Non UPF packed lunch

[Jtdoyoveme]

Hi all ☺️

daughter packed lunch is currently

• dunker/lunchable
• pepperoni
• cheese string
• fruit bag
• crisp
• treat (cake/biscuit etc)

I’m looking for some Non UPF swaps. I was thinking cooked chicken, babybel, fruit bag, cucumber, crisp and treat. Is there anything I can add to it? i saw eggs on a google search but don’t think her friends will appreciate that 😂😂😂

Interested in this too!

Sandwich/ wrap cooked chicken need or gammon
Veg sticks
Fruit
Veg crisps the lentil ones are nice or popcorn

You can simulate dunkers and lunchables - some cream cheese isn’t UPF (I buy the normal Tesco own brand which is just milk) put in a little pot and breadsticks on the side. You can try other dips like hummus if she’ll eat it. Also some crackers (cream crackers are fine, there will be others too), with slices of cheese and some ham from a gammon joint cooked at home.
Mini omelettes are less ‘eggy’ than just putting in a hard boiled egg, and you can add veg and cheese to that.
The Crosta and Mollica little wraps are great for kids, fill with whatever they like. Most pita bread is fine too, can fill like a sandwich or have slices with dip.
Prosciutto and a lot of Parma ham, Serrano ham etc is non UPF (ingredients just pork and salt) so could be an option. Maybe wrapped around some little cheese batons would be a fair pepperami replacement. I make them for myself for a picky lunch. You can buy them but it’s eons cheaper to make your own.

Wonderful thank you! She won’t eat hummus but the rest sound perfect!

If you want to put a sweet treat in that would need to be something homemade like flapjack. Fruit is the obvious easy swap, an apple or banana travel well.
Then a wrap/sandwich preferably with cheese or tuna as most other fillings are processed. The bread/wrap will be processed but if you can wean her onto a wholmeal wrap or seeded sliced bread it does at least resemble real food.
I really would try to eliminate any processed red meat like pepperoni, they have been listed as class one carcinogens.

I do a main, two veg, two fruit, a savoury snack and a sweet snack. So for example:

Cheese sandwich
Cucumber rounds and cherry tomatoes
Apple slices and grapes
Breadsticks with small pot of hummus
An oat bar

Or

Cream cheese pitta
Cold cooked broccoli (surprisingly nice!)
Carrot sticks with small pot of hummus
A banana and some strawberries
Oat cakes with cheese
Dried fruit and dates

Where I can, I'll make my own bread as we have a bread machine. I try to avoid packaged items because of the waste and they're usually expensive and too salty, but I'm ok with breadsticks, oat cakes or corn cakes as an alternative savoury snack ☺️ My child doesn't like meat but you could have chicken or tuna sandwiches or strips of chicken as a snack. I'd avoid cured meats if you can.

Babybels and fruit bags are expensive and hugely wasteful with their packaging, how about cheddar cheese sticks (mild cheddar is pretty similar to babybel) and apple slices and grapes in a pot?

Would she eat pasta? That's an easy uPF alternative.

Remember some UPFs are worse than others (eg I read that fish fingers are basically fine health wise despite being a UPF - not that you’d give them in a packed lunch!)

how about:
cheese & cucumber sandwich
pot of veggies (carrot sticks, etc)
yoghurt
fruit?
you could add a pot of soup or baked beans if she’d eat that

Yes she does eat pasta, but we tend to have that in the week for dinner

My daughter has cheese sandwich with non upf bread, grapes and cherry tomatoes. She's happy to have that over and over

Small wide necked flasks are good for pasta or soup, curry or refried rice with egg and veg. I also do a brown rice salad with peppers, sweetcorn, feta, peas, tomato, cucumber and beetroot that even my fussy DC will eat. Homemade flapjacks or Lidl do flapjack bars that are pretty simple. Sometimes we make sushi, that’s v portable. Always looking for more ideas though so will study this thread well…

@ChristmasIsCome most store bought wholemeal wraps and seeded sliced bread are UPF, but you can buy non UPF bread - Jason’s white rolls are fine, as is Jason’s sourdough though it’s not great for sandwiches. Crosta and Mollica wraps. Some fresh bakery options.
The issue isn’t processed food, most of what we eat is processed, but ultra processed food which are full of things you won’t find in a normal kitchen. Most store bought bread has things like preservatives and emulsifiers which make it UPF, even healthy looking wholemeal seeded ones

@BuffaloCauliflower yes but imo if you packing a lunch with fresh fruit/veg and homemade sweet treat it is ok to use a small amount of upf bread. It is so much easier to eat low processed at home. I would prioritise eliminating the processed red meat products.

Homemade fairy cake - I try to make a batch and freeze them.
Walkers ready salted crisps are just potatoes oil and salt.
We do often have supermarket bread but I try to put proper butter (not spread) on and use a block of cheese rather than processed slices.

My baking is AWFUL

The way I manage it is by not buying anything that is specifically for packed lunches. Lunches have to be cobbled together using what we have in the fridge, which means minimal UPF and packaging. Usually it is things like:

• cheese, tuna, egg sandwiches (I make the bread in a bread maker)
• Hummus
• veg sticks/olives
• a piece of fruit
• pasta salad
• quiche (which I do make myself and it’s a palaver, but very nice in a lunch box).

Sandwich on homemade bread
Vegetables like cherry tomatoes, chopped peppers, cucumber or carrots
Pasta salad or couscous

@ChristmasIsCome it’s entirely possible to do both. And from the research coming out now, the additives making other things like UPF bread may well be just as harmful as nitrates in processed meat

@Getmoveon14 Walkers have changed their Ready Salted recipe, these are now the ingredients

@ChristmasIsCome also, again, the issue is ultra processed, not processed. Serrano ham and prosciutto made with just pork and salt are processed meats but they’re fine. The issue is ultra processed meat products with nitrates, dextrose, flavourings etc

I make bread 2-3 times a week and buy from the local bakers otherwise. The bakery uses emulsifiers, but my judgement is that it's still a better option than long life supermarket bread.

@Jtdoyoveme I’ve attached my oaty jam bar recipe, really easy and a huge hit in my house. Everyone I’ve given it to has managed to make them 🙂

@Jtdoyoveme

Thank you! I think I have all the ingredients in so will try them tomorrow 🥰

Bread is not a 'bad' UPF according to the British Nutrition Foundation, although some people wrongly think it is. So instead of the crisps, she could have a sandwich, especially wholemeal maybe. It doesn't matter if something is processed- what matters is the ingredients. For instance, pasta sauce is classed as ultra processed but some can be healthy.