To wonder what people trying to reduce UPFs eat in adult packed lunches and sandwiches?

[Ka1eChip]

I’m not going nuts as regards this and have always cooked from scratch but trying to reduce the amount of processed food we eat .Breakfast and dinner are easy but sandwiches and packed lunches I struggle with.

Can you get low processed bread( if so where) and what about fillings? Cheese sandwiches are dull, processed meat is a clear no and then tuna you can’t eat in abundance… What else do you be put in a packed lunch?

What do other people have?Is 1 or 2 processed items a day (eg a yog and granola bar) ok.

Easy to make bread in a breadmaker. Then hummus, again, easily homemade and freezeable in batches, lovely with roast veg, or Grated carrot and spinach. Homemade pesto. Roast chicken with beetroot and or roast sweet potato chunks, roast and or onions...or salad leaves. Swap bread for grains, cous cous, quinoa, barley, rice

My favourite lunch is leftover dinner though. Minimal effort.

Bread machine bread and egg, tuna, nice ham, smoked salmon, leftover roast chicken or beef, home made hummus or other spreads made from mashed up pulses.

You must have a lot of spare time.

Leftover dinner. If you don't have anywhere to heat food, sourdough bread is the best unprocessed thing there is. I make a couple loaves a week in the evenings to bake the next morning. But for me, knowing that sandwiches and crisps and bars weren't an option helped steer me towards better food.

Difficult to buy non-upf bread. I mostly take homemade salads, soups or leftovers. I often take crisps, but I stick to ones that are just potatoes, oil and salt, so not exactly healthy, but no chemical nasties.

I eat gluten free, which makes it easier to avoid sandwiches, because gf bread is mostly shit (and is even more UPF than other bread!).

Fruit and a bit of good dark chocolate are much better than yoghurts and cereal bars in terms of UPF.

Most bread as you recognise is UPF. So is most yogurt and stuff like those cereal bars.

You need proper sourdough or flatbreads, or pasta/rice salads! Greek/kefir yogurt, nuts, seeds and dried fruits.

Also hummus, olives, cheeses, tomatoes, roasted vegetables and some other protein.

Or a kebab.

OP if you are not one of these people who has the time and space for a bread maker, or quite frankly can’t be bothered, this loaf from Sainsbury’s always features in low upf lists. We buy it and it’s a good compromise.

Homemade sourdough rolls with cheese & salad, or banana slices & almond butter, a small tub of nuts, some fruit & a couple of squares of 100% cocoa chocolate.

Sourdough is really easy, it’s more about waiting for the dough than anything.

Make my own bread every other day - it’s easy, cheaper than bought, and better for you.

Fillings: egg mayo, tuna mayo (make those at home very easily, survive in fridge a few days), cheese and pickle, leftover cooked chicken - anything you like!

If you like ham, buy a gammon and cook and slice it. Way cheaper than packets of sliced ham, and tastier too.

Even if I had the cooking skills, I would really struggle to do this for packed lunches every day around full-time work. What is your secret?!

Does it often take you a long time to roughly chop ingredients and put them in an oven, blender or breadmaker? I can’t see any reason it would take ‘a lot of spare time’ unless you are very slow.

I throw a chicken or gammon in the airfryer/ slow cooker most Sundays and me and DH take that with salad / bread (I keep meaning to try to make sour dough but haven't got round to it)

If I cook gammon I use the stock to make peas pudding too - I'm Northern 😋

I usually make a coleslaw too - I'm interested in learning to use more grains etc too though...

Space yes, but what time is involved? There's not even any washing. You add flour, salt, yeast and water and press go. It couldn't be simpler.

Does it have to be sandwiches?

If we take sandwiches on a picnic I often take goat cheese, beetroot and salad with garlic mayo.

Otherwise usually things like couscous with roast veg and feta, pesto pasta with mushrooms/ spinach/ sunflower seeds

I usually make muffins or tray bake once a week to have as snack. You could easily take to work. I use whatever is in season. This week was rhubarb and strawberry yogurt muffins as glut from garden

I don't. That why I eat leftover dinner.

I tend to have salads in the summer and soup in the winter. I don't find it that difficult to achieve - we eat a lot of vegetables with dinner and usually have left overs.

So - for example, one of today's side dishes is roasted sweet potatoes so my salad for work tomorrow will likely be lettuce, sweet potato, feta and whatever else I can find from the veg drawer. I throw it together when clearing up after dinner.

I've started buying Crosta & Molina (i think its that) wraps. They have minimal ingredients and no weird stuff in them. Then fill with hummus, tomatoes, mackerel fillet, feta and salad. Delicious.

I do Gousto meals and any leftovers have for lunch the next day.

To be fair I wouldn't mind trying a bread maker.

humous sandwiches
egg sandwiches
sour dough bread

My adult dc mostly take some sort of salad. In the winter they sometimes take leftover stews, soups, curry, bolognese (they have access to a microwave)
Salads usually consist of a mix of whatever we have but always these three elements.
Carbs
cous cous, rice or pasta
Protein
Tuna, prawns, egg, mixed beans. Cheese
Salad
Any combination of cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, carrot, peppers, olives, beetroot etc

I tend to cook extra pasta and rice so that it can be used for lunches and cook larger joints of meat to allow us to use it for other meals. Boiling a large joint of ham or roasting a large joint of pork is no extra work than cooking one that would only do one meal.

This week

roast pork and salad
home made tsatsiki and bread
sardine and jacket potato salad
grated apple and carrot salad with walnuts & vinaigrette
chicken pasta salad

A decent food thermos also worth getting. I think hydroflask do a nice low one that’s bowl shaped more. Easy to take leftovers or chunky homemade soups. I often make a kind of chunky minestrone soup for hiking that’s using up whatever is in the fridge

Those of you taking mixed beans / grains - do you buy ready cooked / cook your own?

Do you flavour them?

Salad & Spanish omelette :)