserves like jam are usually just fruit and sugar.