Stuck for lunches

[MegCleary]

I am in a quandary re processed foods, healthy options etc
which is better, low fat spreadable cheese, cheddar, cooked chicken. I know they are all processed but a pointer would help please.

Who for? Also, don’t worry too much. Cheese stings are just cheese….

you could make your own bread, bread maker, cook a ham and slice i5 up, cook a chicken and slice up,

but unless you serving up rustlers burgers and cheap chicken nuggets every night, the odd bit of factory made lunch won’t harm.

For me at work, just Lidl mature cheddar v packet of cooked chicken or would low fat spreadable cheese be better. I know I’m probably overthinking it but trying to be healthier

Low fat spreadable cheese is not real food.

Grand, that’s off the list then

Proper cheeses have been around for millennia, definitely not one of the ultra processed foods you are worried about.

There are processed foods which take one or more ingredient and process them in some way, such as turning milk into cheddar cheese, cooking and canning chickpeas or making a traditional homemade cake or loaf of bread. These are often processes that have been around for some time and if you looked at the ingredients you'd normally recognise them. These foods aren't the ones people are concerned by and in reality most foods other that fresh fruit, veg and meat/fish will be processed in some way.

Then there are the more modern 'ultra processed foods'. These generally have long lists of ingredients, many of which will probably sound unfamiliar. There will likely be preservatives and emulsifiers and food lasts much longer than you'd expect compared to a homemade alternative. These are foods like sliced bread, veggie sausages, maize crisps or your low fat cheese spread.

It depends on your chicken how processed that is. Pieces of roast chicken carved straight from the bird will be less processed, although roasting and carving it yourself would still be preferable. Slices of identically shaped wafer thin chicken where the chicken has been formed and stuck into a shape and then cut are more processed.

I think the would your great grandmother recognise it test is a good start. So cheese your gg would recognise, modern processed I wouldn't rule out but I'd be looking at the ingredients.

Could you not just buy a couple of chicken breasts, cook them yourself, slice and use in salads or sandwiches?

Look at the list of ingredients.

As general rules, avoid if :-
it's very long,
it has ingredients that sound like chemicals
it contains things that you don't have in your kitchen
it wasn't around when your parents/grandparents were your age

Thanks for the tips

I make a sort of fritatta during my wfh day with eggs cheese and whatever veg I have. Sometimes mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers. Ham if I have it. Just start in on the hob until the bottom is cooked then grill the top for a few minutes. Divvy it into 2 or 3 portions and take it for the following 3 days for lunch into the office.