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

[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.

Maybe not. But they have a $1000 smartphone.

[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!

Lol, right? I do a lot of from scratch cooking — how I was raised — and I agree with the Indian PP. It’s time consuming and requires attention, planning, and practice to make it taste good, be healthy, and have enough variety to satisfy everyone. I happen to enjoy cooking so that works out well for us but I don’t go around trying to tell others they’re lazy or something because they buy convenience food. Most (helpful) people on this thread are looking for ways to screen for highly processed food and reset our cooking habits to use less of it. Declaring “It’s easy; everyone did it 50 years ago” isn’t kind and doesn’t answer the question. And frankly, my grandmother’s idea of a healthy meal isn’t necessarily mine.

Also: Take-out isn’t usually a highly processed food. Canned tomatoes with additives (and that’s most of them; I was trying to find some with only salt/citric acid as preservatives last week and it was like 2 types out of 50) are. So is my favourite convenience food I’m reluctantly giving up on: pre-shredded cheese.

[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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

Sure. But the highly processed pre-made lentil package with sauce and spices tastes significantly better and takes ten minutes in the microwave. Of course a good homemade lentil meal tastes even better than that but it requires you to spend half an hour chopping fresh vegetables and you need to be in the kitchen attending to the stove while it’s cooking. There’s a continuum and you don’t seem to understand that avoiding highly processed food in order to make quick and easy and tasteless meals just isn’t appealing to most people.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

[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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

Clearly a lot of people don’t- hence the OP topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Or maybe you’re just a shitty cook, who knows?)

False. See what I did there? 😉

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

Clearly a lot of people don’t- hence the OP topic.

No, OP started this topic because they don’t want to ingest a bunch of questionable chemicals so they were asking what resources people had for avoiding them. I guess “live on supremely boring food” is *an* option but it’s sure not an appealing one. Especially since sometimes even deeply boring food ends up having questionable chemicals in it (cf: most commercial breads).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

Clearly a lot of people don’t- hence the OP topic.

No, OP started this topic because they don’t want to ingest a bunch of questionable chemicals so they were asking what resources people had for avoiding them. I guess “live on supremely boring food” is *an* option but it’s sure not an appealing one. Especially since sometimes even deeply boring food ends up having questionable chemicals in it (cf: most commercial breads).

What do you define as extremely boring food?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

Clearly a lot of people don’t- hence the OP topic.

No, OP started this topic because they don’t want to ingest a bunch of questionable chemicals so they were asking what resources people had for avoiding them. I guess “live on supremely boring food” is *an* option but it’s sure not an appealing one. Especially since sometimes even deeply boring food ends up having questionable chemicals in it (cf: most commercial breads).

What do you define as extremely boring food?

Plain lentils, plain rice, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Plain chicken, plain pasta, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Fried fish, plain rice, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Every. Single. Night. Aka the menu you just derided all of us for not following to solve our concerns about highly processed foods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

Clearly a lot of people don’t- hence the OP topic.

No, OP started this topic because they don’t want to ingest a bunch of questionable chemicals so they were asking what resources people had for avoiding them. I guess “live on supremely boring food” is *an* option but it’s sure not an appealing one. Especially since sometimes even deeply boring food ends up having questionable chemicals in it (cf: most commercial breads).

What do you define as extremely boring food?

Plain lentils, plain rice, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Plain chicken, plain pasta, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Fried fish, plain rice, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Every. Single. Night. Aka the menu you just derided all of us for not following to solve our concerns about highly processed foods.

No one said anything about plain this and that or frozen anything. Season as you want. That isn’t a huge time consumption to mince some herbs, onion, shake in some dried seasoning.
C’mon.

OP is wondering how to avoid processed food and really, it shouldn’t be hard to do. This should be common sense and basic cooking skills

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Red lentils take less than 20 min to cook. So does rice. Pasta is 8 min. Chicken cooks in under 30, fish under 15, vegetables can be steamed in under 10 min start to finish. I have a home cooked, simple meal on the table every night in under 30 min. The only reason you can’t do this is because you don’t feel like it.

YES!! That is the whole point! We don't feel like it, and that ok and why people are having this discussion. You speak as if you just discovered this concept called cooking that the rest of us do not know about.

Clearly a lot of people don’t- hence the OP topic.

No, OP started this topic because they don’t want to ingest a bunch of questionable chemicals so they were asking what resources people had for avoiding them. I guess “live on supremely boring food” is *an* option but it’s sure not an appealing one. Especially since sometimes even deeply boring food ends up having questionable chemicals in it (cf: most commercial breads).

