Ultra-Highly Processed Foods

[TheRealMBJ]

At risk of sounding defensive here but I almost always cook from scratch and very seldom resort to pre-prepared or oven dinners (,maybe once a month)

However, all of this talk recently that demonises Ultra-processed foods is another stick to beat working mothers with.

Sometimes I feel something has to give and I can't always plan, shop, execute a fully cooked from scratch meal every night of the week.

YABU - Get your Arese into Gear woman and organise your life

YANBU - this is just another way to make woman feel guilty. Get the fish fingers out!

People seem to be confusing "processed" with "ultra-processed". A quick trip to the frozen section of the supermarket might clarify.

Frozen peas, corn - processed. As they are snap frozen, often better than fresh. What is in the package? Peas. Or corn.

Pick up a packet of something else there, a ready meal, turn it over and read the ingredients. If it is a short list that makes sense, with recognisable ingredients, then it may be somewhere in between.

Same with tinned foods.

As the poster said above: Ultra processed = more than 5 ingredients, especially if it includes ingredients you can't buy separately in the supermarket, such as maltodextrin, emulsifiers, hydrogenated anything, xanthan gum, soya lecithin, "flavourings", sweeteners etc etc

Blimey a dollop of horseradish or mustard or mayo isnt going to kill anyone.

Well no, obviously not. The main thing would be to avoid most UPF foods, especially the ones you tend to eat in large portions / quantities. But if you want to try and cut it out altogether, there's nothing wrong with looking into how to make your own versions of things like sauces, if you've got the time and energy. 'It's not going to kill you' is a fairly low bar for what you choose to eat

Trying to work full-time,

Oops,posted too soon.

Trying to work full-time outside the home, ferry kids here,there and everywhere, shop, cook and feed nutritious meals to a family including an ASD very fussy eater while maintaining a budget has sucked all the joy out of food and cooking for me. It is just impossible to balance everything.

I used to love cooking pre-kids and have always been very interested in nutrition and health but now I just can't manage it all. It was ok when my kids were younger and I worked part-time but as they get older there are so many different things going on that some short-cuts have to be taken.