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The Guardian
‘Avoid ingredients you don’t know’: 25 of the healthiest processed foods you can buy in the UK
By Rachel Dixon,
1 day ago
Unhealthy and healthy foods, but which convenience foods are healthier than others? Photograph: Julia_Sudnitskaya/Getty Images
We know that eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) increases the risk of several chronic diseases . What we don’t know is exactly why. “Scientists have not reached a consensus on what it is about UPFs that makes diets high in these foods so harmful,” says Kimberley Wilson, the author of Unprocessed . It could be because they are high in fat, salt and sugar; low in fibre; low in micronutrients; or that they affect the gut microbiome. It could be all of the above.
It is difficult for most people to entirely eliminate UPFs from their diets, so what should you focus on? “The UPFs that seem to be driving the harms are sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meat products,” says Wilson. “High-fibre UPFs seem to be associated with better health outcomes. I think the focus should be on increasing the intake of fibre, fruits and vegetables.”
Rob Hobson, a registered nutritionist and the author of Unprocess Your Life , agrees. “You can get in a really bad place with UPFs where you start demonising foods,” he says. “Don’t get paranoid about it.” His simple rule of thumb is to “avoid foods with ingredients you don’t recognise”.
Homemade food, cooked from scratch, is almost always best from a health perspective. Meal planning, batch cooking and freezing can make this more manageable. But when you do need to turn to supermarket convenience food, whcih are the least bad options?
Shredded Wheat
Most breakfast cereals are UPFs, but one exception is Shredded Wheat, which is 100% whole wheat. Note that this only applies to the original and bite-size versions – the Honey & Nut variety contains four kinds of sugar (sugar, honey, glucose syrup and molasses), plus “natural flavourings”, which sound innocuous but are a UPF giveaway. Add your own nuts and fruit instead.
“I like to combine coconut yoghurt with plain Greek yoghurt and top it with fruit,” says Hobson. “But it’s often a UPF because it contains stabilisers and thickeners.” This coconut kefir, made in Kent, is one of the better options: it is made from 97% organic coconut milk, with organic tapioca starch as a thickener, plus live vegan cultures that may be beneficial for gut health.
Lots of nut butters contain added sugar, palm oil and emulsifiers. This one is just roasted and milled organic peanuts, hazelnuts, cashews and almonds. The mix of nuts contributes four “plant points” to your weekly total (experts say we should eat 30 different plants a week ). It is pricier than most plain peanut butters, but a spoonful on porridge goes a long way.
“If buying a loaf of bread, the organic or sourdough versions are more likely to be non-UPF,” says Wilson. This Waitrose sourdough contains a mix of white, wholemeal, and medium and dark rye flours, and is made properly with a sourdough starter (sourdough shouldn’t contain baker’s yeast ).
Wilson buys baked beans, and while Hobson makes his own, he says: “I’d eat bought ones on wholemeal bread; they provide a lot of fibre.” Try to buy organic, as non-organic versions often contain modified starches, colours and flavourings.
“If I’m eating on the run, I often buy readymade salads,” says Hobson. “I look for leaves, grains, seeds and protein. The dressing is often ultra-processed, but I just use a bit.” This M&S salad contains eggs and tuna, plus lots of vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, green and red lettuce, green beans, spinach, olives, onion … And there’s nothing in the dressing that you wouldn’t find in your own (well-stocked) kitchen.
“If I’m unwell, I’ll go for a brothy soup – something like a fresh shredded chicken broth,” says Hobson. If you don’t have any homemade soup stashed in the freezer, this Waitrose version is a passable replacement. It contains plenty of vegetables (onion, carrot, potato, white cabbage, peas, spinach and celery) and some chicken, but there are also ingredients you wouldn’t add at home, such as potato starch and dried potato, chicken extract and yeast extract powder.
“I make my own falafels, but it wouldn’t bother me to buy them,” says Hobson. “Just check the label for ultra-processed ingredients, such as flavourings and colourings.” These Levantine Table falafels are 52% spinach, although they are high in fat – the second ingredient is rapeseed oil. Of the dozen other ingredients, the only one a home cook wouldn’t use is potato starch.
“I buy hummus all the time,” says Hobson. Some brands contain preservatives, and most are made with at least some rapeseed or sunflower oil. This one is just chickpeas, extra virgin olive oil, tahini, concentrated lemon juice, salt and garlic. Technically the “concentrated” juice makes it a UPF, but it’s about as good as shop-bought hummus gets.
Flatbreads usually contain an alarmingly long list of ingredients, including preservatives, emulsifiers, raising agents and stabilisers, partly to keep them soft – softness is one of the hallmarks of UPFs. This one, by contrast, contains just five everyday ingredients: wholemeal and wheat flour, water, extra virgin olive oil and salt.
“I used to buy Bol pots for lunch when I worked in an office,” says Hobson. The one-pot meals contain normal home-cooking ingredients and the range includes a coconut lentil dal (although bear in mind that dal is one of the cheapest and easiest dishes to make at home).
“I don’t want to drink water all the time, but I don’t want drinks with lots of sugar or artificial sweeteners,” says Hobson. “I like Dash drinks – they’re fizzy water with fruit essences. They contain ‘natural flavourings’, so they’re on the border of UPF, but they’re a lot better than Diet Coke.” Dash drinks are made from British spring water and “wonky” fruit that would be rejected by supermarkets, thus reducing food waste, and have no added sugar or sweeteners. They are available in a range of flavours.
