On this page:

• What does 'ultra-processed' mean?
• Other ingredients in ultra-processed foods
• Are ultra-processed foods bad for you?
• How 5 common whole foods become other foods

Much like ‘junk food’, ‘fast food’ and ‘convenience food’, the term ‘ultra-processed’ has made its way into our everyday lexicon to refer to food that’s unhealthy.Ìý

But what does it actually mean? How is ultra-processed food different from food that’s merely ‘processed’? And why is it so bad for you?

In this article we answer these questions, and we explore the food processing journeys for five popular foods: oats, chicken, peanuts, strawberries and tomatoes.

What does ‘ultra-processed’ mean?

There’s no standard definition of the term ultra-processed, but probably the best-known explanation comes from Nova, a food classification system developed by scientists in Brazil.Ìý

Nova classifies all foods and food products into four groups, and gives examples:Ìý

1. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods

Examples include nuts, seeds, rice and other grains, legumes, fruit, vegetables, eggs, fresh meat, fish and milk.

2. Processed culinary ingredients

Examples include oils, butter, salt, refined starches and sugar.

3. Processed foods

Examples include canned vegetables and legumes, salted or sugared nuts and seeds; salted, pickled, cured or smoked meats; canned fish, fruits in syrup, cheeses and freshly made bread.

4. Ultra-processed foods

Examples include carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, ice cream, chocolate, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads, biscuits, pastries, cakes, cereal bars, margarines and spreads, processed cheese, energy drinks, sugared fruit yoghurts and drinks, many pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets, sausages, burgers, hot dogs and other reconstituted meat products, and instant soups and noodles.

What is the Nova food classification system?Ìý

Nova is a system that the has promoted as a way of monitoring consumption of foods and their impact on the overall quality of a diet and their effects on health and disease.

Other ingredients in ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed foods, like processed foods, usually include one or more of the processed culinary ingredients above. But they also contain ingredients you’re less likely to have in your pantry.Ìý

Some of these are extracted from foods, such as casein, lactose, whey protein and gluten.Ìý

Others are obtained from further processing of food constituents, such as:

• hydrogenated oils, soya protein isolate, maltodextrin and high-fructose corn syrup
• additives such as food colours, flavour enhancers and non-sugar sweeteners
• processing aids such as anti-caking agents, emulsifiers and humectants.Ìý

A further distinction of ultra-processed foods is, of course, the processes they go through, such as hydrogenation, hydrolysation and extrusion, which wouldn’t happen in a domestic kitchen.

As the Brazilian researchers describe them: “These are not modified foods, but formulations mostly of cheap industrial sources of dietary energy and nutrients plus additives, using a series of processes (hence ‘ultra-processed’).”

Are ultra-processed foods bad for you?

Numerous studies have found that eating lots of ultra-processed foods is bad for your health. Research has linked a high intake with everything from obesity, depression and irritable bowel syndrome, to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.

Ultra-processed foods are often energy-dense, high in unhealthy types of fat, refined starches, added sugars and salt, and are poor sources of protein, dietary fibre and micronutrients.Ìý

They also tend to be attractively packaged, convenient and super tasty. As a result, it’s easy to eat too much of them, and they can displace natural or minimally processed (better for you) foods in our diet.

And our food supply is full of them. The in Sydney used an adapted version of the Nova classification framework to analyse 40,664 packaged foods in Australia. It found that about 60% would be classified as highly processed.

No wonder, then, that a key recommendation of the Brazilian dietary guidelines is to avoid ultra-processed foods and make natural or minimally processed foods the basis of your diet.

How 5 common whole foods become other foods

Food processing isn’t necessarily bad in itself. Any preparation we do to foods before we eat them – even peeling a carrot or barbecuing a sausage – is a form of processing.Ìý

And some processes have obvious benefits, such as freezing, fermentation and pasteurisation.Ìý

But, generally speaking, the further removed a food gets from its original state, the worse it is for you.Ìý

We take a look at oats, chicken, peanuts, strawberries and tomatoes on their journey from whole to ultra-processed, and see how this affects them nutritionally.

