If you try to avoid processed foods or certainly ultra processed foods …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Np, and I cook from scratch nearly all meals. We happen to be Indian and that's how I grew up too. However, it's not accurate to say it can be super quick and easy. It's just not - not if you use fresh vegetables and ingredients that you yourself wash and clean. I probably spend 60-90 mins on dinner alone - that's to make 1 dal (lentil soup), 1 vegetable dish (subzi), rice and flatbread. And I work full time, exercise daily, and have 2 kids that I drive around everywhere for activities. It's not at all easy, it's not fast, and I resent the suggestion it is easy (either from other posters or my mother in law!). I completely get why people do takeout + eat out. We do not because we have crappy genetics and we have to look out for our health. I have about 20 tricks that I use to make it all more efficient, and we do leftovers daily for lunch, but its still a lot of work and takes a fair bit of planning. Also - my family won't eat the same thing all week. So I cook something different every night and it's a total slog. I don't know anyone from a legitimate 'food culture' trying to keep it going who doesn't spend an hour or more cooking.

Thanks for being a voice of reason here! I cook for my family every night as well (and wash and prep all of my own ingredients) and like you said, it easily takes at least 60 minutes (for the simple dinners I have made many times and know by heart) but it often takes much longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. OP, I clicked on this thread because I too would love a site or guidance on how to do this. Ignore the unhelpful posters who are just hurr durr make beans and rice only! Welcome to your new life!

Does anyone have any good ideas on substitutes for crackers or chips? Crackers are not horribly processed in the sense that I can bake them from my choice of ingredients. Wonder if anyone has tried that and has recommendations. As for chips, I see several air fryer recipes. To me, sliced potatoes, salt and olive oil are not very processed at all. But it's a lot of work, and I'm thinking there are brands out there that only use those three ingredients. OK to just go that route?

I love crackers, like they just bring me lower-case j joy. Two options that I have enjoyed: Flackers (which are just sprouted flax seed and whatever flavor the bag is) and Norwegian Baked knekkebrød. Both are more expensive than normal crackers and Flackers definitely let you know they’re not crackers.

I buy plain Triscuits. I know they are not perfect but in terms of a cracker they work for us.

[Anonymous]

This is off topic but related ad far as time. I like quick dinners too, but I make the most of the time I’m already in the kitchen by making my work lunch and my kids lunch all at the same time. So I may be in making dinner in 20-30 mins but it’s not wasted time while stuff is boiling or whatever because I’m doing other food prep for the next day.
There’s only one clean up and I know that after dinner I can clean up and I’m done for the night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Not really. The reward is in eating the food itself: I find “whole”/unprocessed foods delicious and I know how to cook them well. I also prefer how my body feels and how my temperament is after eating these foods.

Maybe get a whole foods/plant based foods cookbook for some inspiration!

One of the biggest misconceptions of those eating the standard American diet is that eating whole foods cannot be enjoyable and delicious. Hence the need to "motivate" themselves to make the change.

I actually think that for most, the need for motivation is because of the additional time and money required to eat this way.

False. Rice, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, green vegetables, pasta, fruit, nuts, seeds, etc are not expensive. And preparing them does not need to be time consuming.

Correction- those things didn’t USED to be expensive. Grocery inflation hasn’t left any foods unscathed. Nuts, in particular, are quite expensive in my world, not sure about yours.

And in this context “time consuming” is an utterly meaningless term. How much time is “time consuming” to you? I for one don’t think eat raw potatoes, or uncooked rice, or unsoaked uncooked beans…

At what point did I say to eat the foods raw. Dump the rice into a pot with water and boil. Done in 20-30 minutes depending on the type of rice. No work required from you and you can do other things while it cooks. Put the potato in the microwave and done in 8-10 minutes with no work from you.

And they’re still less expensive than other foods.

30 minutes is a decent chunk of time - it’s not a lot, but it’s not nothing, and one could easily make tons of other meals in less time than that. The other things you do while your rice cooks include preparing and cooking your other food. If you’re feeding a family with any sort of desire to eat food that tastes good, you’re probably going to be making sauces, which also “consumes” time. I buy most of my produce organic from the farmers market - it takes a decent amount of time to wash all the dirt and bugs off. You didn’t address the expense of nuts, either.

I am vegan but my family is not. I watch my macros very carefully and we could for sure SAVE money if I was willing to get more of my protein from chicken or ground beef, at least one of which is always on sale somewhere, rather than my lovely but expensive nuts and seeds. And in terms of ease of preparation, throwing a whole chicken in the oven with some onions, potatoes, and carrots hardly takes any time at all, either.

All that being said I agree that it’s perfectly doable both time and money wise but it IS going to be an adjustment. So maybe try a little more helpfulness and a little less sanctimony.

