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UPFs are regarded as cheaper and faster than homemade dishes – but how much time and money will it cost to make alternatives?
For the past five years, I have been trying to cut down on the amount of ultra-processed foods my family consumes. There have been various strategies we used to manage this. One question comes up time and again: how much does this all cost? UPFs are often regarded as cheaper than preparing a from-scratch meal, and they’re a lot less time-consuming. Convenience is one of their selling points, after all.
A nutritionist and public health researcher at Deakin Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Dr Priscila Machado, describes UPFs as “branded, commercial formulations made from cheap ingredients extracted or derived from whole foods, combined with additives, and mostly containing little to no whole food”. She says looking at ingredient lists is a practical way to spot them: “If there are ingredients you don’t recognise or use at home, like protein isolates, emulsifiers, colour, flavours, and other additives, it’s probably ultra-processed.”