Oats

Wholegrain raw oats are harvested when the grain is fully grown and dry. Once you’ve removed the outer hull, you can use the oat kernels (groats) to make porridge, although they’ll take longer to cook than oats that have been processed further.

Rolled oats

These are made by steaming, flattening and drying oat kernels, a process that helps them cook faster. They still contain all three parts of the grain – bran, germ and endosperm – so they retain all their fibre and other nutrients.Ìý

The soluble fibre in oats means you digest them slowly, helping to keep your blood-glucose levels more stable. Soluble fibre also helps the body to reduce the amount of LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol) in your blood.Ìý

Steel-cut oats – oat kernels sliced into small pieces – are even less processed, but take a little longer to cook than rolled oats.

‘Quick’ or ‘instant’ oats

These are cut smaller, pressed thinner and steamed longer than rolled oats, which is why they cook faster. They’re still a whole grain but can be digested more quickly, which can affect your blood-sugar levels.Ìý

You can buy them plain, but more processed versions often contain added sugars (some more than 20%) and flavourings, among other ingredients. For more details see our porridge oats review.

Choc chip muesli bars

These are still a source of wholegrains and fibre. But their nutritional value plunges because of the various kinds of added sugars manufacturers pour into them during production to make them stick together.Ìý

Among the ingredients of the 11 bars we taste-tested in our choc chip muesli bar review, we found sugar, glucose, invert sugar, honey, raw sugar, glucose syrup, grape-juice concentrate, invert syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, partially inverted sugar syrup, molasses, brown sugar and caramelised sugar.

Chicken

During poultry processing, water is used for washing and chilling, and some water is absorbed by the skin or muscle tissue of carcasses.

Food standards stipulate that if chicken contains 5% or more water, it must be declared in the ingredients list (so we’re not unwittingly buying artificially plumped-up chicken).

Chicken mince

This is made by finely chopping muscle-meat trimmings with an electric mincer.Ìý

Store-bought mince should be 100% meat, no other ingredients added. But there are occasional reports of tests done by food-enforcement agencies that have detected the presence of the preservative, sulphur dioxide.Ìý

Manufacturers are allowed to add sulphur dioxide to a range of specified foods, including ham and sausages. But labelling is mandatory, and it’s illegal to add it to raw minced chicken, beef or lamb.

Chicken nuggets

Nuggets from the supermarket freezer are made from machine-formed chicken (usually breast or white meat, sometimes with skin added or marinated for extra flavour), dusted with flour, then battered or crumbed.Ìý

They contain oil and have often been generously salted. They may also contain a range of other ingredients, including maize starch, colours, soya protein isolate, thickener, hydrolysed vegetable protein, vegetable gums, acidity regulators, flavours, mineral salts and sugar.Ìý

You can make your own healthier chicken nuggets at home by chopping chicken breast or thigh fillets into chunks, coating in a seasoned flour, dunking in an egg or buttermilk mixture, and coating with bread crumbs.Ìý

Try seasoning the flour with herbs and spices rather than salt, and either cook them in an air fryer or oven bake them to minimise how much oil you need to use, if any. Use panko crumbs for a more golden colour.

Chicken soup mix

Dry-mix soup is a combination of desiccated ingredients – primarily salt, occasionally noodles, in many cases added sugar, flavour enhancers and vegetable oil, and a token proportion of vegetables and chicken.Ìý

The meatiest products in our chicken soup reviewÌýcontain 11% chicken. Nine of the 53 products we compared contain none at all – they’re just chicken-flavoured.Ìý

Peanuts

Peanuts, like other nuts, are a good source of protein (about 25%), healthy fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Once peanut plants are pulled out of the ground, they’re left to dry for a few days before the peanut pods are separated from the plant.

Roasted peanuts

Before packaging, peanuts are shelled, blanched to remove the skins, roasted in oil and often salted. Nutritionally, they’re similar to fresh peanuts in the shell, except for that added sodium.

Peanut butter

Some peanut butter sold in supermarkets is minimally processed – just ground peanuts, with or without salt – so you’ll need to stir it first.Ìý

But many brands on the shelf include additional oils (often hydrogenated), emulsifiers and stabilisers to stop the peanut butter separating. And about half contain added sugars. Our peanut butter review has more.

