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.

Today I had omelette and salad (it maybe took 5-10 min to prepare - courgette and onion omelette, chopped cucumber, pepper and tomato, and leftover bulgur wheat.) Yesterday I had a different salad - leaves, cucumber, leftover sauted aubergine and courgette, and cottage cheese.
I always have frozen pepper and frozen red onion so often use in omelette or cook a piece of chicken when the oven is on and make fajitas.
Sourdough bread and egg mayo sandwiches (I buy mayo so that is upf) or chicken and avocado sandwiches.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread/easy-flatbreads/

Baba ganoush is simple and can be frozen⁹

Depends on your recipe, surely. Nothing wrong with oil, vinegar and sugar, anyway. Humans have been eating them for millennia.

I nearly always take leftovers. I make a bit extra of the cheapest part of the meal, eg stir fry I’ll do extra rice and veg and add cashew nuts the next day. Sometimes it can be a bit of a weird meal but I’m hungry and don’t really care.

I also make simple soups in my Instant Pot like minestrone with added lentils. Very filling.

Plain Greek yoghurt with maple syrup and chopped fruit and nuts.

I’m on the mason jar salads after being a salad dodger my whole life. You put the dressing at the bottom and layer it so if doesn’t go soggy so they keep 4/5 days in the fridge. I use quinoa plus a tin of chickpeas for the carbs with meat or cheese and some salady fruit/veg plus maybe nuts and seeds.
I also do a few lentil/dahl things but I have a microwave at work.

Not RTFT as no opportunity so apologies if duplicates but a few brands/options that are non upf

Jason’s Bread and rolls (except tiger bread which has dextrose in it)- lovely and now flying off the shelves
Lindt chocolate -70% and above
Crosta & Mollica - pizzas and wraps as well as breadsticks and snacks
M&S - new range of non UPF cereal

we always buy Greek yoghurt (full fat) and add in fruit rather than buying any flavoured yoghurts.

There is more appearing on the shelves now as retailers are tapping into shoppers new habits to avoid the shite they’ve been pumping into our food for years.

I usually have berries, Greek yoghurt and Brazil nuts for breakfast. I buy frozen berries as they are much cheaper and i can have a variety, so I put in the microwave for 5 min to defrost and usually that 5 min is (just about) enough to prepare lunch

As many others have said, get yourself a bread maker or bake pittas or bread in the oven.

https://www.jasonssourdough.co.uk/pages/the-great-white

this is a good bread, limited ingredients, can get from Tescos

For filling, when I do a roast, I also buy a turkey leg and roast it. It’s cheap and I freeze it sliced up for sandwich fillings. Much healthier and cheaper than processed sliced meat.

I do.

I find the kneading really satisfying and the proving I do in the fridge.

I do partly because I love kneading and partly because freshly baked bread is delicious

But of course shop bought bread won't kill you

I follow em the nutritionist on insta and she makes prepable sandwich fillings and they are delicious (lots of chicken and yoghurt features heavily). Have them with a salad or a grain pouch instead of bread? Or on cold new potatoes?
Cohens bagels and pittas from Ocado are UPF free, freeze them and defrost as needed.

I’m gluten free and usually have a salad or leftovers
In winter home made soup or a jacket potato
some days I just have fruit and yoghurt

I don't do sandwiches often. I take leftover dinner whenever I have leftovers, and I make egg bites, pizza muffins, cauliflower cheese cups, and things like that and keep them in the freezer and just take out a couple for lunch. Then I either make a salad to go with it, or just cut some cucumber and carrot sticks and take some sour cream to dip them in.
But I do keep a pack of crispbread at work and some spreadable cheese in the fridge, both UPF but sometimes I need something to eat at morning tea break.

Crosta e Mollica wraps or most shops do low or no UPF bread, just need to read labels

Fillings:
Eggs
Cheese
Hummus (homemade)
Sliced beef with no added preservatives
Tofu

Served with

Crudites
Plain greek yogurt with fruit
Homemade flapjack or energy balls

Hard boiled eggs, cous cous salad, roast chicken salad, wholegrain crackers and cottage cheese, peanut butter sandwich with good bread, home made hummus and crudités.

