Is cheap food bad for your health?

sweetserendipity

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1059999/Is-cheap-food-bad-health.html

This article is an interesting read - a nutritionist has given budget brands ratings out of 10 - nutritional information, health rating & taste rating.
The items are Yoghurts, Cereal (Weetabix equivalent), Baked Beans, Sausages, Bread & Orange Juice.
As an example, and as noted by mummysaver below, the Sainsbugs weetabix equivalent (50p for 24!) gets 10 out of 10 nutritionally & is her 'best buy' option.
Worth a read.

mummysaver

Thanks for this, interesting article, will be checking out Sainsbugs basics wheat biscuits, as they seem the same as more expensive ones! dd3 gets through loads of them.

I knew that we are all meant to have a certain amount of protein and carbohydrates, but didn't realise that we now had a recommended number of portions of these as well as our fruit and veg, so that was another thing I learnt!

Bunny200

I find that the more unprocessed the product is, the more likely I am to take the value version. I would never get value meat, sausages, ready meat, yoghurt for example but I will get value fruit & veg, butter, cheese. I had a surprise the other day tho, I thought value rice krispies would be fine, what can you do to rice krispies? But they were really white, went soggy really quickly and generally a bit grim! Will keep them for rice krispie cakes I think.
There good stuff to be had in the value ranges but you have to be careful and pick and choose, read labels and educate yourself on what fillers, guar gum and emulsifiers are used for! Same goes for the own brand & premium ranges!

Plum_Pie

Mummysaver, if you'd like some unbiased info about how much protein and carbohydrates to eat, please see the links below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_protein.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_carbos.shtml

city_girl_258

This is my first post on MSE...although have been lurking for a while!

Thanks for the interesting article, i would definitely agree with the SmartPrice beans, IMHO theyre just as nice as the more expensive equivalent.
The SP mushy peas are also nice and they don't contain any colourings unlike most other branded mushy peas which always seem to be abit luminous!

wendy+5

Tesco value wheat biscuits are another example. They have less salt in them than the more expensive brands and less salt than Tesco 'lighter choices' biscuits.

mummysaver

Plum_Pie wrote: »

Mummysaver, if you'd like some unbiased info about how much protein and carbohydrates to eat, please see the links below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_protein.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_carbos.shtml

Thanks, I'm learning all sorts today! It wasn't so much about knowing how much I need to eat, I was surprised that they were now counted in portions as well!

mummysaver

wendy+5 wrote: »

Tesco value wheat biscuits are another example. They have less salt in them than the more expensive brands and less salt than Tesco 'lighter choices' biscuits.

But according to the article they aren't fortified, so aren't to be as recommended as some of the others. I'm assuming the Sainsbugs ones are fortified then as they scored higher? Will have to have a looksee on the pack next time I'm in there.

mambury

But according to the article they aren't fortified, so aren't to be as recommended as some of the others. I'm assuming the Sainsbugs ones are fortified then as they scored higher? Will have to have a looksee on the pack next time I'm in there.

As long as you have a well balanced diet rich in fruit and veg then it shouldn;t matter too much about the added vits and minerals in processed products.!

Mambury

bertiebots

I am glad that the results are favourable.I shop at sainsburys and by a large selection of the basic goods(ok most of my shopping lol!)...I think its common sense to avoid the highly processed items like sausages (there butchers pork sausages are only 99p anyway) and I wait for special offers on meat rather than go for value options. I have recommended basics to loads of people and just hop ethey dont start selling out now that its being proved that its good stuff!

Pitlanepiglet

mambury wrote: »

As long as you have a well balanced diet rich in fruit and veg then it shouldn;t matter too much about the added vits and minerals in processed products.!

Mambury

Yep that's my view as well, if you eat a varied diet that includes fruit and veg then you should get all that you need. I think (but I'm not expert) that there is evidence that "added" vitamins aren't used by the body in the correct way so are of little benefit anyway.