To think it's impossible to eat a UPF free diet as an ordinary person?

[MyHealthyMission]

I mean ordinary as in, works full time, earns a decent but not huge wage, has free time but not entire days at a time to dedicate to cooking etc.

I'm on a bit of a health kick, and have turned my attention to eating whole foods and ensuring I'm eating as healthy as possible as we come into winter.

I've had a sourdough starter on the go for a while and decided I'd knock up some bread rolls and soup to have for lunch in the coming week because it's turned cold. Figured it would be a great, low UPF meal. Until I googled the beef stock, which is apparently a really bad UPF! Even the super expensive all natural concentrates are UPF. So unless you can afford to buy and boil a load of beef bones, it seems you're out of luck.

Obviously you can do the normal things like avoiding crisps, protein shakes etc. as they're all full of UPF, but when even things like stock cubes are stuffed full of them, it just seems impossible! AIBU to think it's just become impossible to eat a UPF free diet?

There is lots of great advice here but - buying exclusively at the cheapest end of the market - I've never come across ultra processed balsamic vinegar in the UK. It's just fermented grape juice and grape must.

Jams, vinegars, pickles, miso etc tend to rely on traditional preserving methods but seem to be getting caught up in the UPF discourse a lot on this thread. Not all soy sauces and stocks on the market are UPF either. People may be making it a bit more difficult than they have to.

YANBU that cutting out/limiting UPF is really hard - we’ve been trying to reduce it pragmatically over the last year and it’s like another job! It takes time to read the labels, make informed choices and plan meals. I say that as someone who enjoys cooking and we all (family of 4) do our share of healthy food prep.

Even the simplest things as standard brad, ham or sausages are almost impossible to buy without UPF - so you learn over time where to look/what to buy.

Tips: I find the new M&S range ‘only 4 ingredients’ great for bread & butchers tend to do their own cooked ham & sausages which are both cheaper & non-UPF (though need to be eaten quicker). Switched to home made only biscuits & cakes too - flapjacks, brownies & shortbread is surprisingly quick to make & you can ‘delegate’ this to the kids to make from quite an early age. Still haven’t figured out the ice-cream though!

YABU re stock - it takes no effort & almost no money to make your own (get chicken / beef bones free from the butcher, add in whatever shrivelled old veg is sitting at the bottom of the fridge at the end of the week and simmer it on the hob for a couple of hours whilst you get on with other things). It’s delicious and fills even the teenagers happily.

I cook from scratch and eat very little UPF though have a small amount of chocolate daily, also eat ice lollies 😋. A Ninja Foodi all in one and Magmix cut down time and effort massively as can good freezer space for batch cooking.

Sourdough is expensive. I make my own wholemeal bread with mixed seeds added, no kneading or bread maker needed. Mix ingredients, rise, knock down and place in tin/casserole dish, rise again and bake. Although it takes a few hours very little time is spent actually doing much. I make two loaves at a time. When I recently had free electricity on a Sunday through EDF I made 4 loaves, sliced when cold and froze most of it.

Soup - chop veg , soak pulses or open cans, add to stock (I make from chicken carcasses or other bones and freeze in 400ml containers) cook, blend if wanted, chill/freeze.

Jason bread is amazing and I prefer it to home made bread machine bread which I used to make. I find the slices are big and due to having no crap in it it fills you up more ie sometimes a one slice sandwich is enough for me. One of their rolls is definitely enough. I make soda bread sometimes but feel no need to make sour dough when there are really good alternatives. Crosta toasting bread is lovely too .

Jason does not have crap in it.

Greek yog isn’t expensive, ditto oats and a big vat of granola that lasts 2 weeks isn’t expensive. I don’t spend a lot on food as I don’t buy expensive processed crap and eat a fair bit of vegetarian meals. A little bit extra on bread or cereal( if you must buy cereal, I don’t) is wiped out by all the other savings I make.

The voice of reason.

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Using a stock cube is miles away from turkey twizzlers.

Make sensible decisions and minimise, but don't martyr yourself on the alter of perfection.

OMG, preach it to someone else. I don't care. Glad you like it.

Are you Jason’s wife?

My DH eats it. Loves it. Maybe you’re my DH?

It’s not ‘amazing’. Its just bread, and nobody needs to eat bread. I feel much better without it, whether its the sainted Jasons or Warburtons Toastie.

No I’m just pointing out there is no need to make your own.

I don’t eat a lot of bread either but when I do having a very good alternatives ensures it is not necessary to make my own.

I work full time and was a single parent.

So it can be for anyone who wants to eat that way. It's fine to want/not want to but don't make excuses.

I do agree with not taking it to extremes. I make my own stock/bone broth but don't worry if I'm making soup and haven't defrosted any and so use a stock cube. It's not the end of the world. But generally, I don't find it to be any effort. It's just how we eat.

