Cooking homemade chicken nuggets costs double store-bought prices
- Sherman found that producing non-ultra-processed chicken nuggets at home cost $21.74 for 800g, or $2.72 per 100g, requiring a cook time of 1 and a half hours.
- Machado stressed that individuals are not to blame for high consumption levels.
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Cooking Chicken Nuggets From Scratch Costs Double Store-Bought Prices
Sherman found that producing non-ultra-processed chicken nuggets at home cost $21.74 for 800g, or $2.72 per 100g, requiring a cook time of 1 and a half hours. By comparison, a 400-gram bag of frozen Ingham’s crumbed chicken breast nuggets cost $5.50, or $1.38 per 100 grams, with a cook time of 18 minutes. The homemade recipe required making fresh mayonnaise from scratch without emulsifiers and sourcing simple store-bought bread crumbs containing only flour, yeast, and salt. Evaluating the grocery items, Hanan noted that processed foods with long ingredient lists are not inherently bad and that nutritional value matters more, the bbc.co.uk reported. Hanan explained that ingredients like disodium diphosphate and sodium bicarbonate are used in batter to create a light, crisp texture, while mandatory additions such as calcium carbonate, niacin, and thiamin are legally required in white wheat flour in the UK.
Public Health Researchers Warn Food Systems Drive High Consumption
Machado stressed that individuals are not to blame for high consumption levels. Instead, she argued that powerful corporations dominate the food system, utilizing cheap ingredients and intensive marketing to make these products highly available, convenient, and profitable. Broad health risks associated with high ultra-processed food intake include increased risks of cardiovascular events, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and mental health challenges like depression and anxiety, reported. For cardiovascular outcomes specifically, studies linked higher consumption to a 24% greater risk, with every extra 100 grams eaten daily tied to a 14% increase in risk. Additional analyses published by the independent.co.uk noted that common household items like sliced bread, flavoured yoghurt, and jarred pesto often carry high levels of salt, fat, sugar, and preservatives, prompting nutritionists to recommend whole-food swaps such as plain Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit or simple oat-based muesli.