Haha, PP here. Sorry I got mixed up thinking about vegan vs. non-vegan rather than processed vs. not processed! So chicken and veg is a good option anyway! But nuts are in fact expensive!

So don’t do nuts. They are not required. A vegan diet can be expensive if someone does it that way but it can easily be inexpensive as well. There are an infinite number of expensive and non expensive options across whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables. Just as there are time consuming and non time consuming options.

I was simply making a counter argument to the previous posters who argued that plant based is prohibitively expensive and time consuming. I think those individuals need to broaden their thinking.

I’m sorry if you read sanctimony into that. I had thought it was really just simple truth.

C’mon, be real. No one who responds to someone else’s opinion/reason/excuse (regardless of whether or not you agree with said opinion/reason/excuse) by leading off with “False.” is doing it for any other reason than to be sanctimonious. But you know that, which is why you followed up with the classic “I’m sorry you feel that way” non-apology!

I don’t really care, but why respond to someone else’s earnest request for advice and deliberately be an AH?

I said it was false because the claim is indeed false. Or it can easily be false if someone is willing to explore different options which are not hard to find. Not sure why that’s so offensive to you.

Well this reply at least answered my question- it’s not deliberate, you can’t help it, it’s just your nature.

(From your latest reply, let me point out another obvious reason why you’re objectively wrong: it is time consuming to “explore different options”. We don’t live in the Matrix, if one is not used to cooking a certain way you can’t just upload the knowledge into your brain and BOOM! Know kung fu!… not saying it’s not worth learning because it clearly is, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to get there. Or maybe you’re just a shitty cook, who knows?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Np, and I cook from scratch nearly all meals. We happen to be Indian and that's how I grew up too. However, it's not accurate to say it can be super quick and easy. It's just not - not if you use fresh vegetables and ingredients that you yourself wash and clean. I probably spend 60-90 mins on dinner alone - that's to make 1 dal (lentil soup), 1 vegetable dish (subzi), rice and flatbread. And I work full time, exercise daily, and have 2 kids that I drive around everywhere for activities. It's not at all easy, it's not fast, and I resent the suggestion it is easy (either from other posters or my mother in law!). I completely get why people do takeout + eat out. We do not because we have crappy genetics and we have to look out for our health. I have about 20 tricks that I use to make it all more efficient, and we do leftovers daily for lunch, but its still a lot of work and takes a fair bit of planning. Also - my family won't eat the same thing all week. So I cook something different every night and it's a total slog. I don't know anyone from a legitimate 'food culture' trying to keep it going who doesn't spend an hour or more cooking.

Thanks for being a voice of reason here! I cook for my family every night as well (and wash and prep all of my own ingredients) and like you said, it easily takes at least 60 minutes (for the simple dinners I have made many times and know by heart) but it often takes much longer.

Disagree. You are making labor intensive dishes, but there are plenty of ways to make more simple less labor intensive meals

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my old WW leaders from decades ago suggested shopping the perimeter of the grocery store (fruits and veggies, milk, eggs), and meat. Skip going up and down the aisles where all the processed food is

This is such a dumb piece of advice.

But the perimeter is where the cookie dough is!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. OP, I clicked on this thread because I too would love a site or guidance on how to do this. Ignore the unhelpful posters who are just hurr durr make beans and rice only! Welcome to your new life!

Does anyone have any good ideas on substitutes for crackers or chips? Crackers are not horribly processed in the sense that I can bake them from my choice of ingredients. Wonder if anyone has tried that and has recommendations. As for chips, I see several air fryer recipes. To me, sliced potatoes, salt and olive oil are not very processed at all. But it's a lot of work, and I'm thinking there are brands out there that only use those three ingredients. OK to just go that route?

I love crackers, like they just bring me lower-case j joy. Two options that I have enjoyed: Flackers (which are just sprouted flax seed and whatever flavor the bag is) and Norwegian Baked knekkebrød. Both are more expensive than normal crackers and Flackers definitely let you know they’re not crackers.

I buy plain Triscuits. I know they are not perfect but in terms of a cracker they work for us.

Wegman's rice crackers looks like a good option as well. And they have family size bags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Np, and I cook from scratch nearly all meals. We happen to be Indian and that's how I grew up too. However, it's not accurate to say it can be super quick and easy. It's just not - not if you use fresh vegetables and ingredients that you yourself wash and clean. I probably spend 60-90 mins on dinner alone - that's to make 1 dal (lentil soup), 1 vegetable dish (subzi), rice and flatbread. And I work full time, exercise daily, and have 2 kids that I drive around everywhere for activities. It's not at all easy, it's not fast, and I resent the suggestion it is easy (either from other posters or my mother in law!). I completely get why people do takeout + eat out. We do not because we have crappy genetics and we have to look out for our health. I have about 20 tricks that I use to make it all more efficient, and we do leftovers daily for lunch, but its still a lot of work and takes a fair bit of planning. Also - my family won't eat the same thing all week. So I cook something different every night and it's a total slog. I don't know anyone from a legitimate 'food culture' trying to keep it going who doesn't spend an hour or more cooking.

