tryna stay healthy and move away from processed meats, whilst also spending as little time prepping food as possible.
The eggs are fine. You could replace the bacon with a veggie burger patty, or 96% lean burger patty, occasionally tuna salad. Or chicken salad.
Agreed here. I’ll say that the nitrates aren’t bad necessarily - if you do it in moderation. Daily like that and yeah, something will probably happen. Rotate the protein out daily like what you’re saying and it’d be great. (and some more variety)
Or chicken salad or even egg salad sandwiches. Whenever I get a rotisserie chicken, I immediately cut it up for other meals: eat the legs now, and pull out a big pot; cut off the breast and bag it, cut off the thigh meat (no bones) and every other bit of meat and bag that, break the carcass along the spine and stick it in the pot. Add water and boil/simmer for 4-6 hours (use a timer so you don’t forget to turn it off). Once the pot is done and then cool enough to stick yuor hands in, fish out every piece of cartlidge and bone you can find – especially the teeny ones. There will be a lot of meat, too. I generally pile the meat in a bowl and chuck the bones in a bag destined for the trash. I then strain the small amount of remaining liquid, but it back in the pot with the bowl of meat and add carrots, onions, celery, spices, and whatever else I feel like – from lemons to salsa, depending on leftovers. This becomes about two generous servings of still-boney soup (sometimes more).
Oh, I forgot: the point was that you can chop up the leftover bagged chicken to make chicken salad: mayo, relish, celery, spices, maybe onion, maybe mustard, maybe parsley. Same basic idea for egg salad… and you can boil the eggs for 7 minutes in the eventual soup.
I would also consider turkey (not charcuterie) or smoked salmon.
Also adding fermented pickles (unless you’re avoiding salt) might help making your tofu and turkey a bit more savory.
if you have access to an Indian market, get paneer (firm cheese). you can slice it thin, add oil and seasonings like smokey paprika salt pepper. then either fry it in a pan or air fryer. it gets crispy and delicious. I used to make PLTs (paneer, lettuce, tomato) sandwiches.
ill look into that thanks. never heard of it
My typical healthy lunch is a salad with tomato, cucumber, maize, chickpea, shallot and garlic, covered in beer yeast, olive oil and a liiiittle bit of soy sauce. It’s very light to digest and if you make a huge bowl of it to keep in the fridge it takes a while to spoil.
Otherwise there’s the classic pan bagnat (=wet bread). A recipe that looks alright : https://www.marciatack.fr/recette-pan-bagnat-nicois/
Buy a pork belly. Make your own bacon. It’s pretty easy and very delicious. That said, nitrates are in lots of things like celery.
Wait what? Nitrates in celery?
Yeah, that’s how food processors cure meat without using curing salts: they just replace it with celery juice or celery powder that contains natural nitrates, which cause the same effect but allow for different labeling rules.
You can find lots of packaging for ‘nitrate free’ things that have a disclaimer somewhere saying ‘*except from celery.’
Can you describe the process in general, or point to a good recipe?
How to make bacon: https://youtu.be/8fuOmhzGAtg
Mix salt, cure and sugar by weight based on weight of belly to be cured. Coat both sides with cure and place on a rack in the fridge. Turn daily and remove any fluid that drips on the tray under the rack. Leave for 5-7days. Remove from fridge. Rinse with cold water to remove the cure. Dry and place back on the rack in the fridge overnight. The next day smoke to your liking. You can cold or hot smoke it.
Slice and yummm bacon…
Is “cure” an ingredient?
Sorry it’s called “Prague powder”. A pink substance that looks kind of like salt. Yes it’s an ingredient. It’s the ingredient that replaces some salt as the curing agent. Basically nitrates. Instead of salted meat you get cured meat. It’s also used in most processed meats like Salamis and Coppa and such and gives “that flavor” to sured meats.
Ah I see, thanks!
My advice, don’t “substitute”, instead replace.
There are so many delicious healthy options, and all the fake meat substitutes are garbage in comparison.