Peanut butter protein bars

Products vary, but in many protein bars the peanut butter is little more than flavouring.Ìý

Much of the protein in Aussie Bodies and Clif peanut-butter bars, for example, is from soy protein isolate, which is protein in powder form that has been extracted from the soybean and concentrated.Ìý

The first ingredient in the Clif bar is actually sugar, in the form of rice syrup, and the ingredients list of the Aussie Bodies bar is littered with non-nutritive sweeteners and other additives.

Strawberries

Once picked, strawberries don’t continue to ripen, so they need to be picked ripe. They contain dietary fibre and are a source of vitamins, particularly vitamin C, and minerals such as potassium.

Frozen strawberries

The benefit of freezing is that it preserves the nutritional value of a food, so frozen strawberries are pretty much as good for you as fresh ones are.Ìý

But strawberries also have a high water content and when they’re frozen this water expands. This ruptures their cell walls, so that when they defrost, they have trouble holding their shape and become soft and mushy. That’s why it’s best to eat them while they’re still partially frozen.

Strawberry jam

Whether it’s homemade or store bought, strawberry jam – essentially a 50:50 combo of strawberries and sugar, combined and heated until the mixture reaches a setting point – wouldn’t be considered healthy.Ìý

But at home you’d typically make jam using just fruit, sugar and lemon juice (possibly adding pectin to ensure it sets), whereas the ingredient list of a store-bought jam might also include firming agents or mineral salt such as calcium chloride, acidity regulators such as citric acid, glucose or fructose syrups, and non-nutritive sweeteners. See our strawberry jam review for details.

Strawberry roll up

To make a fruit leather, you pre-cook, purée then roll out the mixture to form a thin layer, before drying and cutting it out.Ìý

This might seem fairly wholesome – it’s 100% fruit, after all – but dried fruit is high in kilojoules, can stick to the teeth and increases the risk of dental decay, so it’s not something you should eat regularly.

Highly processed fruit roll-ups are even worse. The ingredients list of Uncle Tobys Strawberry Flavour Roll Ups, for example, reads: maltodextrin, concentrated fruit purée, sugar, soluble corn fibre, modified starch (1442), sunflower oil, apple juice concentrate, emulsifier (471), natural flavour, food acid (malic, citric), colours (anthocyanin, carbon black, turmeric) and vegetable gums (410, 415). Strawberry purée is just 1% of the total.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C, niacin and lycopene (a plant nutrient with antioxidant properties), contain a variety of minerals that are beneficial to your health, and are a source of dietary fibre.Ìý

You can eat them raw or cooked, and in fact the lycopene content of tomatoes goes up when you heat them.

Canned tomatoes

Ripened tomatoes are picked, have their skins removed (usually through steaming or plunging in hot water), then sealed in a can with tomato juice or purée. The can is then held at temperature until the contents are sterilised, and the tomatoes get cooked in the process.Ìý

They’re often 100% tomatoes, but some canned tomatoes also contain salt and additives that include thickener and calcium chloride (a firming agent), so check the label.

Sundried tomatoes

You can make these at home by slicing tomatoes in half, seasoning them with salt and cooking them slowly on a low heat in the oven, or in a food dehydrator. To make them last longer, refrigerate or freeze them, or store them in a jar of olive oil with fresh or dried herbs.Ìý

Compared with fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes in oil have a higher sugar content, fewer vitamins (dehydrating leads to loss of water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C) and significantly more kilojoules.Ìý

Store-bought sundried tomatoes often have added sugar and preservatives too.Ìý

Tomato sauce

Although they’re made largely of tomato concentrate (plus sugars, salt, vinegar and various spices), tomato sauces can pack a lot of sugar and sodium into a tiny serving.Ìý

In our supermarket tomato sauce review, most of the 22 sauces were at least 20% sugar, and several contained more than 1200mg sodium per 100g.Ìý

Heinz Organic Tomato Ketchup, for instance, lists tomato concentrate as its first ingredient, but its second and third ingredients are sugar and salt.

