No processed food for the whole family - possible?

[breadhead]

What do you think? We all (me, dh, dss 12 and 15, baby) want to eat more healthily and feel more energised after a gluttonous summer.

We generally do pretty well, but we love our treats so much and love home baking too. I’m thinking the only way is to just not buy any processed food and make everything from scratch using honey or fruit for sweetening. I would buy some processed food but only nutritious ones e.g cream cheese.

I could do it alone, but is it possible to get the whole family doing it? Has anyone had enough time to prep wholesome, real foods for the whole family each day without relying on biscuits, cakes, cereals etc for treats?

I used to make Home made crunchy breakfast with porage oats, chopped nuts, honey and oil , usually rapeseed oil, baked in the oven , stirred firmly to spread the oil and honey. Turning it in the oven in it's roasting tin to even out the cooking.That way you can control the sugar. Only prob is that it's better than bought and everyone eats it up v quickly.

Yum that sounds lovely Alma. Do you only use honey? No maple syrup?

Probably any syrup would work . It needs to mix in a bit which sugar won't.

Original recipes. There was another with raisins.

That granola recipe looks fab. ThNks, I will try that. I find if I make things in bulk and dedicate one free afternoon to making several meals or baking, it doesn’t seem quite so impossible.

I prefer as little processed for as possible simply because it tastes better and if I haven’t got time or energy to cook I now make the dcs (teens) do it - and when they cook it they are more likely to eat it. I keep a folder of tried and tested family meals, so meal planning is easier. They bake their own treats too as I no longer buy any.

It is definitely possible to have very little or no processed food and to not feel hard done by . We buy a few things like oat crackers, pasta, pita bread, ketchup, oh and hummus (since I have yet to make any that the kids will touch!) , but apart from that we pretty much cook everything from scratch. We use the Anna Jones books a lot, and we are gluten free, so don't buy shop bought bread or cereals etc.

Breakfast - Porridge (cooked in the slow cooker with a timer switch so it cooks from 4am...game changer!) with fruit. Or overnight oats (with seeds, nuts, fruit etc).

Lunch - eggs, salad, sauerkraut, carrots, hummus, oat crackers, fish, fruit etc (we tend to do a platter of whatever we have got in the house, so it is slightly different each day and doesn't require any brain space!)

Dinner - we use lots of lentils, chickpeas etc. Tomato based sauces are quick and easy. I LOVE the recipes from the Anna Jones books and we do a lot of bulk cooking to save time. This week we've had lentil ragu, vegetarian curry, falafel, roast chicken, then the next evening a Thai chicken curry (I make stock from the chicken and use as a base in dished during the week). Regular meals are risotto, paella, vegetarian chilli, jacket potatoes with an assortment of side dishes, fish pie, courguette fritters, homemade pizza etc.

Snacks would be hard boiled eggs, oat crackers with almond butter and banana.

I make things like sauerkraut (very simple), yoghurt and kefir as these are great for gut health and very cheap and easy.

Baking - I don't bake very often as it's not my forte, but I make a few things like chocolate cookies (made with black beans, maple syrup, dark chocolate, dates, coconut oil and hazelnuts - again, an Anna Jones one), or banana muffins made with almond flour. We also make waffles using coconut and almond flour, bananas, chia seeds and milk.

We have found that since eating this way we genuinely enjoy our food and fancy processed food less. But we are not militant about it and all love a bag of crisps as much as the next person . I would say, just introduce a few different meals into your repetoire first, and gradually build up.

Like your suggestions - especially the timer switch for the slow cooker! Do you mean the timer is at the wall?

Don’t know who Anna jones is but will check her out

As others have said,still defining what you mean by processed foods.
Bread?, jar of pesto?, cordial?

We make and buy bread and cheese.
We make our own tomato and other sauces, never from a jar.
We buy cordial but make our own lemonade.
Occasionly I will buy pre packed butternut squash
We have a lot of frozen veg and herbs in the freezer so we can, when needed make a decent meal very quickly ( frozen sliced mushrooms,and red onions are a blessing.
We never buy cereal or juices such as apple, or pineapple but will have a jif lemonin or an emergency.
Your plancan be done with a little thought, knowing what your 'rules' are going to be and planning your meals in advance.

Wow, thanks for all the ideas. I was thinking processed as in pre-prepared packet stuff mainly but now I realise there’s a whole other world of processed out there which I hadn’t considered processed before e.g. tinned tomatoes. I am not giving those up!! However, I did make oatcakes this evening so that avoids extra salt and oils.

Cakes and biscuits are still unhealthy even if homemade!

Cutting sugar makes more sense than saying cutting processed food.

Cakes and biscuits are nice to eat. Isn't life for enjoying?

There shouldn't be any need to 'cut' any one food from our diets.

We do it. Although I eat bread and we all eat ham. It's perfectly manageable