If you try your hardest to avoid “ultra processed foods”….

[ReeseWitherfork]

There’s an article on the BBC website about “ultra processed foods” and it’s got me wondering if I can make some easy swaps on things. I am sure there are some people out there who’ve explored this before. I cook from scratch, eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, but I’m wondering if I need to start looking at things like a bread maker (we’re a fan of a sandwiches my house!)…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65754290

Thanks for the peanut butter recommendations, I'm off to Holland and Barrat at lunch time to try and get some!

We still buy sausages, but we buy the supermarket posh range and check the ingredients. I only buy them if I'd use those ingredients myself.

Batch cooking sauces helps. Keep old jam jars - they don't have to match! I label them with sharpie on the lids because I'm not organised enough to own labels

Lots of spices, use salt (unless you have a medical reason not to) for flavour - I find we all crave it in summer anyway.

Calcium carbonate is chalk, but it is also prescribed to people with low levels of calcium.

Alpha-Amylase is the digestive enzyme found in your mouth.

Hemicellulase has a role in the immune system.

Most flour is 'fortified' that is extra minerals and vitamins are added, either because they are removed by the process of making flour of to act as a supplement, this started WWII to make sure people got nutritional food even when there were shortages.

I understand the argument of 'do you recognise it as food' but a lot of things that are food also have a chemical name eg salt is sodium chloride, a compound of a highly unstable metal and a gas used in WWI to kill large numbers of people.

But sodium and potassium are both important to keep your heart beating.

Vinegar is acetic acid.

I like to make chutneys and pickles, both sugar and vinegar are preservatives, that's why food was originally pickled / preserved / stored.

@Raggletagglegypsy I think golden syrup is upf yes. Open food facts website is a great place to check if stuff us upf ie nova 4

@Mummyford i just use a couple of dessertspoons of existing live yoghurt as a starter to make yoghurt. Usually fage as that's what I tend to buy but any plain yog will do

I strain it in a sieve lined with kitchen roll to make it Greek style

For anyone who wants to try their hand at bread making without a break maker or faffing with sourdough starter, I can highly recommend this recipe and method -- it's worth reading some of the comments from people who have made it as there are some tips that can be handy, and also because people have calculated weight measurements.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

@PosiePerkinPootleFlump
Thanks, I'll give it a try.

And also wanted to say that I think @InTheMoonglow's contribution was a really valuable point in framing this conversation being about people being proactive and taking positive steps without needing to go overboard in seeking perfection. As the mother of 3, I can pretty much assure you that no matter what you do, your kids will at some point have an M&S mini roll or two and the world won't come to an end.

Absolutely second that re @InTheMoonglows attitude. I began this thread with a sinking heart - i thought i'd been doing pretty well (and it had certainly all been a massive PITA ) but lots of the things that I think of as 'only a little bit processed' were probably UPF once industrial frying with seed oils was factored in .. for eg. my salted peanut habit 😬

I felt a bit defeated after so much effort - but in fact this thread has turned out to be quite empowering in that I can see I've made huge changes overall, with the added challenges of becoming a protein-chasing vegan at the same time. I particularly liked the advice to make one change and let it bed in until it becomes second nature before moving onto the next one. It's definitely been the case for me with the veganism thing that I felt totally overwhelmed for a while by a whole series of new cooking methods to test and learn (tofu I am fucking looking at you.)

I've just spent 5 mins trying to find the references to industrial yeast being added to sourfaux (thank me later) bread but can't - maybe it was on the thread linked here from a few weeks ago? Will go back and look but can anyone explain why added yeast is crap? And does this mean that using instant yeast or active dried yeast, as in the NYT recipe for no-knead bread that @Mummyford kindly linked to above and which you can find without subscribing here is UPF because it's not sourdough/naturally erm yeasty? I'm very confused about this.

Also someone mentioned a link to 'good' yeast but I can't seem to find that in the thread either so would be v grateful if someone could post it again.

Oh that's so annoying - my post has been hidden because it contained a non-paywalled link to the NYT no-knead bread recipe as a service to those MNers who can't afford a subscription to NYT food.

It was a long post but basically is said:

can anyone explain why industrial yeast (eg that added to supermarket 'sourfaux' bread) is bad?

Can someone post the link to buy 'good' yeast for breadmaking again?

Ah my post of 18.14 has now been unhidden... blimey.

I do make sourdough (started in lockdown and made it every week then, its more occasional now) but it takes a few days because my starter gets a bit dormant between uses. I use Allinsons yeast the rest of the time, it has got a couple of additives but one is vit C and I figure that the tiny amount of emulsifier in 1tsp to make a whole loaf really isn't that bad.

