Meals with no processed ingredients.

[Bulldogdad]

Originally Posted by springfieldva

Good question and something I'm trying to figure out.

I think a whole, plain potato is pretty much in it's natural state whereas rice has been through some sort of "processing." Peeled veggies are still all natural, but veggies coated in preservatives or a brine would not be. A cut piece of raw meat is natural as long as nothing (preservatives, salt, etc.) has been added to it.

I'm still in the process of trying to figure out what constitutes a strictly all natural food. Or at least what is natural enough to be considered "healthy."

They only thing that would fit your description is anything harvested wild and unadulterated.

Wild game, wild plants and unearthed minerals.

Everything else we consume is processed to one degree or another. Example your garden even if organic was manually manipulated to produce the food you eat. Even most wild game and fish stocks now can be defined as man manipulated. Sad huh.

[jasper12]

Eggs, onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, sliced potaotoes,
Fresh squeezed OJ, raspberries, cream.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

I rarely cook with processed foods, meaning canned/boxed/frozen foods. We don't really care for pasta, instead we eat mostly brown rice or potatoes. We grill meat/chicken/fish most nights, and have veggies on the side. I either buy the veggies fresh, often from local farms, or buy them frozen from Trader Joe's with nothing added to them. I sometimes make various cheese sauces, but always with fresh cheese and milk, and I buy our eggs from local farms....when I make soups I use dried beans/fresh meat/veggies, and never use anything gross like boullion cubes...I do use Kitchen Basics broths, that has nothing but "real" ingredients, no added preservatives etc. and you can even get it salt-free. Last night we had roast chicken, homemade gravy with mashed potatoes, and Trader Joe's frozen corn. The butter and the corn were processed, I suppose. I guess I really don't understand the question, do people often eat things like hamburger helper? Haha..

I agree. Potatoes or rice, some chicken or beef, a few vegetables like steamed carrots or whatever--why do you have to add something processed to it? If you're a vegetarian, you can have a bean dish.

I do use a lot of frozen vegetables in the winter but they don't lose much of their nutritional value when frozen and I think they are likely to be better quality that something fresh that isn't in season here in the north and has been traveling on a truck for a few days. Just the place frozen veggies, not the ones frozen in stupid sauces with all kinds of junk in them.

I've got boneless chicken breasts in the frige marinating in lemon juice and garlic, will broil them tomorrow. We cooked frozen cauliflower and added it to leftover mashed potato last night and it was good with some herbs thrown in. (I hate cauliflower plain but it's also good with cheese over it).

So tomorrow it's the chicken breasts and maybe some rice or a baked potato and two frozen veggies. Or steam some carrots and then saute them lightly--yummy.

I just keep it simple because I don't like to cook but I don't GET the processed thing either--why would anyone need it?

[cape_fisherman]

Barbecue