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?

I earn £100k+, work 50-60hrs a week and don’t eat any upf

I also think it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Until a few months back we ate LOADS of UPFs, and then I did an overhaul and have tried to improve our eating. I think we’re about 95% UPF free at home now, and we spend pretty much the same as we did before. It pushes food prep to about 5 hours a week for me, which really isn’t all that much.

I’d rather be happier in the knowledge that we’re 95% ‘healthier’, than let a stock cube sabotage my efforts!

@OtherS When you say ‘oats with milk’ do you mean just that? I’d love to eat porridge as I like the taste of oats but struggle massively with the warmth and texture of it.

Even the thought of ‘overnight’ oats with yoghurt going claggy and separated in the fridge turns me off.

Just oats with milk could be a go - er!

Soup should be made with stock. Cubes are disgusting & full of crap.

Just keep the bones from whenever you have meat, make stock & freeze it for when you want soup. Boiling bones is so easy!

Rightio. 😴

You dont have to make sourdough to go UPF free bread, I have a breadmaker, it takes seconds to put the ingredients together for a white loaf and all organic, non UPF ingredients

I disagree.
A hood ham stock cube can actually be really useful when making lentil and vegetable soup.
Each to their own.

You can make homemade beef stock cubes. Bones are cheap from the butcher. You can just boil the fuck out of them or go fancy and make demi glacé. You freeze the resulting gloop in ice cube trays and it lasts for ages in the freezer.

I know it's a pain but it is possible. I make chicken stock every week and it takes 5 minutes to put together plus 4 hours doing its own thing in a very low oven.

I cannot stand the texture of soft porridge oats either, I'd rather have yoghurt with berries and seeds/oats than porridge!

You can, of course you can
A beef stockcube is also an option, in an otherwise healthy diet though, and the smell of boiling bones would have me heaving.
Some folk on limited budgets cannot really afford to have the oven on for 4 hours either, even on low.

This is a great example of where 'good' is far better than 'perfect'. The 'good' diet you do have is better than the 'perfect' one you don't.

We eat a lot of good food, and a few UPFs too. I focus on the largest proportion of our diet being UPF free and choose UPFs occasionally when they help us meet a particular goal like being portable for travel or having a treat.

For example, all our meals are generally UPF free but the kids love sauces and condiments so they have those sometimes.
Snack foods allow us flexibility to eat out and about. These are largely upf free (homemade yoghurt pouches, chopped veggies, fruit) but I add in some things like cheese strings or crackers because I can't make those.
Other UPFs I just don't have in the house because otherwise we'd eat them. We might occasionally purchase, but make the effort to go out and buy them rather than including in our weekly shop

I mean this in the nicest way possible but I think the way you are thinking about all of this is a bit irrational/rigid - sorry. To me that is like saying you want to cut down on alcohol but that if you have a glass of wine one night you might as well drink a bottle of vodka after it.

I’m really surprised by the ‘it’s impossible’ comments, of course it isn’t. And regarding spending 6 hours on sourdough, isn’t it obvious to just not eat it if it takes that much time?!

dd has had today -
poached eggs x 4, blackberries from the garden, kiwis and a pomegranate.

she made an oxtail stew with oxtail, rosemary from the garden, soffrito, leeks and butternut. She’s made mash to go with it from potatoes and Kerry gold.

Oh and she seared the oxtail in beef tallow bought from Amazon

M&s sell upf stock in a jar and only tiny bit more expensive but yea it's in all sorts once you start looking for it. Bisto old fashioned cardboard square box is upf

I disagree. I make soup a lot but never have bones in the house as I eat very little meat and never on the bone.

I don’t like just water (shades of Woolton pie!) so I use miso, Freya or refrigerated bone broth, marmite or yes, a stock cube, (though usually not OXO).

Its all fine. The key is balance overall.

I agree. This is my approach too.

Completely agree!
And, I might get slated for this, but the odd canned item isn't the end of the world either. An average person on an average income, or less, has to make different choices to those with unlimited income and/or time - less UPF is still a good approach, if no UPF seems unreachable/unrealistic. Balance matters.

Oh no, I heat it, sorry! I just said oats rather than porridge as I buy plain jumbo oats rather than a processed porridge. I just put oats and milk into a pan and cook for about 5 minutes. I don't like the thought of overnight oats, though I've not tried it. But cold porridge doesn't sound very appealing! I think that porridge is always going to be claggy, but it shouldn't separate if you remember to stir. Though if you wander off to make coffee / lunch and forget about it, it turns into a solid lump, so that might work if you don't want it to separate!

No M and S remotely near us, sadly.

Honestly people, try your meals without a stock cube. Chuck some herbs in instead, maybe a bouquet Garni, maybe nothing. Get back to me if you can even taste the difference.

I don't mean to be cheeky, but you are aware that this is quite a privileged comment?
Some people don't have gardens, let alone gardens with blackberries or rosemary in.
Some people couldn't afford to eat 4 poached eggs for one meal.
Some people won't even know what soffrito is.

Sourdough is no better for you than a homemade wholemeal loaf with lots of added seeds, in fact the wholemeal loaf is probably a much better choice. Buy a breadmaker if it takes too to much time.

Just make small changes. I've seen people on here debating which tinned tomatoes arenit UPF. I mean, tinned tomatoes are a good choice, there's no need to overthink it.

Loads of fresh fruit and veg, quality protein and good fats. That's about it, unless you're an influencer or have a book to flog.

Honestly, I know which meals benefit from addition of a stock cube, and how to use seasonings and herbs and spices, and yes, I can taste the difference.

It can be, if you choose cheap and easy things