Saturday, January 24, 2026 |
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January has a way of swinging between self-improvement fantasies and the hard truth of 4pm darkness. Which is why stew is having its annual moment: not the sad, grey kind, but the proper global spectrum of set-and-forget comfort. One pot, low heat, high reward. From Poppy O'Toole's unapologetically lush beef bourguignon (red wine, pancetta, a spoon of Dijon if you're smart) to Nadiya Hussain's grapefruit chicken, which sounds like it shouldn't work until it does, all bitter-bright citrus and cosy spice. Gill Meller takes it out to sea with pork, bacon and mushrooms finished with cream and parsley, while Ryan Riley goes full flavour-bomb with Thai basil, coconut milk, fish sauce and a brief, glorious flirtation with midweek extravagance. Then there's the peanut-stew lineage – Melissa Thompson tracing West African roots through trading routes and diaspora – plus budget heroes from Rachel Ama to Jack Monroe, who reminds you that sometimes the real cooking is just showing up, opening a tin and stirring until you can breathe again.
If stew is about surrendering to time, bread is about the opposite: the quiet shock of realising your "everyday staple" can be one of the most stealthy ultra-processed items in the trolley. Dr Rupy Aujla's rule is blunt: bread should be four ingredients or fewer, but supermarket loaves routinely hit the high teens, padded out with gums, emulsifiers and shelf-life wizardry. Rob Hobson and Dr Federica Amati aren't telling you to swear off sandwiches – just to stop trusting the front of the packet. Look for genuinely wholegrain, short ingredient lists and, crucially, fibre per 100g. Rye is the headline act: more fibre, more satiety, steadier blood sugar, and (in a very 2026 twist) a nudge towards releasing GLP-1 naturally, no injections required. It's not restriction, Aujla argues, it's addition – a January swap that doesn't feel like punishment.
Ryan Riley, meanwhile, is offering comfort with a wink: French onion soup, but on a deadline. His hack is a jar of strong pickled onions, softened under a lid, then coaxed into caramelised depth with sugar and a splash of their own sharp liquor. Flour thickens, stock does the heavy lifting, and the whole thing lands in "tastes-like-hours" territory in about half the time. No cheese crouton required – though nobody's policing you.
For the nights when you want "indulgent" without the invoice, Budget Bites is doing what it says on the tin: winter dinners that feel plush, not penny-pinched. Sorted Food's line-up leans on clever flavour maths – roast squash and garlic blitzed into a silky pasta sauce, a swede and goat's cheese soup made glossy with butter and finished with fried apple, and a one-pan nut roast that actually earns its gravy. It's less about deprivation, more about building comfort out of ordinary things.
The same logic powers high-low shopping: spend where it matters, save where it doesn't. Most of us are in value mode without wanting a life of beige. So you splurge on flavour-carrying fats and "hero" ingredients – 'nduja, truffle butter, decent eggs, parmesan – then let own-brand pasta, tinned tomatoes and pantry staples play support. The result is dinner that tastes like you tried, even when you didn't.
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Is your daily bread ultra-processed? Nutritionists name the healthy option you need to try |
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Ideally, our staple loaf should have four ingredients or fewer, but supermarket offerings often contain 19. Hannah Twiggs talks to the experts about how to navigate the bread aisle
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Bread shouldn't be controversial. It is the safety net when dinner escapes you. It is toast when you are hungover, and what you feed a child when every other request is met with a scream. It's one of the most universal foods in Britain. And it's also one of the most ultra-processed items in our weekly shop.
"Bread should just be four ingredients or less, but typically, supermarket breads have about 19 ingredients," says GP and TV doctor, Rupy Aujla, better known as Dr Rupy from The Doctor's Kitchen. "A lot of people don't realise how processed breads are."
Instead of artisanal flour, water and a pinch of salt, a quick look at the label on the back of a supermarket loaf, and you get gums and stabilisers and emulsifiers, all working hard to make something last for a fortnight.
Whether or not that matters for health, says registered nutritionist Rob Hobson, author of The Low Appetite Cookbook, comes down to overall diet quality. "Bread itself isn't the issue; it's a staple for many people, but loaves that are low in fibre and made mainly from refined flour offer fewer nutritional benefits."
Dr Federica Amati, head of nutrition at Zoe, says: "Many [breads] are made with refined flour, added sugars, emulsifiers and preservatives, which do have implications for our health." But she stresses that bread "can absolutely be part of a healthy, balanced diet", and that the smarter move is "opting for genuinely wholegrain loaves with short, recognisable ingredient lists" rather than swearing off sandwiches forever.
Aujla, a big believer in rye bread, recently launched "Rye January", a new campaign with organic brand Biona that asks Brits to swap their usual bread for traditional rye. Unlike the abstinence movements that have made January miserable for the past decade, this isn't about restriction. Rye January "is all about a simple swap that's more about addition," he says. "Most people associate January with Dry Jan, which I think is the worst time to try and restrict something that you know will give some people joy or peace of mind and stuff."
Read the full article here
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| The best supermarket butters to slather on your toast |
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| More tasty recipes inside |
Enjoy endless inspiration with recipes, interviews and more in your latest Indy/Eats food and drink magazine, one of your Independent Premium subscription benefits |
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| The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook |
Poppy O'Toole – aka Poppy Cooks – makes the slow cooker feel less like punishment and more like a cheat code. Packed with 90 flavour-first recipes, this is weeknight food for people with jobs, budgets and no patience for beige stews: laksa, tikka masala, tagines, chilli and even pudding. Minimal hands-on time, maximum comfort, plenty of leftovers, plus tips to nail it.
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