To ask for your recipes which reduce or don't use ultra processed foods?

[nutbrownhare15]

The recent coverage of UPFs has been a bit of a wake up call for me in terms of the family diet. Read this report today https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/upfs-marketed-for-infants-and-young-children 😱Convenience is a big factor, but it's become habit as well and we tend to eat the same sort of dishes on rotation, the freezer is stocked with UPFs and my kids are used to having UPFs for snacks. I'm not looking to exclude them from our diet completely just ways to reduce them or reduce the amount of processing in the foods we do eat. So I'm asking if people could share quick and easy recipes that their kids find palatable to expand our repertoire including for snacks. One thing I'll be doing is getting the bread maker back out to make more fresh bread. We are a vegetarian household but I'm not asking for exclusively vege recipes in case this thread helps others.

Greek yogurt and jam or fruit is popular in our house.

Tonight we had jacket potatoes and cheese, fried mushrooms, broccoli. I regard this meal as pretty UPF free.

Would like more ideas.

This thread has quite a lot of ideas:

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/foodandd_recipes/4820922-if-you-try-your-hardest-to-avoid-ultra-processed-foods

I make basic soups that begin with frying onions in butter and then adding tomatoes, or squash, or whatever. I do use stock cubes though, but you can get good quality stock or make your own.

I also made a lot from an elderly Good Housekeeping cookbook. Things like beef stew are quick to assemble if you've got time to let them simmer.

Veggie food IME takes a bit longer. Butterbean casserole with cider was a regular when DC were younger (the alcohol cooks off, obvs).

If you got the time to make your own shortcrust, flans are pretty easy - another staple which the DC would wolf down.

And stir fried rice. Nasi goreng (Malaysian fried rice) is lovely, and you could probably swap out the chicken for Quorn. Cook the rice the night before, because it needs a chance to dry before you fry it.

Make your sauces (curry, pasta etc) from scratch. It's really not a big inconvenience at all once you get into the swing of it and if you want you can make big batches and freeze them. I haven't bought jar sauces for years.

A similar thread about this clearly showed that many of us don't have much idea exactly which foods are ultra processed and which are not.
I saw several posts which thought that cheese, for example was ultra processed when it is not necessarily, but fruit yoghurts were ok (despite many of these having long lists of ingredients including sugar in several guises, stabilisers and emulsifiers. )
There is much confusion between processed food, and ultra processed. So I'd like to see a definitive list or lists.

https://www.loveandlemons.com/shawarma/ make own bread to go with it or buy a 5 ingredients one ready made.

Wholemeal spaghetti with any veg you have in, garlic, herbs, tinned tomatoes. Add tinned mackerel if you like it, or chicken or whatever.

Wholemeal rice with this https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/burrito-bowl-chipotle-black-beans

Frittata

Salmon fillets with sweet potato and salad

Have a look at the Roasting Tin series of books, they're usually quite straightforward recipes: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rukmini-Iyer/e/B071V6JDK7/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

A lot of cooking from scratch is, by nature, going to be UPF-free because you're using natural ingredients. That's not necessarily a guarantee; some cooking sauces/pastes are UPF and sometimes one brand of something can be UPF while another is not (e.g. peanut butter). But ultimately you've got control over what ingredients are used, you'll know what they are and can check them in advance.

It's not perfect but this site is a good checker for ingredients: https://world.openfoodfacts.org/

We are vegan and eat as whole food as possible. I’m also very busy and the only cook so I cook for the week on Sunday.

Breakfasts - oats in some form, baked, porridge or overnight with lots of fruit.

Lunch - I make a massive pan of veggie soup which we have with homemade bread or bread from the bakery. Sometimes lunch is leftovers instead.

Dinners - tonight was lentil and vegetable shepherds pie with roasted veg, last night was daal and rice with salad, I make pasta sauces. I just adapt whatever I fancy to have nothing pre-packaged in it.

The only UPFs we have in our house are condiments and I’m working on finding alternatives to our favourites!

Oh - you asked for snacks too.

I only snack on raw fruit or veg. DS also has raisins/other dried fruit, peanut butter spread on a banana, homemade banana muffins, ‘nice’ cream made from blended frozen banana, a handful of frozen mixed berries and cocoa powder.

Hang on- pasta, jam and quorn are all processed food.

