Low or no UPF on a budget

[Coffeesaurus]

I'm Lidling my way to a low UPF family life. Just wondering if any one else is out there trying to make the impossible Venn diagram of cheap but low UPF family meals happen?!?

So far I'm using a lot of Lidl frozen berries in baking, their frozen smoothie mixes, their wholemeal flour (the plain flour I guess would be bleached?) We're using their plain whole fat greek yog as apparently the low fat would be UPF. Their diced frozen veggies are fine, but their frozen potatoes are all UPF I think

The work so far is not a vast amount more than I was already doing but I batch more.

Anyone else? Any cheap low UPF wins?

Just be aware that all Lidl yoghurts, including Greek and natural, are pasteurised, thus removing most of the benefit of eating yoghurt.

Well that's not actually what I asked- I'm low UPF, not no UPF. I just need it for baking, adding to curries and smoothies, bulking out things and making things go that little bit further etc.

For 79p for 500g it's a handy staple in my weekly shop. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Anyone else other handy ideas for budget low UPF?

Here are my tips:

• Use price comparion websites price history trackers. You can see how often the item has been a particular price and then bulk buy where possible when it is substantially below average price.

• No.1 for me are sweet potatoes. Boil, fry, bake. Very filling and nutritious. Lend themselves to a wide variety of recipes sweet and savoury.

• Pretend most of the supermarket doesn't exist and walk through the fresh section scanning for price per/Kg for each type of loose fresh fruit/veg from each plant family. Non of that will be UPF. For e.g. the cheapest brassica will usually be hard cabbage. You might choose a purple cabbage for e.g and leafy spring greens. Avoid the pricy 'gourmet' brassicas like those plastic wrapped tenderstem broccoli. Apples, frozen sweetcorn, carrots for beta-carotene, beetroot and clementines for your citrus etc.

• Flour is something I pay a bit more for. I find the cheaper ones tasteless (I make rotis/flatbreads in a flat pan now because there's no leavening involved and I don't have to use the pricier oven). I go for stoneground wholemeal Canadian because all white flour has vitamins added. Wholemeal doesn't have to have vitamins added by law but watch out for those adding extras like bran.

• Avoid anything priced by 100g as opposed to Kg because the labelling is designed to make the price seem cheaper than it actually is.
• It's blackberry season. I'm out collecting brambles and freezing them (wash them when you want to use them)

• Yogurt is another difficult one because the price has appreciated massively. Most Greek yogurt is an imitation. I go for ones that are thick (the spoon should stay upright when inserted and it shouldn't move around when you tilt the pot). Make sure there are live cultures. Put it this way, if the consistency is looser you're actually paying for water or thickeners/stabilizers amd hence UPF). If I can't get hold of Greek yogurt I would go for any live plain natural yogurt like Yeo Valley.

• I bulk buy almonds/peanuts/sunflower/flax seeds from Grape Tree. Quite good value for money and they freeze really well.

• Try to find a local ethnic shop and buy dry legumes/spices in bigger bags like 2.5Kg+. You save a lot of money like that. Soak beans over night and pressure cook.

• Worth mentioning voucher code websites which will help knock off that little bit extra.

Thanks! Lots of helpful info in there

Sweet potatoes are a good reminder thank you 😊

The world food aisles in supermarkets are useful for staples. Especially spices, pulses, rice etc.

Don’t forget about lentils. They make a beautiful soup or you can season for dal.

Homemade wraps are easy and cheap to make just flour, water and a little bit of oil. I also batch make a big portion of homemade baked beans. These can then be used with jacket potato's or as a filling side for lots of meals. Using veg past its best to make homemade vegetable stock, you can also add veg peel to the stock. It is also coming into to blackberry season so we have managed to pick some and use to make jam.

Lots of beans, chickpeas and lentils

@Incomingwork oh I’d be interested in a wrap recipe if you have one please?

@Sparkl https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tortillas

Look at veggie, vegan and egg recipes eg
taming twins - peanut butter and sweet potato stew, pasta tomato sauce and cheese, omlettes, baked potato and salad.

Lidl do large tubs of pure peanut butter with no additives.Also the packets of nuts are brilliant value. I've just made the Zoe Granola with the nuts, seeds & the crunchy peanut butter. Also the tinned pulses are great value. I add the lentils to beef mince in Bolognese & chilli. Also lots of casseroles with butter beans & chicken. Either with Miso or Rose harissa paste.
Miso- white & black is on sale at Lidl at the moment. Also frozen Edamame beans are nice to have in. Frozen fish fillets & prawns are great for curries & pastas. Prawn pasta with olive oil, garlic, flat leaf parsley & lemon is my teenage sons favourite. The pine Nuts can be whizzed up with basil, parmesan, garlic & olive oil to make a brilliant fresh tasting pesto. I buy the whole free range chickens & roast them with lemon & garlic. The ribeye steaks are also good.
Plus the fresh sole fillets

Try following Melissa Helmsley on Instagram. She posts simple recipes, often with very ordinary ingredients and they're delicious. Hidden veg sauce & one pot tomato rice are a couple I've made recently. Her books are well worth reading/borrowing from the library.

The flatbreads make good pizza bases also! I make sauce with olive oil, tiny piece onion chopped fine and sauted with passata added. Toppings of choice for each member of the family and a mozzerella ball torn up on top.

Lidls oatcakes (not like Staffordshire oat cakes, they are small biscuits) are pretty good, not much rubbish, I think a raising agent and that's all.

Their plain rice cakes are good - might be salted I can't be bothered to check in the cupboard lol.

Yes their nut butters are good! Just nuts 👍 no crap

We have our own granola recipe which my little ones are happy with but yes I chuck a few Lidl nuts in - I got a good offer on with my app tother day.

I'll have a look at their frozen fish fillets, we only use tinned currently but happy to batch or possibly coat.

Good news on the miso! Thanks @Cantonet We make these butternut miso 'burger' patties so I will stock up

Thank you for the pesto recipe as well that's a keeper, it's beloved by the fam but often shop bought is like a little jar of thickeners and random things

We buy the oat cakes & rice cakes too.
I had them for breakfast this morning with cream cheese & sliced tomato, as my teens had eaten all the smoked salmon. But the cream cheese had Guar gum in. And I was shocked recently when I checked the Gross dark chocolate to find lots of things added!
The frozen fish is honestly best cooked in a sauce. The exception is the tuna steaks which are nice in a salad nicoise. The sole fillets would bread nicely though.
I pan fry them until crispy with lots of sliced peppers & onions ( softened first), a sprinkle of chilli sprinkles & garlic plus lime wedges. They're so delicious, but please don't buy the cod as its absolutely rank!

@Incomingwork thank you! I’ll try that one, I always think bread/pastry type recipes are a bit beyond me!

What? There's still protein and calcium

Indeed, it’s a dairy product, so clearly has nutritional value. I simply meant that the live cultures found in yoghurt provide support for the gut, guarding against bacteria and other pathogens. It seems a waste to me to eat something that has been neutralised of much of its unique nutritional properties.

Do you know a brand that actually has good bacteria? I feel like a lot of them might just be marketing. I've should really try to make my own...