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Nitrates and nitrites occur naturally in fruit and vegetables, which are beneficial to our overall health.Ìý

But the use of nitrates and nitrites in processed meat is hotly debated.Ìý

On the one hand, they’re used to preserve meats, which doesn’t just add flavour but also makes them safer to eat and extends their shelf life.Ìý

On the other hand, research has raised concerns over their safety, and whether they may increase our risk of developing cancer.Ìý

But what exactly are nitrates and nitrites? And are they something you should worry about eating?

What are nitrates and nitrites?Ìý

Nitrates and nitrites are naturally occurring chemicals that are a combination of nitrogen and oxygen. Both chemicals are found in soil, which means foods grown in soil, such as vegetables and fruit, often contain high levels of them.

The overwhelming majority of nitrates and nitrites we consume come from vegetables (42% to 78%) and fruit, including juices (11% to 30%).

But they’re also used as additives in the form of sodium or potassium salts (such as potassium nitrite 249, sodium nitrite 250, sodium nitrate 251 and potassium nitrate 252) to prevent the botulism-causing bacteria Clostridium botulinum from forming in processed meats, thereby keeping food safe to eat.Ìý

“They act as a preservative and they can also add colour and flavour to processed meats,” says Clare Hughes, chair of the nutrition and physical activity committee at Cancer Council Australia.

“They’re added during the process of turning the primary meat component into the processed component.”Ìý

Manufacturers started adding nitrates and nitrites to processed foods in the 1960s, says Fletcher, as a simple way to preserve food. Before then, traditional methods included using salt, smoke, sugar or pickling.Ìý

(FSANZ) says processed meats account for less than 10% of our total dietary exposure to nitrites.

Are nitrates and nitrites in food bad for you?

According to FSANZ, the amount of nitrates and nitrites Australians ingest “is not considered to represent an appreciable health and safety risk”.

FSANZ says: “Any health risks that may be associated with ingestion of nitrate and nitrite in the diet, are outweighed by the strong evidence of health benefits of consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables as part of a balanced diet.”

Nick Fletcher, principal toxicologist at FSANZ, says, “People need to be reassured that nitrites and nitrates are safe at the level they occur in food, and that’s true for both food like fruits and vegetables that naturally contain them, and also through their use as a food additive [such as in processed meats].”

Do nitrates and nitrites cause cancer?

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded there’s “sufficient evidence” that eating processed meat causes colorectal cancer in humans. Ìý

According to the IARC, this is partly because the nitrates and nitrites in processed meats can be converted into nitrosamines through some forms of cooking and during digestion, and nitrosamines increase the risk of cancer.ÌýÌý

But why aren’t the nitrates and nitrites we eat in fruit and veg considered a risk, while those in meats are? The answer lies in the way they behave when they’re used in processed meats.Ìý

Nitrates and nitrates can become carcinogenic when combined with protein and heat, says Hughes.Ìý

“The nitrite preservatives can react with the protein in the meat or through the heating of the meat, and when processed meats are broken down in the gut a reaction can occur and form something called a nitroso compound,” she says.Ìý

“This is the cancer-causing compound and given that processed meats of course contain protein and that some may be heated as part of the processing, such as bacon, this is where the risk lies.”

According to the IARC, the more processed meat you eat, the higher the risk – it found that every 50g portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18% over the course of a lifetime.Ìý

“On average, people’s risk of developing bowel cancer by the age of 85 is about 8.2 per cent, so it’s increasing that level of relative risk,” says Hughes.

When considering the impact on your risk of developing cancer from eating processed meat, it’s important you consider the full picture.

The IARC says its findings are of “public health importance”. Nevertheless, IARC spokesperson Kurt Straif says that, for individuals, “the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small”.

Hughes echoes that sentiment and urges people to not be too alarmed. She says that as long as you don’t eat processed meats too often – or eat too much –Ìý you can still enjoy them.

So, should I give up bacon?Ìý

Not necessarily. The IARC’s research may be food for thought, but it doesn’t mean you have to stop eating processed meat altogether.

Instead, Hughes says, people should treat it the same way they would chocolate and cake – as a treat.

“We wouldn’t say never have any for the rest of your life, but certainly, processed meat shouldn’t be forming part of anyone’s regular, daily diet,” she says, adding that a small amount once or twice a week is probably OK.