Thanks for being a voice of reason here! I cook for my family every night as well (and wash and prep all of my own ingredients) and like you said, it easily takes at least 60 minutes (for the simple dinners I have made many times and know by heart) but it often takes much longer.

Disagree. You are making labor intensive dishes, but there are plenty of ways to make more simple less labor intensive meals

Good food is labor intensive. Sorry you suck at cooking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Np, and I cook from scratch nearly all meals. We happen to be Indian and that's how I grew up too. However, it's not accurate to say it can be super quick and easy. It's just not - not if you use fresh vegetables and ingredients that you yourself wash and clean. I probably spend 60-90 mins on dinner alone - that's to make 1 dal (lentil soup), 1 vegetable dish (subzi), rice and flatbread. And I work full time, exercise daily, and have 2 kids that I drive around everywhere for activities. It's not at all easy, it's not fast, and I resent the suggestion it is easy (either from other posters or my mother in law!). I completely get why people do takeout + eat out. We do not because we have crappy genetics and we have to look out for our health. I have about 20 tricks that I use to make it all more efficient, and we do leftovers daily for lunch, but its still a lot of work and takes a fair bit of planning. Also - my family won't eat the same thing all week. So I cook something different every night and it's a total slog. I don't know anyone from a legitimate 'food culture' trying to keep it going who doesn't spend an hour or more cooking.

Thanks for being a voice of reason here! I cook for my family every night as well (and wash and prep all of my own ingredients) and like you said, it easily takes at least 60 minutes (for the simple dinners I have made many times and know by heart) but it often takes much longer.

Disagree. You are making labor intensive dishes, but there are plenty of ways to make more simple less labor intensive meals

Good food is labor intensive. Sorry you suck at cooking.

Some food you want to eat that has depth is labor intensive. Some is not.

Just like everything in life, you have to decide your priorities. Everybody can find time for making food not in packages but not everybody is going to prioritize that choice. Just like the other thread about workout scheduling. OP in that thread got a bunch of answers about how it’s possible she didn’t like.

[Anonymous]

Anyone have suggestions for teen boy lunches that are really filling but not processed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Agree. People have been cooking whole and simple foods for centuries. It’s only in recent decades that everyone suddenly became too busy to make themselves a meal, therefore they must get take out and buy microwave food. In reality, people waste time all day on their phones, computers, waiting in drive thrus, placing takeout orders and we have more conveniences than ever in our lives in just about every way

Funny, I remember my Depression-era grandmothers talking about cooking whole and simple foods for their families before everyone got so busy, and they described it as endless, backbreaking drudgery.

When the convenience-food era began, they grabbed those Libby's cans and Birdseye bags with both hands and were able to pursue their other interests while putting years back on their lives. I know, I know, addictive additives are killing us now, but let's not pretend pre-industrial cooking was some kind of fulfilling Modern Farmhouse idyll.

Looking forward to my "False." response!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really. The reward is in eating the food itself: I find “whole”/unprocessed foods delicious and I know how to cook them well. I also prefer how my body feels and how my temperament is after eating these foods.

Maybe get a whole foods/plant based foods cookbook for some inspiration!

One of the biggest misconceptions of those eating the standard American diet is that eating whole foods cannot be enjoyable and delicious. Hence the need to "motivate" themselves to make the change.

I actually think that for most, the need for motivation is because of the additional time and money required to eat this way.

False. Rice, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, green vegetables, pasta, fruit, nuts, seeds, etc are not expensive. And preparing them does not need to be time consuming.

Look, most people just don't eat like this, due to a number of factors, so maybe try grasping the fact that we're not all as perfect as you and some of us need a bit of encouragement and motivation to prioritize this kind of cooking and eating? And yes, when I've come home after 10-12 hours out of the house, of course takeout is faster than simmering lentils, onions, and carrots in chicken stock and white wine. Duh.

??? Dump the lentils, some frozen onions, some frozen chopped carrots, and stock in an instant pot, set the timer for 8 min, and walk away. By the time you’re done changing out of your work clothes and changing your kid’s diaper, the instant pot will be done and dinner is ready.

Do you really think everyone has an Instant Pot? I don't know anyone who has this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really. The reward is in eating the food itself: I find “whole”/unprocessed foods delicious and I know how to cook them well. I also prefer how my body feels and how my temperament is after eating these foods.

Maybe get a whole foods/plant based foods cookbook for some inspiration!

One of the biggest misconceptions of those eating the standard American diet is that eating whole foods cannot be enjoyable and delicious. Hence the need to "motivate" themselves to make the change.

I actually think that for most, the need for motivation is because of the additional time and money required to eat this way.

