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Possible to live with less processed foods? If yes how?



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thegiver




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 1:21 am
I'm ok with mayo pickles ketchup tomato paste and even pita bread Smile

Would love to skip a lot of grocery isles when I go shopping. Ideas what breakfast lunch dinner and snacks would look like and how to be prepared to compensate for lack of convenience of cereals and biscuits etc
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Bnei Berak 10




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 3:00 am
Wow, this is a quesion which requires a long reply. Would be happy to give you a full explanation but I'm short of time. However: instead of cereals make home made granola. There are tons of recipes on the web. You can make a big batch, divide it into small plastis bags and freeze it or keep in the fridge. I went to cooking school and discovered that most of processed food can be home made.
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Teomima




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 3:23 am
The nutritionists always say shop the perimeter, and they're right. Fruit, veggies, dairy, meat, all found in the outer perimeters of the supermarket.

For grains and other small items, I suggest going somewhere with bulk products. You can easily find rice, oats, as well as nuts and, for snacks, dried fruit.

It's really not hard to live mostly proceeded-foods-free, it just requires a mentality adjustment (if you're already used to depending on processed foods).
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FranticFrummie




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 3:44 am
I keep one rule in mind. Food should look as close as possible to the way that Hashem made it. The further you get from that, the less nutrition you get.

I have fun researching historical recipes, to see how people cooked in different societies and eras where there were no processed foods available. Lots of great info there, and really fascinating.
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Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 6:58 am
Breakfast is actually relatively easy. You can prepare oatmeal (for example) in a crockpot the night before. Or make a batch of baked oatmeal. Of make egg muffins (these are essentially omelets baked in a muffin tin). And cold cereal isn't necessarily bad - there are many now which are whole grains and not made with lots of sugar. Or whole grain English muffins with peanut butter.

What are you serving for lunch that is so processed and easy. You can make very healthy child friendly "chicken nuggets" and freeze or tuna or egg salad is super easy to make. Or make chicken or turkey breast and just slice for sandwiches. With more preparation you can make couscous or pasta salad - just use whole grains.

And dinner really is simplest of all to kick the processed food habit - just cook what you would normally cook. Without knowing what you normally eat, difficult to make suggestions but broiled chicken or fish, baked sweet potato and veggies and salad is pretty standard.
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allthingsblue




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 7:57 am
Shop the perimeter.

Breakfast:
Omelette
Oatmeal
Yogurt
Fruit smoothie

Lunch:
Salmon
Tuna
Salad
Chickpeas
Veggies and hummus or guacamole
Soup

Dinner:
Soup
Chicken (so many ways to prepare it! On the bone, off the bone, roasted, cooked on stovetop...)
Meat
Fish
Turkey
Veggie sides
Rice or quinoa (make sure only ingredient is rice /quinoa)
Potatoes

So so many option.
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tichellady




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 15 2017, 10:31 am
I’m not sure what you consider processed. Oats are processed, but do you mean no oats or flour etc or do you mean no products like chicken nuggets?
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amother
Cobalt


 

Post Tue, Mar 13 2018, 4:54 pm
Old thread but wish to join conversation in case anyone else does too.

I find tricky, but whenever I eat for a significant amount of time with very little processed foods, avoiding sugar & floury packaged/baked goods & convenient "bars", my taste buds & whole chemistry eventually seems to get on board, & the pleasure of eating "plain" food changes, where things like apples, sweet potatoes whatever, is enhanced & more enjoyable.

It takes resolve though, & eventually I seem to be eating the quick processed stuff again Smile

But some things which work for me are:

- frozen white fish, heavily spiced (or smeared with jarred spices in oil) on a sheet pan with thick zucchini sticks, sliced tomatoes.

- boil eggs, can remove shell for quicker access, just add some olive or coconut oil (to not leave uncovered overnight). A nice snack or for lunch, can add crushed garlic, curry powder, hummus, those gefen precooked vacuum sealed beets...

- Breakfast smoothies of berries, a bit of frozen spinach to get greens but can't really taste, nut butter, milk (stevia if like sweet)

- learning how to properly roast vegetables is very helpful too, easy & pretty quick & very flavorful
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amother
Ecru


 

Post Tue, Mar 13 2018, 5:02 pm
For me, I find it helpful to keep a healthy balance. My kids don’t need to be the kids with the healthy snacks bec honestly it affects kids socially and I have to weigh the options. So their snack bags are the lesser of all evils. I spend a lot of time trying different foods to find what they like without them feeling deprived. So they will get Cheerios but not Frosted Flakes... I don’t buy any food with artificial anything and so I don’t get too uptight about the junk they bring home from school from a siyum or whatever. No corn syrup. If you have the time / energy to make things from scratch it’s not that hard. I don’t always have the emotional energy to do so but I still manage to avoid the really bad stuff. I only use coconut or olive oil. Don’t think I’ve ever brought margarine into my house. But a little olive oil mayo and simply Heinz ketchup won’t kill them. My daughter begs for croutons, I finally caved, but it’s a treat. I think most importantly don’t be too extreme to the point that it affects your children socially.
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amother
Taupe


 

Post Tue, Mar 13 2018, 5:09 pm
There's a minimum of processed food in my home.

My children are old enough to do the shopping, and these are the staples they shop:

Bananas, grapes, honeydew, cantaloup, melon, apples, pears, peaches, oranges, grapefruit, mango, papaya kirbies, tomatoes, peppers, string beans, avocados, sweet potato (slice lengthwise, bake face down thirty to forty minutes), cabbage, zucchini, raisins, dates, nuts, eggs, fish.
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amother
Pumpkin


 

Post Tue, Mar 13 2018, 8:07 pm
We eat minimal processed foods. For breakfast we eat yogurt with fresh fruit, home made whole grain muffins, peanut butter on toast, oatmeal or omelets. The muffins are especially useful for school mornings when the kids need to eat on the run.

For lunch we eat sandwiches (peanut butter, cheese, hummus and tomatoes, tuna....) or salad with tuna, feta cheese or some other protein.

Supper is hearty vegetable soups that I make in bulk and freeze, roast chicken, stir fried tofu, or chicken on brown rice, turkey burgers, sometimes eggs and toast (my kids adore “breakfast” foods).

We eat tons of fruits and vegetables, both at meals and as snacks. We also eat home made popcorn, and home made healthy baked goods like those muffins.

We are not fanatic about this — guaranteed that in the next couple of weeks we will be ordering a pizza. Smile But for the most part we try to eat foods in their most natural form. Once you get used to it, more processed foods will taste weird to you.
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Tue, Mar 13 2018, 8:10 pm
What do you mean by processed? Different people will define differently.

We buy some stuff that's technically considered processed but I'm very selective about the ingredients.

Mostly we eat unprocessed though. Fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, nuts, some gluten free grains. It's very doable.
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