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.

What comes up if you Google… or search on YouTube?

random search result….

https://uistwholefoods.com/red-lentil-dal-with-ginger

Home made bread (breadmaker)
Eggs
Cooked chicken/ beef/ pork sliced
Pickled onion (pickled at home)
Baby spinach
Cheese (various kinds)
Various home made sandwick dressing gs - Italian, French, etc.
Falafel
Lettuce
Tomato
Olives
Pita
Dressing

Because this is the AIBU topic. OP has posted here when her question isn't about being unreasonable or not. She could have asked in Chat or Food/Recipes. Asking in AIBU is nonsensical and makes this site a laughing stock.

Ask in AIBU and be prepared to be told YABU.

Because cheese is by definition not boring.

For work lunches I usually do:

Chicken Caesar salad
Homemade/low UPF soup with sourdough
Sourdough cheese and ham (I know, blasphemy! It’s a treat) sandwich

I still would like to know why a majority consider the idea of wanting to reduce UPFs to be unreasonable. Given that these foods have been proven to be harmful to our health.

Totally agree. But there’s cheese, and then there’s real cheese. Sadly, a large proportion of cheese consumed is variations on a theme of processed garbage.

We've switched to Allinson's sliced bread, which is free of artificial preservatives and emulsifiers. This is the one we usually get. Tastes good, nice and moist, keeps well. https://www.ocado.com/products/allinson-s-signature-seeded/361707011

This one seems good as well. https://www.ocado.com/products/allinson-s-the-champion-wholemeal/361708011

Also even the nicest cheddar can get a little
dull and £££ after 3 days. Loads of ideas here though.

To be upf free successfully, you do need to plan ahead and batch cooking really helps.
For packed lunches, I take chickpea or rice salads, I make my own flatbreads/naans using yoghurt and flour.
Theres a brand of wraps that aren’t too bad - Crosta and Mollica.

Flatbreads are easy to make - just make dough, leave a while, then divide and roll out and cook in a frying pan - look up Paul Hollywood on you tube.

They freeze well.

Also fritters made with chick pea flour, grated courgette and an egg with other veg (leek, onion, peas, peppers etc).
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/recipe/leek-courgette-sweetcorn-fritters-with-rose-harissa-pesto

cook a pork shoulder on a Sunday - dinner on Sunday, sandwiches for the week and (depending on size of family and joint) another meal too.

Leftovers plus any of:
Salad leaves and cherry tomatoes
Fruit
Cheese cubes
Few raisins / nuts
Small piece of plain dark chocolate

Making packed lunches is arguably one of the easiest ways to follow a low/non UPF diet as you know exactly what's in it.

For sandwiches, Sourdough bread is about the healthiest bread you can get - Jason's brand has just four ingredients I think! Then you can alternate fillings: cheese (YABU for saying cheese is boring, there are SO many varieties!), tuna, egg mayo (homemade) and good quality ham with salad garnish.

Alternatively, you can have smashed avocado/hummus/tzatziki dip with crudités: carrot, cucumber, celery, peppers etc.

Snackwise, I tend to opt for popcorn and good quality dark chocolate - don't deny yourself a treat and if something is readymade just choose options that have the fewest ingredients.

Hope that helps.

Beef pie sounds nice....any particular recipe? Pie with a crust or mash as the top part?

I eat a tin of tuna and an avocado for lunch. Rarely varies!

People who don't own a breadmaking, do you still make your own bread?

We lack the space for one, and yeah, I can't be bothered to knead dough, prove it a d bake it every other day, so shop bought it is. It hasn't killed us so far.

Aldi do a sliced sourdough bread. It isn't sourfaux.

The first one contains oil, vinegar and molasses sugar. Real bread doesn't have these things in it.

Frittata is easy enough to make and freezes fine.
Lentil wraps are also easy and freeze fine, between sheets of baking paper, one cup of lentils (rinsed), two cups of water , leave to soak for 4 hrs and then blitz and fry in a pan, makes quite a few depending on the size of your pan, shove in whatever fillings you fancy.

I usually do pitta bread or part baked baguettes for my kids' sandwiches.
Sliced beef is usually the least UPF deli meat and I get proscuitto rather than ham as tends to be nitrite-free.

Not a sandwich but I make a ‘crust less quiche’ which is essentially eggs mixed with cottage cheese and baked in a cake tin. I add whatever we have in eg cheese, beetroot, onion, broccoli, tomatoes etc etc

I don’t generally have sandwiches. I might pack a pot of cooked chicken, sometimes marinated, and some cheese as my lunch ‘main’ these days.

Jason’s bread is non-UPF. You can get it in Tesco and probably other places too.

Doing this is pointless , your kids will eat processed as they get older a you probably don’t have the time to cook absolutely everything from scratch including baking bread. Just learn to relax and go non processed where you can .

Get an app called yukka, you scan arcades and it gives the product a rating out of 100 so you can see how bad/good for you it is. It also recommends alternatives, not perfect but at least you can make better choices. It can be used for cosmetics too and tells you why it has that rating