Merchant Gourmet Glorious Grains red rice and quinoa
“Packet grains are a lifesaver – I eat them all the time,” says Hobson. “The plain ones are best, as the flavoured ones may contain ingredients that class them as UPF, such as glucose syrup. I partner them with vegetables and lean protein.” Two good examples are M&S’s 7 Grain Medley (brown rice, bulgur wheat, spelt, barley, brown lentils, buckwheat and white quinoa), which is hard to find online but widely available in stores, and this Glorious Grains mix, which contains wheatberries, red rice, freekeh, black barley and quinoa. Both are high in fibre and a great way to get a wide variety of wholegrains into your diet.
Crosta & Mollica ready-to-top sourdough pizza base with tomato sauce
In an ideal world, we’d all make our own pizza from scratch, but these pizza bases are a handy shortcut. They are slow-proved, wood-fired and have a short ingredients list: wheat flour, water, tomato pulp, tomato puree, olive oil, durum wheat semolina, salt, yeast and malted wheat flour. Add vegetable toppings to up the fibre content. “I am partial to a pizza every now and then,” says Hobson. “There’s a place for every food as part of a balanced diet.”
Shop-bought gnocchi are often made from dried potato and contain acidity regulators, preservatives and flavouring. This Dell’Ugo version uses fresh potato, with just wheat flour, salt and sunflower oil added. Unusually, the two “flavoured” variants contain nothing other than pumpkin and spinach respectively.
Essential Waitrose tomato, basil and mozzarella tortelloni
For a quick, kid-friendly dinner, you could do worse than this filled pasta. It contains free-range eggs and nothing that you wouldn’t find in a home kitchen. You could pair them with No 1 Pesto Alla Genovese : basil, extra-virgin olive oil, pine nuts, lemon juice, parmesan, garlic puree and salt (£3.60 for 145g).
Waitrose roasted vegetable lasagne or beef lasagne
In his book Ultra-Processed People , Chris van Tulleken notes that several supermarket lasagnes contain only normal kitchen ingredients. This is not to say that they are the same as homemade food – he points out that they are still wrapped in plastic and made by the same companies that make UPFs. But if you really must buy a ready meal, lasagne is perhaps the least bad.
Plant-based meat alternatives have come under fire for their ultra-processing. Vegetables are the healthiest option on a barbecue – marinated king oyster mushrooms have a satisfyingly meaty taste and texture – but sometimes only a sausage will do. These are 79% tofu, although they do also contain “coagulating agents”.
“I prefer blocks of creamed coconut to tins of coconut milk because I try to limit my intake of emulsifiers,” says Wilson. Most coconut milk contains emulsifiers and stabilisers – even some organic brands add guar gum. Biona’s coconut milk is one of the exceptions, being just coconut and water. But blocks of creamed coconut are usually 100% coconut (check the label), last longer and work out much cheaper.
“I buy a plain, fresh pasta sauce for a really quick meal,” says Hobson. “I add tuna and spinach to my pasta, and sometimes jazz it up with chilli and spices.” This one is 76% tomatoes, plus onion, rapeseed oil, garlic, basil, sugar and salt.
“I buy sauces such as sriracha and gochujang to use in dressings,” says Hobson. “I like Sauce Shop – it doesn’t use any additives.” Wilson also admits to buying condiments such as mayonnaise, ketchup and tamarind sauce. It’s well worth reading the label when choosing sauces, as many contain a cocktail of modified starches, thickeners, stabilisers, preservatives and flavour enhancers. But this sriracha is simply made from smoked red peppers, chilli and onion, fermented with cider vinegar, garlic, miso, sugar and salt.
For a truly unprocessed snack, it has to be nuts, seeds and fruit. But on days when that doesn’t hit the spot, Nakd bars are a half-decent alternative. “I’d eat one on the way to the gym if I’d skipped breakfast, or after a workout, or at a festival,” says Hobson. “They contain ‘flavourings’, so they’re ultra-processed. But as an energy snack, they’re not that bad.” The Blueberry Muffin flavour, for example, is made from dates, cashews, raisins, almonds and blueberries, plus that “hint of natural flavouring”.
“Crisps are my downfall,” says Hobson. “I buy good-quality, plain or lightly salted crisps such as Tyrrells.” Salted snacks such as crisps and nuts are usually a less-processed option than the flavoured equivalent. Tyrells lightly sea-salted, for example, contain just potatoes, sunflower oil and sea salt, whereas the tomato & chilli chutney flavour has 27 ingredients.
Ice-cream is another product that has become synonymous with UPF. However, says Wilson, “the organic versions are typically emulsifier-free”. This one is still ultra-processed as it contains skimmed milk powder, but it is otherwise just milk, cream, free-range egg, sugar and vanilla extract, so it’s not a bad option for something that is never going to be a health food anyway.
If you can’t quite handle the bitterness of chocolate with 100% cocoa solids, such as Montezuma’s Absolute Black ( £2.50 for 90g at Sainsbury’s ), this is the next-best thing. It contains 90% cocoa mass, plus cocoa butter and sugar.
• This article’s headline was amended on 31 August 2024 to clarify that the 25 selected foods are generally processed, but are not “ultra-processed foods” specifically.
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