@WinterDeWinter

I agree with @EvenmoreDisorganised on that. The NYT recipe has, if I'm remembering right, 1/4 tsp of yeast to 430 grams of flour, so it's a far cry from supermarket bread.

Sorry, didn't realise it was paywalled as mine goes straight in, but If you don't have a NYT subscription, googling Jim Lahey no-knead bread will give you basically the same recipe.

Haven't read the full thread, but wow, how do you all have the time for this? I have no idea about the science, but I eat loads of upfs ( as well as lots of fruit, veg and other good stuff) and I'm quite slim and quite healthy. Quite honestly, there's no way I'm giving it up.

@Tofuislovely - why would it take more time? Most people are just being more aware of what types of food they buy and consume, doesn’t have to be time consuming.

Well that's fine, but others do take a greater interest and this thread discusses that. It's not just about being slim, as indeed the Panorama programme demonstrated re the experiment on the identical twins, it's about health.

Maybe worth reading the whole thread then? If you do, and you're interested in this, you'll see that people are taking different approaches, some more all in than others. And the overall concept of the science, that eating whole, unprocessed foods is healthier than eating lab manufactured food, isn't overly complicated. But If you're not interested and don't plan on changing, why comment?

I don't deny it might be healthier. I'm not a scientist, and although I've read a bit about it I'm not claiming to know very much. My point is merely that even if it is very much healthier, I ( and I'm sure many others) simply don't have the time to bake our own bread, cakes, biscuits and cereals as mentioned up thread along with all meals from scratch however much we may want to and however much healthier they may be.

It doesn't have to be all the time. I make sourdough, I make normal bread too but not all the time, there's white sliced bread and shop bought wraps in my breadbin this week but I like to make my own when I can. We ate microwave curry earlier in the week. This thread is for sharing ideas for improvement, and the challenges involved, its not about going cold turkey and eliminating all UPFs overnight. I would add that the more often you do eg make bread the easier and quicker it becomes.

Tofu - we eat porridge more, buy simple ingredient bread form bakery ( same ingredients as making at home), have cheese and fruit as snacks and packaged less. You don’t have to make homemade cereal and bread, just eat less cereal and non packaged bread

Tofu, I have no intention of making my own cereal but would love to make swaps where I can.

My number one hyperfocus right now is BREAD. I want to buy a bread maker but I think I have to wait until payday.

I am listening to the audiobook by Chris van Tulleken. Only on chapter one and already I'm horrified.

I have a tortilla press and make mini tortillas with proper nixtamalized corn flour to have as taco's in the summer, but we eat ordinary wraps for burrito's 4 days a week for breakfasts. The corn ones don't stay fresh more than the meal you make them, they are absolutely delicious (they don't need to last!), I have some blue corn to try this time.
But I really can't imagine myself making them daily for our ordinary breakfasts, or even flour ones.

I would recommend soda bread as an extremely easy homemade bread - it's not great for sandwiches or toast but untoasted with jam and butter it's a lovely substantial breakfast and nice to have with a salad if you make it with wholemeal flour. I make mine in the airfryer - I will admit I don't eat much sliced bread as a rule anyway so not searching for a replacement for that.

For posters who have limited time to tackle UPF, I suggest the following approach - if you think of your family’s food intake as 3 meals + snacks, each of those components is 25%. Start with the easiest and work your way through until you’re satisfied with the balance that works for your family. Even if you only improve breakfast and snacks, that’s 50% less UPF.

For us the order was:

Snacks - no extra time needed, but extra cash helps immensely as more variety makes it easier to embed

Breakfast - a little extra time needed (porridge)

Dinner - it requires either more time or more money; we do a combination based on what days of the week we have more time and where we need to cut corners (steak/fish in the pan and some veg)

Lunch - if it’s at home it’s eggs, bacon, sandwiches etc. I’m not policing nursery/school/office lunches, but may do in the future if they become too trash.

Sorry think that was me mentioning a pp but I think the recommendation was another thread (I’m following about 3 on UPF at the mo)
Anyway it’s this organic yeast

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bioreal®-Organic-Gluten-Free-Instant-5-pack/dp/B074TGD3P7/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2E6HMDALVNEQE&keywords=bread+yeast+organic&qid=1686226021&sprefix=bread+yeast+organic+%2Caps%2C73&sr=8-6

Thanks for that, so I should lighten up a bit on white flour? Maybe I’ll do half and half and see how I go.