Do I have to give up ultra-processed food entirely?

Bagged does not set a target and does not suggest one. It reports the share of your food and drink spend that fell into NOVA group 4, and which items produced it. What you do with that is your decision.

Are cheaper foods always more processed?

No. Some of the least processed things in a supermarket are among the cheapest, including dried pulses, rice, oats, frozen vegetables and whole chickens. Several swaps that move an item out of group 4 also reduce the bill.

How long before a change shows up?

One shop. The next receipt either contains the substituted item or it does not, so the verification arrives with the following week's photograph rather than after a month of logging.

What if my shop is mostly the same every week?

That is the case this approach is built for. A repeating basket means a single substitution repeats too, and it means changes are easy to detect because everything else stayed still.

12 August 20263 min read

Cutting ultra-processed food without cooking from scratch

Advice in this area usually assumes you will start cooking everything. Here is the version that assumes you will not.

Almost all published advice about ultra-processed food arrives at the same destination, which is that you should cook from scratch. It is not wrong. It is just an enormous ask, and it is the reason most people read the article, agree with it and change nothing.

This is the smaller version. It assumes you shop once a week, you are not about to start making bread, and the shopping list is largely the same every time. That last fact is the one worth exploiting.

The basket repeats, so a change compounds

A weekly shop is mostly a repeat purchase. The same bread, the same milk, the same biscuits, week after week. That is why a single substitution is worth more than it looks: it is not one decision, it is one decision multiplied by fifty two.

It is also why the effort is front-loaded rather than continuous. You choose a different loaf once, and then the new loaf is simply what you buy.

Start with the largest line, not the worst one

On the example receipt the largest single ultra-processed line is £3.50. Out of £11.30 of group 4 spend, that one line is a meaningful share of it, and it is a repeat purchase.

Starting there rather than with whatever feels most indulgent is a practical choice. The largest line moves the figure most, and it is usually a staple rather than a treat, which means substituting it changes a habit rather than removing a pleasure.

What a useful swap actually looks like

A swap worth making has three properties. It is a product you can buy in the same shop on the same trip. It moves the item out of group 4, usually into group 3. And it does not cost meaningfully more, because a swap that costs more is a swap that quietly reverses.

Sliced industrial bread to a bakery loaf from the in-store bakery. Same aisle, same trip, and the ingredients list is usually four items long.
Flavoured yoghurt to plain yoghurt. The sugar and the flavouring are what put most of these in group 4.
Sauces in jars to tinned tomatoes plus whatever is already in the cupboard. This one does need a pan, so it fails the no-cooking test more often than the others.
Multipack soft drinks to the same drink bought less often. Reducing the quantity is a legitimate change and does not require liking anything new.

Notice that none of these are health recommendations. They are substitutions that change how a product was manufactured, and in most cases what it costs. Whether any of them suit your household is not something an app is in a position to know.

One change at a time, verified by the next receipt

The reason to change one line rather than five is measurement. If you change one thing and the figure moves, you know what moved it. If you change your whole shop at once, you have a different basket and no information.

This is the part that the receipt makes possible and that a food diary cannot. Next week's receipt is produced whether or not you are trying, and it either contains the new loaf or it does not. Nobody has to remember to log anything, and there is no way to be optimistic about it.

The receipt is both the input and the verification. That is what separates this from a tracker.
Bagged, product notes

What to ignore

Percentage targets. There is no correct share, and a target invites you to optimise a number rather than change a basket.
National averages. Finding out you are better than average is a good reason to stop paying attention.
Whole-basket overhauls. They are unmeasurable and they do not survive a busy week.

Common questions

Do I have to give up ultra-processed food entirely?: Bagged does not set a target and does not suggest one. It reports the share of your food and drink spend that fell into NOVA group 4, and which items produced it. What you do with that is your decision.
Are cheaper foods always more processed?: No. Some of the least processed things in a supermarket are among the cheapest, including dried pulses, rice, oats, frozen vegetables and whole chickens. Several swaps that move an item out of group 4 also reduce the bill.
How long before a change shows up?: One shop. The next receipt either contains the substituted item or it does not, so the verification arrives with the following week's photograph rather than after a month of logging.
What if my shop is mostly the same every week?: That is the case this approach is built for. A repeating basket means a single substitution repeats too, and it means changes are easy to detect because everything else stayed still.