how do I avoid processed food ?

movingtables

movingtables

movingtables

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Due to my limited understanding all foods from supermarkets apart from fruit and veg is Processed food ?
all processed foods contain preservatives and its these preservatives that
usualy contain the most calories which makes you fat ?

that is my only understand and i dont know how to avoid these kinds of food.

I'll be honest due to lifestyle restraints im never going to cook myself a roast dinner from scratch ect im always gonna go for oven meals.

the only healthy food i eat is probably a salad but i cant have that every night.
tonight i was going to have oven chips and a rustlers micro burger, or an oven meal.
what an earth can i have for tea thats not processed and full of preservatives and doesnt take 4 hours to cook and prepare ?
Overclockers please help me lol.
 
If you don't want things full of preservatives look for supermarket own ready meals. Their ingredient list is normally ok for certain types of meals.

Birds Eye are pretty loud about the fact their food doesn't contain preservatives and artificial flavours. I had one of their roast meals the other day and the ingredient list seemed pretty good.

However that then brings taste into it..:p
 
Check out some of the cooking threads on this forum.

Use the search button and search for 'Cooking with' in the thread title. A lot of the things cooked don't take too long, aren't too expensive and generally look quite healthy and tasty!

I'm sure someone else will be in with more advice...
 
Read the ingredients. If it says 'no artificial flavors or additives', then buy it.

If you see lots of E numbers, Sweetners and Flavorings, Avoid it completely.

Canned food is the prime culprit of unhealthy processed food, you should try buying supermarket food from the fresh refrigerated range, they have lots of nice healthy food like Pasta and Potato salads, packs of vegetables, even in store cooked food at the deli and bakery counters is usually very healthy.

I myself only look for supermarket branded food by any of the 4 main supermarkets, they actually make the healthiest stuff. Surprisingly, Sainsburys value range was actually found to be some of the healthiest food you can buy.

Birds Eye are good as well, but I'm fine with anything branded by Tesco / Adsa / Morrisons / Sainburys / M+S. Having worked in a supermarket for several years as well as studying nutrition at uni made me a health nut.

Tinned fruit in fruit juice is fine, but I now completely avoid tinned beans, spaghetti and pies (Fray Bentons I think it was) because they have crazy high levels of salt and I have to be on a low sodium diet now with no caffeine, alcohol and aspartame or I end up debilitated in bed.
 
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movingtables said:
all processed foods contain preservatives and its these preservatives that usualy contain the most calories which makes you fat ?
Click to expand...

No... Preservatives themselves contain virtually no energy ("calories).

Avoid high concentrations of fat if you want to reduce your calorie intake.

To answer your "what can I have for dinner that's quick, not processed and low in calories" question... Try having various things with rice or pasta. You could buy a steak and cook that (will only take a few mins in the grill). Have a portion or two of veg with it to make a balanced meal.

I never spend more than 30 mins cooking (unless I have guests).
 
Roast dinners are easy, I buy frozen packs of grilling meat (Birds eye do those packs of two chicken breasts marinated on top, or supermarket branded haddock / cod), and stick them in the grill with some chips for 15 mins, and open a can of peas and sweetcorn (in water ones not brine).

Simple. Dont forget to buy your favorite sauce.
 
Learn basics.

Decent oven baked home-made wedges are 1000x nicer than bagged parp, and you can totally limit what does into them. Take an extra 5 mins on top of norm oven chips.

Use a butchers for sausages / burgers etc, ask what's in them.
 
thanks for the replies so far guys.

are tinned potatoes and carrots ok?

is a can of lentil soup and 3 rounds of whole meal toast ok ?

as you can see im thinking simple.

Is pasta pre cooked ? what could i have with pasta apart from salad ?
 
movingtables said:
Is pasta pre cooked ? what could i have with pasta apart from salad ?
Click to expand...

Not usually, but boiling for 10 - 15mins is all that it will take to cook.

You could have anything you like with pasta. Meat (steak, pork/lamb chops, chicken, good quality sausages), fish of all kinds... Anything really.
 
Perservatives don't make you fat, eating more calories than you consume does. Sugar is also bad as it gives you insulin highs and lows which makes you hungry and feeling rubbish.
as for e numbers, most people do not understand them, by no means are they all bad. Many are naturally occuring and are not bad for you.

Learn to cook, spending a few hours once a week and you can pre-pare enogh food for a week or two, you can then put in plastic containers and freeze it.

Homeade kebabs/burgers are so easy to make and healthy, I have a kebab thread on here, although on phone so can't link to it. Scroll down to the 2nd and 3rd recipe. Have pitta bread and lots of salad.

Burgers are as easy as getting some mince and mix in some seasoning, making a patty and grilling it.
 
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movingtables said:
tonight i was going to have oven chips and a rustlers micro burger, or an oven meal.
what an earth can i have for tea thats not processed and full of preservatives and doesnt take 4 hours to cook and prepare ?
Click to expand...

Cook a steak instead of the burger, 5 minutes in the frying pan with a touch of seasoning. Serve with potatoes or rice, that'll cook in 10-20 minutes but you won't have to do anything with it. Microwave some frozen veg (peas, mixed veg, whatever takes your fancy).

Done.

It's not a perfect meal, but it's leagues better than a microwave burger and over chips!
 
movingtables said:
thanks for the replies so far guys.

are tinned potatoes and carrots ok?

is a can of lentil soup and 3 rounds of whole meal toast ok ?

as you can see im thinking simple.

Is pasta pre cooked ? what could i have with pasta apart from salad ?
Click to expand...

Read the cans. If the vegetables are simply boiled and soaked in water, then theres nothing wrong with that. If they are stored in brine then I would avoid them.

Pre cooked pasta is simply boiled as well. Just because something is pre cooked doesnt make it bad, it depends on what they add to it. Just start out with buying anything that is supermarket branded, you cant really go wrong with that stuff. As long as there isnt any artificial crap, too much salt, and the fat content is <15%, it should be completely fine (Ideally, your meals should be made up of 60-70% carbohydrates, and between 15-20% each of fat and protein with low salt content and no artificial crap) .
 
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Its not hard or time consuming to cook. I can cook a meal faster than I can throw chips etc in the oven. Chicken, veg, mince meat, chopped onions, mushrooms, brown pasta and rice, corn on the cob, steak...

Takes 15 minutes to make;

Chilli,
Chicken & rice with veg
(tinned) tuna pasta bake
Jacket potato with fillings and bit of salad
Steak and homemade chips
...
 
Please buy a cook book. Simple meals can be cooked from raw ingredients in as little as 30 minutes.

Pre-prepared meals may potentially avoid preservatives but may be high in fat, salt or sugar to get the "right taste". It is much easier to eat healthily, and I don't mean food fanatic, if you buy raw meat and vegetables and take a small amount of time to cook them properly instead of paying for someone else to have already done that for you.
 
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