Eggs are great sources of protein already, so put just about anything on instead. BBC Good Foods is a great resource for easy meals and sandwiches with healthier ingredients if you need ideas.
I’ve also recently cut way back on processed meats, and honestly have really been enjoying pan fried tofu, chickpeas (seasoned and air fried are amazing), and many other protein sources enough that I’ve cut a lot of meat out by default.
The eggs aren’t your problem, the bacon is. Dunno if they sell these where you live, but these Chicken Breakfast Sausages have no nitrates. This company makes chicken bacon also. You can also add some veggies to your eggs like peppers, onions, spinach, or kale. You can also try making a Pepper & Egg sandwich.
Egg and turkey bacon sandwich.
- 150g greek yogurt
- 120g blueberries
- 40g quick cooking oats
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- dash salt
- dash cinnamon
Mix all that together before work and then by lunch the oats will have softened. If I’m trying to gain weight I’ll throw in 30g hemp hearts as well. You can also switch up the berries/fruit, sweetener, and spices however you like, this combo is just what I like.
Overnight oats like this are superb. You can put all sorts of stuff in, even goodies like peanut butter, vanilla, or cacao.
overnight oats could be fun. never done that before. thanks for the inspo
Here’s my overnote oats recipe
Keep the eggs. They are fine. The bacon can realistically be swapped out for anything that keeps the savory flavor but is less processed. Lean ground beef or turkey is usually my go-to. Will cook about as fast as bacon.
What about the options:
- Egg salad sandwich?
- Chicken salad sandwich?
- Chicken breast and rice with peas?
- Farmers sausage and purified?
- Steak and potatoes?
- Chicken noodle soup?
- Beef stew?
I try to make a supper that can provide me with enough leftovers to make lunches with. I freeze lunch portions and consume them in a variety pattern so I don’t get bored with them.
Tacos with vegetarian beans! Takes a bit of prep but tasty and good for you!
Did you mean to say “vegetarian tacos using beans”? Because the way you wrote it makes it sound like you’re implying that some beans aren’t vegetarian…
Lots of beans have lard or pork in them.
Is this a joke I’m not American enough to understand?
I don’t think it’s a US American thing per se. Refried beans are a common staple of Mexican dishes and may incorporate lard (as will more authentic flour tortillas). They’re mashed, not whole beans.
And while I wouldn’t use them in tacos, canned baked beans like those you’d find in the UK may also not be vegetarian.
The word tacos implies Mexican food, and Mexican preparations of beans traditionally use lard as the cooking fat.
Refried beans are traditionally made with lard. Many canned beans have fatback (pork) in them. Even vegetarian looking canned beans are not always vegetarian, I always look for the ones that specifically say vegetarian.
Well, the Fediverse has taught us that cats have beans on their paws… :)
Half a pound of tofu with some sesame oil, honey, soy sauce, and sriracha.
A handful of frozen “stir fry Veggies”
Toss it in the air fryer for like 15 minutes at 360-ish.
Sometimes I serve it with microwave steamed brown rice from costco.
It’s like $3 of ingredients at the most and its super healthy.
If you have a diet high in seed oils, consider a different aromatic oil or skip the oil altogether.
Where are you getting a half pound of tofu alone for under 3$?
Also, its personal preference but damn if siracha isn’t over and just tastes badic and boring. Surely there is a better sauce substitute here.
I buy 4 pounds at a time from Costco and cut the bricks in half.
There is a little prepration of course but I end up cooking two days meals at once
Edit: possible stroke occured during typing this message, am correcting.
Thanks for that, it hadn’t occured to me Costco would have tofu.
Eggs and spinach and hot sauce is fantastic. No prep, just toss them on top of each other.
guess that’s what im doing already but without bread or bacon. should be easy. thanks
Easiest solution is to use unprocessed meats. Get thin sliced pork, (butchers usually have a deli slicer for raw meat, or you can do it yourself with a knife if you are careful) add a dab of honey or maple and a sprinkle of cayenne and cook.
Today it was felafel Greek salad and Greek potatos. Gotta mix it up…