False. Rice, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, green vegetables, pasta, fruit, nuts, seeds, etc are not expensive. And preparing them does not need to be time consuming.

Look, most people just don't eat like this, due to a number of factors, so maybe try grasping the fact that we're not all as perfect as you and some of us need a bit of encouragement and motivation to prioritize this kind of cooking and eating? And yes, when I've come home after 10-12 hours out of the house, of course takeout is faster than simmering lentils, onions, and carrots in chicken stock and white wine. Duh.

??? Dump the lentils, some frozen onions, some frozen chopped carrots, and stock in an instant pot, set the timer for 8 min, and walk away. By the time you’re done changing out of your work clothes and changing your kid’s diaper, the instant pot will be done and dinner is ready.

Do you really think everyone has an Instant Pot? I don't know anyone who has this.

Everyone I know has one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really. The reward is in eating the food itself: I find “whole”/unprocessed foods delicious and I know how to cook them well. I also prefer how my body feels and how my temperament is after eating these foods.

Maybe get a whole foods/plant based foods cookbook for some inspiration!

One of the biggest misconceptions of those eating the standard American diet is that eating whole foods cannot be enjoyable and delicious. Hence the need to "motivate" themselves to make the change.

I actually think that for most, the need for motivation is because of the additional time and money required to eat this way.

False. Rice, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, green vegetables, pasta, fruit, nuts, seeds, etc are not expensive. And preparing them does not need to be time consuming.

Correction- those things didn’t USED to be expensive. Grocery inflation hasn’t left any foods unscathed. Nuts, in particular, are quite expensive in my world, not sure about yours.

And in this context “time consuming” is an utterly meaningless term. How much time is “time consuming” to you? I for one don’t think eat raw potatoes, or uncooked rice, or unsoaked uncooked beans…

At what point did I say to eat the foods raw. Dump the rice into a pot with water and boil. Done in 20-30 minutes depending on the type of rice. No work required from you and you can do other things while it cooks. Put the potato in the microwave and done in 8-10 minutes with no work from you.

And they’re still less expensive than other foods.

30 minutes is a decent chunk of time - it’s not a lot, but it’s not nothing, and one could easily make tons of other meals in less time than that. The other things you do while your rice cooks include preparing and cooking your other food. If you’re feeding a family with any sort of desire to eat food that tastes good, you’re probably going to be making sauces, which also “consumes” time. I buy most of my produce organic from the farmers market - it takes a decent amount of time to wash all the dirt and bugs off. You didn’t address the expense of nuts, either.

I am vegan but my family is not. I watch my macros very carefully and we could for sure SAVE money if I was willing to get more of my protein from chicken or ground beef, at least one of which is always on sale somewhere, rather than my lovely but expensive nuts and seeds. And in terms of ease of preparation, throwing a whole chicken in the oven with some onions, potatoes, and carrots hardly takes any time at all, either.

All that being said I agree that it’s perfectly doable both time and money wise but it IS going to be an adjustment. So maybe try a little more helpfulness and a little less sanctimony.

Haha, PP here. Sorry I got mixed up thinking about vegan vs. non-vegan rather than processed vs. not processed! So chicken and veg is a good option anyway! But nuts are in fact expensive!

So don’t do nuts. They are not required. A vegan diet can be expensive if someone does it that way but it can easily be inexpensive as well. There are an infinite number of expensive and non expensive options across whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables. Just as there are time consuming and non time consuming options.

I was simply making a counter argument to the previous posters who argued that plant based is prohibitively expensive and time consuming. I think those individuals need to broaden their thinking.

I’m sorry if you read sanctimony into that. I had thought it was really just simple truth.

Telling someone to just adjust their attitude about something is never helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Agree. People have been cooking whole and simple foods for centuries. It’s only in recent decades that everyone suddenly became too busy to make themselves a meal, therefore they must get take out and buy microwave food. In reality, people waste time all day on their phones, computers, waiting in drive thrus, placing takeout orders and we have more conveniences than ever in our lives in just about every way

Funny, I remember my Depression-era grandmothers talking about cooking whole and simple foods for their families before everyone got so busy, and they described it as endless, backbreaking drudgery.

When the convenience-food era began, they grabbed those Libby's cans and Birdseye bags with both hands and were able to pursue their other interests while putting years back on their lives. I know, I know, addictive additives are killing us now, but let's not pretend pre-industrial cooking was some kind of fulfilling Modern Farmhouse idyll.

Looking forward to my "False." response!

Nobody is drawing a line concerning “processed food” that somehow captures flash frozen vegetables or canned tomatoes. You use those shelf stable products to make real food. There is nothing wrong with those ingredients.

The Processed food being referenced for sane people in this thread is shelf stable stuff in boxes and true convenience food that really do contain garbage that will result in suboptimal health.