Which foods are high in nitrates and nitrites?

According to a survey, foods high in nitrates (more than 100mg/kg) include raw and freshly cooked spinach, canned beetroot, fresh parsley, raw celery and raw lettuce at concentrations of between 1144 to 2963mg/kg.

Banana, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, potato crisps, pumpkin, salami and strawberries also contain nitrates, but at lower concentrations of between 100 to 450mg/kg.Ìý

Foods high in nitrites (more than 10mg/kg) include bacon, frankfurt sausages, ham, luncheon sausage and strassburg (or Strasbourg) meat, spinach, pumpkin, beans, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, grapes, parsley, peaches, pineapple and strawberries.

The survey found that white wine contains more than 10mg/kg of nitrites. Both nitrates and nitrites also occur in drinking water, although levels are typically below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline levels of 50mg/L for nitrate (as NO3) and 3mg/L for nitrite (as NO2).Ìý

That said, nitrate concentrations of 200-300mg/L have been recorded in groundwater for drinking in some rural areas, which may raise methaemoglobin in young infants, resulting in lower oxygen transport in the blood.

What’s the recommended daily intake of nitrates and nitrites?

The European Food Safety Authority suggests we consume no more than 3.7mg per kg of body weight a day of nitrate (this equates to 260mg per 70kg adult) and 0.06–0.07mg per kg for nitrite.Ìý

But Fletcher says there isn’t a ‘daily recommendation’ as such because nitrates and nitrites aren’t typically considered to be nutrients.

“We recommend people have a balanced nutritious diet that contains plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits, and follow theÌý,” he adds.

Fletcher says Ìýon the potential benefits of nitrates in fruit and vegetables. Some research suggests it can even help keep our hearts healthy.

“It’s also important to note that eating plenty of fruit and vegetables protects against a host of diseases, one among them being cancer.”

But the same doesn’t necessarily go for processed meats.

WHO recommends that we moderate our consumption of processed meat and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating considers processed meats to be a ‘discretionary’ food, classing it along with things like cakes, pies and biscuits – “all those sorts of treat and processed foods that we shouldn’t be having on a regular basis,” according to Hughes.

“People should really consider how frequently they eat processed meat,” she adds. “Foods like ham and salami, pizza, deli sandwiches and bacon on the weekend… it’s probably more than they realise. Cut back where you can.”

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For those of us sick of slogging through uninspiring green salads in the name of health, these bowls are something of a treat: crunchy, zesty, filling and colourful, they’re a far cry from the salads of the past.

But just because an Instagram influencer recommends something, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for you (we’re looking at you, HiSmile teeth whitening kits).Ìý

We take a look at buddha bowls to see whether they actually deliver on nutrition.

Are buddha bowls good for you?

ÌÇÐÄVlog has been skeptical of many food fads in the past – from coconut oil to apple cider vinegar to keto diets – but this is one food fad that we can actually get behind. Every dietitian we spoke to gives buddha bowls the tick of approval.

What is a buddha bowl?

Think of buddha bowls as super-charged salads.Ìý

You can’t just plonk any old salad in a bowl and call it a buddha bowl, though.Ìý

What makes a buddha bowl a more balanced meal than a regular salad is that they contain a grain component (such as brown rice, quinoa or soba noodles) and protein (eggs, tofu or lean meat), plus a range of colourful vegetables.

What is a poke bowl?

Poke bowls are a modern take on the traditional Hawaiian poke – raw fish served with sea salt, seaweed and candlenut.Ìý

It’s often served with warm sushi rice to make a more filling meal.

Modern versions incorporate a more diverse range of ingredients, including quinoa, zucchini ‘noodles’, chicken, tomatoes and Korean-inspired sauces.Ìý

(It’s pronounced poh-kay, not poky, in case you were wondering.)

Health benefits of the buddha bowl

Buddha bowls are making salad sexy again, says accredited practising dietitian Anna Debenham, co-founder of consultancy The Biting Truth.Ìý

The variety of colours, textures and flavours in buddha bowls makes them far more interesting than a plain old plate of green salad.

And anything that encourages people to eat more vegetables gets the dietitians’ tick of approval.

