I need a healthy alternative to egg and bacon(nitrates) sandwiches. whats your daily lunch?
tryna stay healthy and move away from processed meats, whilst also spending as little time prepping food as possible.
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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.
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?
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!
How to make bacon: https://youtu.be/8fuOmhzGAtg
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
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?
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... :)
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:
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.
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.
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
I've got tiny hands and I don't think that I've ever seen a Yukon potato that was fist-sized.
Lol, I live in Seattle, we might have better crops of it. You can do many small potatoes too.
I also live in Seattle.
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.
You can make a serviceable bacon substitute from smoked tofu. Cut it into strips, coat them in oil and put them in the air fryer.
+1 for tofu! Seitan lunch meat is pretty tasty, too!
I prefer king oyster mushrooms, sliced and marinated, roasted till crispy. A little bit of soy sauce and a little bit of liquid smoke in the marinade makes it pretty bacony.
Egg and turkey bacon sandwich.
Just get some vegan bacon, at least where I live there are several options by now and they're all pretty good.
If you want it a bit healthier but maybe a bit less tasty as well, try smoked tofu and cut it into thin slices.
oooooh veggie bacon interesting! ill look for it
im leaning this way thank you
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.
The eggs are healthy, not sure what style eggs you're used to but if you just want a different variation on that try something like scrambled eggs with kale/spinach + salad on whole wheat bread or tortilla or similar. I'd also toss in some tomato and red onion. Now that I'm thinking about it avocado would probably go well with that combo too.
A lot of people like hard boiled eggs for lunch, it's not really my thing but you could do those and slice them up into a salad, wouldn't take too long once you do it every day.
eggs are fine. its the bacon which im concerned about.
I do something different every week, but my “lazy” lunch prep for the week is chicken breast w/ cottage cheese and I throw in some taco seasoning. You can make your own and it’s super easy and lets you control sodium but when I’m extra lazy I just use store bought. Then you can throw that into some tortillas or taco shells. I prefer tortillas, high fiber just cause I like eating as much fiber as I can.
For the chicken it’s basically: -Cut chicken -Season with salt and pepper -Throw chicken in pan with some oil (I use olive, I know you shouldn’t but I don’t think I heat it enough to be a problem plus I just use a little bit) -When chicken is cooked, add 1 cup of cottage cheese, wait til it melts a little and then add taco seasoning.
You can add onions and peppers, and you can add some garlic while cooking,the chicken but it’s all purely optional.
Should take 40 minutes tops for 5 portions.
Assuming the rest of your diet isn't stuffed with red meat I wouldn't worry too much about eating bacon. Replacing meat with vegan meat-substitutes doesn't automatically make the meal healthier - just free of meat.
Til nitrates free can have just as much nitrates https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/1701-nitrate-versus-nitrite-what-s-the-difference
Today it was felafel Greek salad and Greek potatos. Gotta mix it up...
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
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.
Canned tuna once or twice a week. Mix in mayo/olive oil/apple or pickle/salt and pepper, and if you have it, a dash of fish or oyster sauce. Toss in some green onion if you like. I like to add crispy jalapeno or crispy onions. You can swap in canned salmon if you want instead of tuna, although i would opt out of the apple at that point.
Peanut or mixed nut butter can be really good too. Use sourdough or a good sead bread. Try it with some added flax/chia seed, or hemp heart for more protein/fiber. Use different jams like mango or gooseberry for variety.
Liquid lunch is also something, although boring. Lots of 30g of protein/150 calorie options now a days, mostly whey or collagen based. Down a couple of those in a pinch.
Is the issue time spent prepping food, or being bored while you're prepping food? I prep my lunches on Sunday night. Sunday night, I sit in front of the tv, with one of those folding tray tables in front of me, and I make 10 salads, one for lunch and one for dinner for the next five days. I'm very heavy on the veggies and moderately light on the lettuce, so they're pretty filling.
I vary things among the salads so it doesn't get boring: I'll toss bits of apple or some raisins, off maybe split one of those single-serve fruit cups among a few; toss different cheeses or hard-boiled eggs or bits of meat in others, etc. The veggies and stuff go in the bottom, lettuce on top so it doesn't get crushed during the week. Salad dressing goes in an old pill bottle on the side. Anything I was too keep crunchy - croutons, tortilla bits, etc - goes in a Ziploc on the side. Takes me less than half an hour to make 10 salads.
If there's leftover veggies, I'll make snack bags: veggies in a Ziploc, sometimes plain, sometimes with a pill or other bottle of dip-able flavoring: dressing or dip or peanut butter.
You could do the same kind of in-front-of-tv prep for homemade soup mixes (add hot water and let sit) or overnight oats (do the dry ingredients into your eating container, cut up any fruit into a separate bowl, then add the fruit and dairy the night before), etc.
Cheezwhiz on white bread
Swap the chicken eggs out for bald eagle eggs. Try a veal fillet in place of bacon.
theoretically you could try a vegan version of egg and bacon sandwiches - Just Egg frozen patties aren't half bad, and seitan bacons sometimes are OK
not sure if the idea is that you're trying to reduce fats?
im fine with fats. just looking to cut nitrates from processed meats like bacon/deli slices
If you live here in the Nordics, Snellman and sometimes HK has bacon with no phosphates.
you could look at local CSAs (community supported agriculture) and get a local, unprocessed source of meat that way if you're committed to meat
but in general meat is shown to be unhealthy, associated with higher risks of colon cancer, etc. (I need to fact check this, but I think the big picture advice is aligned with most medical associations' suggestions that a plant based diet is much healthier and reduces health risks).
Most often we will eat either:
For lunch and/or diner both my spouse and I like to prepare a few meals in advance (mostly vegetables even though we're not vegan, we just want to eat less meat), using fresh non-industrially processed condiments. To save time, we will make 2 or even 3 meals worth in advance and store it in the fridge.
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/
egg whites?
Just ditch the bacon - it doesn't really add any value here.
Well, it adds taste, depending on the person.
And specifically if you're a pregnant woman, it's a very rich source of folic acid.
I'll happily send you links to two googly drives of cookery books, if you'd like
Do you like smoked salmon? The precooked stuff, you can eat it cold, is good with eggs. Can't go wrong with some fresh vegetables (on side or on sandwich) too, tomatos, cucumbers, peppers, carrots or anything.