I don't understand this UPF thing.

Peanut butter is processed food

This is mad

There's a difference between processed food - which has had its form changed - and ultra processed food which have lots of ingredients which are not food/not available in your own kitchen.

Sounds like a sales pitch to me

Tray bakes.....diced potatoes or sweet potatoes,any veg you fancy and add fish, chicken or any kind of meat... drizzle with olive oil (is that processed?) Lemon juice, herbs and spices.

Home made meatballs - turkey mince, red onion, garlic, fresh herbs, black pepper and Parmesan cheese, 2 eggs and a heap of heap of breadcrumbs. Serve with lettuce and homemade flatbreads and plain yoghurt.

• although uses brown breadcrumbs and I buy bread supermarket bakery so is that UPF?

I think people are tying themselves in knots about something that doesn't have to be complicated (so yeah, I agree it's a sales pitch). Basically just eat real food (ie actual ingredients that you cook) and don't eat too much shit that's full of weird ingredients.

Even the pure nut butter ones?

Peanut butter that has one ingredient - peanuts, is processed, not ultra processed.

A peanut butter that has palm oil, emulsifiers and other stuff is ultra processed.

The difference is quite clear. Anything stacked full of things you don't recognise, or wouldn't use at home is likely to be a UPF. So breakfast cereal like Cheerios or whatever are UPF because they are kind of reconstituted. Some granola might just be processed, because it is oats, nuts etc cooked.

Decent jam may just be processed not ultra processed, because it is just sugar, fruit, pectin or whatever instead of lots.of chemicals and sweetener.

Good quality peanut butter would just be processed not ultra processed for the same reason.

Your body reacts differently to some of the ingredients commonly used in UPFs, hence people avoiding them. Processing is just another term for changing or cooking in some respects.

"And stir fried rice. Nasi goreng (Malaysian fried rice) is lovely, and you could probably swap out the chicken for Quorn." Isn't quorn UHP? I'd use mushrooms or aubergines if I was being super careful.

fruit yoghurts were ok (despite many of these having long lists of ingredients including sugar in several guises, stabilisers and emulsifiers. )

Lots of MNers say sugar are NOT UPF. Have as much sugar & salt as you like & they say you're still eating low UPF.

There is much confusion

I agree with that !!

i so can't be arsed to embrace this new Puritanism. I Love jar sauces. DS makes his own pasta sauce, he's so proud of himself. DH & I glance at each other behind DS's back & totally agree making-own = inconvenient faff.

I make a lot of Roasting Tin recipes. There are several books by Rukmini Iyer, but once you've got the hang of the concept you don't need a recipe. Basically, chop veg & put it in a large roasting Tim with olive oil, salt, pepper & herbs, pop your protein source (eg salmon steaks, chicken thighs or halloumi) on top & oven roast until done.

Most peanut butter is processed not UPF.

The What Mummy Makes book/blog has lots of simple stuff that has that “easy carb” vibe without being UPF. A lot of it variations on cheese + egg + veg theme, but at least actual foods, that are quick to make. I can’t imagine any child objecting to most of the recipes too much, they’re not particularly challenging iykwim.

I also use the slow cooker a lot. Bored Of Lunch again is lots of palatable recipes that just work. He doesn’t faff around with browning meat first etc either which I really appreciate.

Salmon steaks brushed with honey and wasabi, under the grill for 20 mins, with rice and frozen veg, splash of soy sauce.

Soups in the soup maker.

Baked potato with cheese/tuna etc

I keep the freezer stocked with frozen chopped onion, garlic, ginger etc, chopped butternut squash etc. Saves loads of time. Veg side for dinner is often frozen. It’s processed but not ultra processed. I struggle with time management and am not a great cook so I go for the easy wins. By taking these shortcuts we manage to mostly eat food cooked from scratch.

Just cook as much as you can from scratch as PPs have said. I make pasta sauces, curries, stews, soups and casseroles in a slow cooker. I eat proper food ie. we had fresh tuna steak today, not something from a supermarket freezer with strange ingredients. Ultra processed foods make me very ill so it's something I've been interested in for a very long time. My other half likes processed crap, eg. Supermarket pizza and margarine, but I can't partake. I've seen margarine before the colouring goes in, it's grey 🤮 good luck, you won't look back xx