I've never had it, I just know it's popular for those wanting to buy UPF free bread. It's better/less harmful than most breads you can buy, whereas you said it was no different. Yes I agree home-made would be even better, for those who have the means.

No I agree, and I live off those foods stuff too. But the OP's question was whether living UPF free can be done by an 'ordinary person' and the Crosta stuff is a lot more expensive than the usual stuff. It isn't even available in a lot of areas. People can't necessarily go to M&S or Waitrose, and if you're shopping in Asda or Morrisons it's much harder to find UPF free items. It's doable, and worth the effort, but I disagree with your arguments that it's easy and no more expensive.

Balsamic vinegar, especially cheaper ones, often contains thickeners like modified corn or maize starch, colourings, and sulphites. Yes you can find it UPF free, again it's that time consuming stage at the beginning of finding which products in shops are OK.
I would say it's worth doing that and changing products accordingly, but yes agree it's still possible to source them.
Just takes longer and can be more expensive, which was the OPs point.

But when you cut out processed crap your bills go down so you can more than cover paying a bit more for bread. My bills have gone down a lot. Morrisons, Tesco, Tesco Metro, Booths, Sainsbury’s ….all sell Jasons and Crosta.

My bills have gone up, mainly through buying better quality meat and eggs (I know you said you eat veggie a lot). It's worth it to me though. My local shops dont stock Crosta or Jasons (but I dont eat bread anyway so doesn't matter to me)

It looks like balsamic vinegar might actually be one of those products where cheap is frequently UPF free. Traditional high-end product too. So something to look out for for any purists, as you say - interesting! But at the value end of the range it's not such a problem from my observations. Maybe more mid-range.
.

Balsamic vinegar isn’t necessarily a staple. I use it for a nice dressing and to drizzle on the odd thing and have a nice bottle that has lasted ages but other than that it’s not something I use a lot. I use red and white wine vinegar and cider vinegar more. All v reasonable.

We eat less meat because it’s better for you and have never eaten a lot. Meat a couple of times a week maybe 3 if we have fish. We’ve really noticed the difference with weekly bills since we’ve cut out processed snacks, ice cream, biscuits etc and have eaten the same amount of meat . I buy organic eggs now as they’re the only ones that are really free range. Even with that and more expensive bread and store cupboard items my bills are cheaper.

I made a lot of really nice ice lollies over the summer. I have the Ice Kitchen lolly recipe book and lolly set. Really took away the Ben and Jerry craving. Will get an ice cream machine eventually.

Tesco sell some ready made stocks in the fridge section, have a look at those.

Also Jason's ciabattin really isn't bad at all as mass-produced bread goes, one slice is very filling, and it seems to last a week without going stale or mouldy.

If you just buy ingredients and cook food, as opposed to buying food, you will be most of the way there tbh.

if you want perfection (or no upf ever, al all) then you will have to work harder for it.

re stock I make it every time I roast a chicken and freeze it, that’s not difficult. I don’t generally make bread though (but I don’t eat it much either).

@ChelseaDetective I too love the taste of oats but hate the texture of porridge.

I begun either making granola...but it can be a bit calorie dense for everyday

Or else I just mix porridge oats 'raw' with Greek yogurt, again for lower calories im loving the 0% from Tesco or lidl

Then I add fruit, flax seeds, maybe some flaked almonds and im completely addicted to dried mango chopped up finely (lidl is the nicest imo)

Also if you melt 1 square of very dark chocolate in the bowl for 30 seconds before mixing in everything else - stir it all together with a fork - especially with banana slices, droooool.

In the case of UPF, I try and live as best as can to a low UPF diet. I dont buy anything that is a main ingredient that I couldn't make at home.
Only meat, veg, plain pasta, rice.
I will use stock cubes
I will let DC use tomato sauce but I no longer eat mayo - I'll use greek yogurt or source cream instead
We don't buy ready type meals
We only buy plain cereal. DH and I eat oats, DC has drawn the line at Shreddies, thats ok, there are very few awful ingredients in them

We try and buy sourdough or Jason's bread, but if we can't it we will attempt the next best thing. We've come from only eating white bread so its a great step.

DC eat too much processed ham in sandwiches- every week we say this week we will cook a roast ham and slice it up. One week soon we will do it. But they also now eat cheese and real roast chicken.

Getting slightly better each food shop is the goal.

We always ate well and were not big into "unhealthy food" but really started being vigilant of UPF in summer 2024 and our eating and shopping habits are so much better. DC are aware of what they eat and make good choices away from home which is where its more important imo

Could you make/use a veg stock instead? Keep leftover veg/peelings/stalks including mushrooms and boil them up.