To pps buying the Crosta & Mollica "wraps". They are in fact piadina, and are fabulous with Parma ham (which is not UPF), and rocket, or with Cream Cheese and Parma Ham and Rocket. Should be a cheese called Stracchino, but you can't get it here sadly.

They also do really nice panini, fill with pesto, tomato, mozzarella and Parma ham.

I'm not this poster and not much of a cook but many of these things really aren't time-consuming.

Easy to make bread in a breadmaker - it is genuinely five minutes or less, especially if you are making the same loaf with the same ratio of ingredients again and again.
Then hummus, again, easily homemade and freezeable in batches - five ingredients and a stick blender.
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. - Roast chicken obviously has a long cooking time but you don't need to stand there supervising it. The roasting veg can be shoved in the oven midway.
Swap bread for grains, cous cous, quinoa, barley, rice - couscous typically just needs boiling water poured over it, the rest cook in the same time as rice.

I think this poster has suggested some eminently sensible and quick swaps!

Bread - if people don't want to/can't make their own or afford the Jason's type, pitta bread at most major supermarkets is typically UPF free.

Never have sandwiches.

I always pack a salad which has a load of 'heavy' veg ( ie edamame, carrot, beetroot), seeds, chickpeas - different things all the time. I add some sort of protein, and also something that is good for the gut, like kimchi or sauerkraut.
I semi prep a bunch of stuff, but then add what I like on the day. It's always slightly different , filling and tasty☺️

I have lunch rules that I use to avoid extra snacking, carbs and upfs, which work really for me (have used the system for years, as part of losing and maintaining a loss of 20kg) . Basically, I use a 750ml container and every morning I prep it with at least 6 different fruits and veg, whatever is available and seasonal, one source of protein, and one type of nut (usually unprocessed, occasionally roasted).
I also occasionally use dried fruit or homemade pickled /preserved stuff, and homemade salad dressing or vinaigrette.

It sounds joyless and boring (yeah, it's essentially a salad with protein every day) but it I find holding to some ingredient rules forces me to be creative, while balancing my diet, and because I buy and keep fresh veg available to make a lunch every day, I shop more seasonally and make better choices/have better ingredients available for cooking family meals. Takes 5-10 mins prep, max.

Yesterday s lunch was rocket, apple, edamame beans, celery and pepper, with feta and roasted almonds
Today nectarine, cucumber, spinach, tomato, radishes, red pepper with slices of roast beef and walnuts.

I agree.

It all takes some time obviously but I work full time and have young children and can manage it.

It's all about fitting it into your daily routine.

The way I do it - but everyone's routine will be different is:

We have 2-3 types of vegetables with every dinner - usually roasted or raw. I do extra to have for lunches

If I do rice or pasta with dinner, I make a bit extra

I spend 15 mins every week, usually on a Sunday morning, doing some extra bits - I put some eggs on to boil, I whizz some hummus and pesto in the food processor to have on hand for the week, I often make a salad dressing as well or other type of sauce (e.g. harissa). Sometimes if there is a lot of leftover suitable veg, I do a frittata which takes slightly longer.

When I am clearing up from dinner, I then assemble a lunch or two: a carb (left over or do some couscous quickly or bread/wrap), some vegetables left over from dinner, some protein (leftover or eggs done earlier or cheese) with some hummus/pesto/dressing (prepared earlier)

It sounds more complicated than it is but I really don't find it takes that much time. It's more about have the right ingredients on hand.

Panasonic are best ime

Hummus - five ingredients and a stick blender - that sounds good. I always seem to end up with an enormous amount when I've tried to make it, but I hadn't grasped that it can be frozen. Can anyone explain how they go about it?

The ingredients I would use are chickpeas and possibly some of the liquid from the tin/jar/cooking them, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, a touch of paprika and coriander, and perhaps a little olive oil.

I just put it in the freezer in a container.

Then defrost overnight