In the previous weeks, we’ve talked a lot about our food supply, the food industry, unhealthy ingredients, and ultra-processed foods. My hope in giving you the background on ultra-processed foods is that you’ll mentally make the shift with me to intentionally include less of them in your diet. Today we’ll cover how to decrease processed food intake in your family.
It’s one thing for us to know we should eat less processed food.
Furthermore, it’s another thing for us to actively avoid it.
Why Do We Eat So Much Processed Foods
We know it’s not easy. As you’ve seen, there’s a reason we eat so much of it:
- It’s convenient
- It’s cheap
- It’s delicious
- It’s addicting
- The companies force-feed (no pun intended) it to us through their marketing
So, what’s a gal supposed to do?
I’ve tried to come up with some seriously practical, realistic ways you can reduce the amount of ultra-processed foods in your house.
But let’s be honest here, too—it’s the start of a very busy season for most of us. Holidays don’t make it easy to try to make this transition now. It’s not an excuse; it’s reality. The mental load of adding one more thing, trying to make more homemade food, or changing the way you shop might feel like too much right now. That’s okay. File this away for later, when you do have the mental energy to make some physical changes in the kitchen. Even if there is one thing you can take away from this series of emails, I’ll call that a win!
How to Decrease Processed Food Intake For the Family
Here are a few tips to get started
- Start with breakfast.
Focus on one meal that you prioritize being free of ultra-processed ingredients. If nothing else, start making breakfast from scratch. Examples include eggs, egg muffins, quiches, smoothies, etc. Batch prepare items for the week or multiple weeks in a row by making your own waffles, pancakes, or muffins. For example, I like to make 3x a recipe for waffles at once, lay them flat on parchment paper to freeze, then plop them into a 2-gallon ziplock bag once frozen. - Get your “real food” snack kit ready each week.
You don’t need 10 options. Each week, just pick 2 or 3 things as your family’s go-to snacks. Examples include almonds, walnuts, homemade granola, muffins, fruit, or chopped veggies. - Batch prep the base ingredients.
Grill 3–5 lbs of chicken for the week, cook 3–5 lbs of ground beef, or make 3 sheet pans of roasted veggies ahead of time. Now it’s just a matter of mix-and-matching sauces, toppings, or sides to add variety. - Prepare your back-up plans.
What happens when the day gets away from you, and you had every intention of making a healthy dinner, but for all the reasons, it doesn’t happen? That’s life. You know what helps? Having easy back-up plans. Double or triple a recipe of chili, freeze it in small containers, and pull it out to thaw as needed. Other meals that freeze well: taco meat, pasta sauce, casseroles, etc. - Prepare your semi-homemade back-up plans.
Stock up on simple pantry staples like canned green beans, canned tuna, pasta noodles, olive oil, frozen broccoli, prepared frozen grilled chicken (instead of nuggets), marinara sauce, pesto, prepared pizza crusts, and better-for-you salad dressings or marinades. Combine these items in a pinch and a semi-homemade meal is better than takeout! - Don’t overthink simplicity.
Meals don’t have to be complicated. Hard-boiled eggs, carrots with hummus, meat and cheese, apples with peanut butter, basic sandwiches… these make great meals or snacks. Simple, snacky-style meals can be fun for the whole family! - Don’t waste a hot oven.
Can you multitask in the kitchen? I create literal disasters in the kitchen—it’s not pretty—but I’ve mastered the art of making multiple things at once. Waiting for ground beef to cook and don’t need anything else for that meal? Might as well whip up some muffin batter while you’re at it. Making muffins? You probably already have the ingredients you need for waffles, so make a batch of waffles to freeze for the week. It takes practice, but once you get one recipe or meal mastered, it’s easier to whip up more, faster. - Experiment to find your staples.
I’ve finally found a few muffin recipes I make on repeat for grab-and-go snacks that the whole family enjoys. It takes some trial and error (and frustrations), but give yourself and your family grace as you transition. They won’t love everything homemade at first, that’s okay! Give it time and consistency. - Set aside time to make changes.
Whether it’s the weekend or an evening, schedule time to prep items or try new recipes.