tryna stay healthy and move away from processed meats, whilst also spending as little time prepping food as possible.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Egg and turkey bacon sandwich.
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.
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/
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…
- Nuke a yukon potato about 5 minutes for a fist size. Add whatever toppings you want, cold or hot. For example, scallions, a pat of butter, If it’s too dry, add a little milk and it becomes a stew or soup.
- Avocado and bean sprouts are good on almost anything. If you don’t mind cheese, swiss is amazing with it.
- If you have an air fryer, it only takes time to cook, but prep is flour and season (I usually use garlic and salt, maybe basil) and then air fry until it’s done for your type of fryer.
- Soup is water in a pot and then stick some veggies in the water and boil for a bit. The prep is easy, but it takes time to cook. This will last a few meals if you cook enough. You can freeze some of it for later too.
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.
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
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