What do you define as extremely boring food?

Plain lentils, plain rice, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Plain chicken, plain pasta, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Fried fish, plain rice, steamed previously frozen vegetables without seasoning

Every. Single. Night. Aka the menu you just derided all of us for not following to solve our concerns about highly processed foods.

No one said anything about plain this and that or frozen anything. Season as you want. That isn’t a huge time consumption to mince some herbs, onion, shake in some dried seasoning.
C’mon.

OP is wondering how to avoid processed food and really, it shouldn’t be hard to do. This should be common sense and basic cooking skills

Exactly. Eating whole plant foods need not be time consuming. Someone can make it time consuming if they choose but it is not necessary.

Furthermore your taste buds will change along with your diet. When I went vegan several years back there were a bunch of foods that when I first ate them I thought were bland and boring. By the second or third time I ate them I thought they were awesome.

The problem is that the American taste buds are very used to salt, sugar, oil, butter, cream, and various chemicals and artificial substances. And “natural flavors” which have nothing natural about them.

Take those away and at first your taste buds will be bored but they will quickly adjust.

[Anonymous]

OP, just cook from scratch if you want to avoid processed food. There are a ton of “fast” recipes out there that are say to make, and flavorful — google “sheet pan dinners” or “Tuesday night meals” and you will find a multitude of easy-to-cook meals. Once you start cooking from scratch, processed food no longer tastes good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, just cook from scratch if you want to avoid processed food. There are a ton of “fast” recipes out there that are say to make, and flavorful — google “sheet pan dinners” or “Tuesday night meals” and you will find a multitude of easy-to-cook meals. Once you start cooking from scratch, processed food no longer tastes good.

OP here. Wow this thread really blew up. I think I was unclear in my original post, sorry. I do cook from scratch, as it happens, and I am a good cook and enjoy cooking - which I realize not everyone is, or does. (And yes, it does take a while - usually takes 45 to 60 minutes to get a really good multi-part dinner on the table, unless I'm doing something simple involving eggs, which can be more like 30. And I am not vegan or vegetarian and don't want to be, though I do cook plenty of veggie meals).

But the "for scratch" is not complete, because I used boxed low sodium soup broths, don't make my own bread, etc. I am not really counting canned or frozen vegetables as processed unless they include salt, but for sure the jarred mayo, peanut butter, etc is. I guess I was just looking to see if anyone had recommendations for websites that would inspire me to make the leap to doing even more from scratch-y stuff, like bread or yogurt. But that seems kind of silly now that I type it out and after seeing the heated discussions on the thread, so never mind!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just cook from scratch if you want to avoid processed food. There are a ton of “fast” recipes out there that are say to make, and flavorful — google “sheet pan dinners” or “Tuesday night meals” and you will find a multitude of easy-to-cook meals. Once you start cooking from scratch, processed food no longer tastes good.

OP here. Wow this thread really blew up. I think I was unclear in my original post, sorry. I do cook from scratch, as it happens, and I am a good cook and enjoy cooking - which I realize not everyone is, or does. (And yes, it does take a while - usually takes 45 to 60 minutes to get a really good multi-part dinner on the table, unless I'm doing something simple involving eggs, which can be more like 30. And I am not vegan or vegetarian and don't want to be, though I do cook plenty of veggie meals).

But the "for scratch" is not complete, because I used boxed low sodium soup broths, don't make my own bread, etc. I am not really counting canned or frozen vegetables as processed unless they include salt, but for sure the jarred mayo, peanut butter, etc is. I guess I was just looking to see if anyone had recommendations for websites that would inspire me to make the leap to doing even more from scratch-y stuff, like bread or yogurt. But that seems kind of silly now that I type it out and after seeing the heated discussions on the thread, so never mind!

For bread, sourdough is easy and straightforward so it’s a good one if time is a concern. This is the recipe in started with: https://vanillaandbean.com/emilies-everyday-sourdough/

Yogurt is really easy — just heat milk and starter (yogurt with active bacteria) and let sit at room temperature for a day. Google should be able to help with proportions/temperatures.

I posted my granola recipe a few pages back.

Peanut butter you could I guess make in your own grinder but I find the simple peanut-and-salt only brands that separate functionally identical.

If you cook meat with bones, you can make your own broth pretty easily from bones+vegetable ends in the crockpot. I don’t put any salt in mine at all.

I’ve never tried making my own mayo, so let me make if you give that a whirl and find a good recipe!

I’m sorry the thread went off the rails; I get where you’re coming from and it’s something I’m trying to do more of myself and appreciate the people who posted suggestions and recipes.