“95% of the population don’t eat the recommended five serves of vegetables per day, so this is a fun way of adding in your vegetables and enjoying a balanced, nutritious meal,” says Dr Nick Fuller of the University of Sydney, author of Interval Weight Loss for Life.

Buddha bowls are a great example of the ‘Healthy Eating Plate’ model developed at Harvard, Debenham adds.Ìý

Half the plate (or in this case, bowl) is made up of vegetables, a quarter carbohydrates and a quarter protein, making it a healthy, balanced meal.

How to make your buddha bowl as healthy as possible

• Choose complex carbs like brown rice or quinoa, rather than white rice or vermicelli noodles.
• Include a wide variety of vegetables.
• Avoid creamy sauces and deep-fried toppings.
• Keep salty dressings like soy sauce to a minimum.
• Be mindful of the portion size.

Are frozen buddha bowls healthy?

You know a food trend is here to stay when it hits the supermarket – and the bowl trend is no exception.Ìý

Super Nature ‘wellness bowls’ are popping up in the freezer section of major supermarkets, with varieties such as Super Protein, Super Green, Super Wholegrain and the slightly-less-appealing Super Collagen – a wholemeal pasta dish with added bovine collagen peptides. Mmm.

Debenham says you’re always better off making a ‘wellness bowl’ at home where you can control the ingredients and portion size, as well as things like salt content.

For example, the Super Nature bowls contain 135 to 240mg of sodium per 100g, so you’ll need to factor that into your daily sodium intake.

However, while fresh is always best, frozen buddha bowls are far from the worst thing you can put in your body when you’re pressed for time.

“From a nutritional perspective, freezing is a good way to preserve the nutrient content of food. Once a food is frozen, the nutrients are locked in,” says Sharon Natoli, founding director of Food & Nutrition Australia.Ìý

“This means that frozen meals such as these can be a reasonably good option, depending on the quality of the produce and ingredients that go into them.”Ìý

Adds Debenham, “If you’re going to have a few of them in your freezer to save you from going and getting Thai up the road, that’s a much better option.”

How to make your own buddha bowl

Buddha bowls should contain a mix of vegetables, protein, carbohydrates, dressing/healthy fats and added extras.Ìý

You can tweak them to suit your tastes and what you have in the fridge – they’re the ultimate customisable meal.

1. Start with a base of half a cup of wholegrains or slow-release carbs. For example: brown rice, quinoa, soba noodles, farro, freekeh, pearl barley, teff, millet, buckwheat, wild rice.

2. Add a variety of vegetables with different flavours, textures and colours. For example: kale, carrot, beetroot, sweet potato, cucumber, mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, herbs and spices.

3. Pick a protein to help keep you full. For example: boiled eggs, canned tuna, tofu, tempeh, chickpeas, lentils, raw sashimi-grade fish, smoked or cooked fish, grilled or poached chicken, barbecued beef, grilled prawns
4. Add a delicious dressing to bring it all together.ÌýUse good fats:Ìý, tahini, avocado, flaxseed oil. Add a bit of zing: lemon juice, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, rice wine vinegar,Ìý,
5. Crunchy extras. A variety of flavours and textures will make your bowl more interesting (and delicious). For example: nuts, seeds, dried seaweed, shallots, edamame beans, pomegranate arils, blueberries, grapes, apple, pear, dry-toasting the nuts and seeds can add additional flavour. You can also add some extra zing with fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi. Not only do they provide some extra flavour, they also contain plenty of probiotics that can .

Prepare for success

Preparation is key to set yourself up for success.Ìý

Getting organised over the weekend will mean you’re less likely to end up buying a burger or other unhealthy takeaway during the week.

These time-saving tips will help you put your buddha bowl together more quickly.

• Prepare and cook ingredients ahead of time.
• Use microwavable brown rice or quinoa packets.
• Freeze rice in batches so you can defrost as needed.
• Buy pre-shredded packets of salad or coleslaw.
• Keep tinned lentils, chickpeas or other legumes in the cupboard.
• Boil some eggs in advance and keep them in the fridge.
• Roast vegetables ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Keep a range of nuts, seeds, pickles and fermented foods on hand to liven up your bowl.

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