What simple non processed meals/ingredients do you like?

lindseykim13

Fed up of checking ingredients here there and everywhere to find out if we are buying something with mostly chemicals in.
Really for health reasons as i have digestive issues we need to get back to as basic as possible.

Obviously we have veg with most meals which i assume hasn't had stuff added to it! I'm thinking frozen fish which just has one ingredient, that sort of thing.
What do you buy that you know hasn't been messed with and where from?
Bearing in mind i'm still on a tight buget.

kingfisherblue

I enjoy omelettes. An egg, splash of milk, and a bit of veg and there's a quick, easy and cheap meal made. I make my own, though, I don't buy those plasticky frozen things.

lil.smartie

I cook mainly from scratch too, I use Ocado/Sainsburys online but do try & use local farm shop for meat but don't always manage it (near work but close at 5.30 we close at 5) Sainsburys 3 for £10 meat includes some organic too.

Kate

rabidbun

I use my local butcher for meat (they make their own sausages etc which I find are much more digestible than supermarket ones - I have Crohn's so need to cook from scratch too, much of the time) and find either the market or greengrocer much cheaper for veggies.

We have pasta meals quite a lot, making tomato sauces from a tin of tomatoes, garlic and a few herbs with tomato paste. I also make my own pizza bases (and bread sticks with spare dough) and bread. Other things I find that I can keep in stock and get good use of are half fat crème fraiche, buttermilk and cheddar of some sort. And eggs.

freyasmum

Anything with egs - scrambles, omelettes (which are amazing, because you can load up with literally any topping you can think off!), poached with a large, flat mushroom, spinach and creamy sauce... you get the idea. They're perfect breakfast food, and also for any other time of day.

Stews with plenty of meat and veg, chillies, shepherds pies loaded with veg and topped with mashed potatoes, swede, and carrot. The stews/one pot meals can be done in the slow cooker and left to do their own thing.

Very quick stir-fries - thinly sliced beef/chicken, veg and spices.

lindseykim13

Thanks great suggestions i don't remember the last time we had omelettes.

gailey_2

I love savoury filled pancakes used like wraps.
so versatile as can be sued with fruit./icecream as dessert too.

HM passatta love with plain crisps or wedges/burger-non horse

Actualy weirdly craving water latly.

good storecupboards key with

rice
rissotto rice
flour
passatta
tinned tomatoes
pasta
dried herbs and spices.

quite like frozen herbs too.

onions.-so handy as is garlic.

love red wine-cheap stuff to add flavour to dishes.

potatoes.


careful with the frozen fish as find it is high water content and quite boney tried from 3diffrent shops prefer fresh now and bung i freezer.

Lidl/aldi does great range of basic foods non messed with.

Edwardia

I would say that reading labels is essential, after buying pork loin steaks thinking they would be 100% pork and finding they had 11% water and 3 additives. Some yogurts are really healthy and others are stuffed full of sugar or fructose, thickeners and colourings. Some cottage cheese just has salt, others have thickeners and preservatives.

There's an American guy called Michael Pollan who has written several books and you can watch his lectures on YouTube. He advises shopping the edges of the supermarket eg meat, fish, poultry, veg and fruit and missing out the middle completely. If supermarkets only sold those they would be smaller shops and not making billions feeding people cheap pizza and burgers and making huge profits.

Processed food we buy is organic so that means not much. Ketchup, baked beans, frozen pizza, Weetabix all for OH and mayo for me.

I used to buy additive free stuff too but the more I read about unlabelled genetically modified food the less I want to eat any of it.

gailey_2

Oh yes the no added sugars worse sometimes due to sweeteners. best to have full fat and less of.

Im thinking trying organic squash as worried latly what goes into it.

Ilona

Veg, veg, and more veg, then, stacks more veg, in fact bucket fulls of veg :T
Ilona

rachbc

veg, meat, wholegrains, beans, pulses.

Depends on your def of 'processed' though - tinned tomatoes have been processed but are essential still just tomatoes...oats have been processed but are still nutritious and a single ingredient.