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Bangers, burgers, buns and sides – the healthiest supermarket barbecue food
This time of year Britons love a good barbecue – but sometimes it isn’t just meat you’ve got slapped on your grill
There’s something about the heady combination of good weather and the smell of smoking barbecue coals that makes people go mad for meat. Sausages, topped with a dollop of ketchup, suddenly become irresistible.
Really, a barbecue has all the potential to be a healthy occasion. Grilling is much better than frying because you don’t need to add oil and fat contained in meat drips out onto the coals. A swathe of sides provides the opportunity to consume a diverse range of vegetables and grains.
But instead, we get caught out by the pit-fall that comes when there’s an abundance of food – overindulgence. “Barbecues typically offer a variety of foods, often in large quantities [which can] encourage overeating,” says Nichola Ludlam-Raine, a specialist registered dietitian and the author of How Not to Eat Ultra-Processed. “They also last for several hours, providing more opportunities to eat – grazing over a prolonged period can lead to consuming more food than a typical meal.”
Then there’s the fact that the majority of supermarket barbecue favourites are ultra-processed (made with ingredients you wouldn’t find in your kitchen, such as emulsifiers, stabilisers and preservatives) – and that blackening foods gives rise to cancer-causing chemicals.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. For when you’re next hosting, the nutritionist Sam Rice considered nearly 200 barbecue foods across five major supermarkets to compile her ultimate list of the best options available – as well as the ones she would avoid.
Burger buns
When reviewing the bun options, I was struck by the fact that they all contained ultra-processed additives, mainly emulsifiers and flavourings. It’s also worth checking the calories, as the most calorific option had 80 more compared to the least calorific – not a small figure, especially if you’re eating two over the course of a barbecue. Prices ranged from 19p (Baker Street Original Burger Buns) to 80p (M&S Ultimate Brioche Burger Buns) per bun.
Top pick: Sainsbury’s Sesame Seed Brioche Burger Buns
Although not UPF-free, these buns are relatively low in calories (156 per bun, the Tesco Large Seeded Burger Buns had the most at 227) and saturated fat, middle of the range for sugar, and the lowest in salt of all those tested at 0.28g. They were also very reasonably priced at 26p per bun
Not bad: Hovis Premium Burger Buns
These buns scored points for being the second lowest in sugar at 2.8g per bun (Sheldons Burger Buns were the lowest at 1.5g), and the second highest in fibre, containing a very respectable 3.4g. They also placed above average for protein (6g) and again, were reasonably priced at 31p per bun.
Avoid if you can: St Pierre Seeded Brioche Burger Buns
These buns had the highest sugar content of all at 7.5g (more than a chocolate digestive biscuit, which has 4.8g), were at the upper end of the range for salt (0.75g) and the lower end for fibre. They were also the second most expensive at 71p per bun.
Burgers
The best general advice I can give when it comes to burgers is to go organic if you wish to avoid additives (they were the only ones without preservatives) and ensure good-quality meat. You might think organic would be prohibitively expensive, but that wasn’t borne out in this test selection – they cost £1.24 per burger at Waitrose.
Top pick: Duchy Organic British Beef Burgers
These burgers, available at Waitrose, are made from high-welfare, organic beef and contain no ultra-processed food (UPF) ingredients. They do contain ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, which is added as an antioxidant and is not considered UPF. They were the lowest in salt of all the burgers tested and low in saturated fat too. Amazingly, they were one of the more reasonably priced options, at just £1.24 per burger.
Not bad: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Skinny British Beef Burgers
For the more health-conscious this is a good-quality burger at a fair price (£1.38 per burger). It gained its “skinny” label for containing just 3 per cent fat – 80 per cent less than the supermarket’s steak burgers. They scored second lowest for calories, just 139 per burger, a third of that of the M&S Best Ever Beef Burgers, the lowest for saturated fat at 0.9g and still delivered a very decent 25.1g of protein per burger.
Avoid if you can: M&S Our Best Ever Beef Burger
M&S is usually a marker of quality, and the ingredients list here is pleasingly short, but these burgers do contain the preservative E223 (sodium metabisulphite). They were the highest in calories and saturated fat, at 451 and 15.3g respectively, and the most expensive, at a whopping £2.63 per burger.
Potato salad
What I was looking for was a salad with no added sugar, plenty of fibre and no additives. Sadly, all the products tested had sugar listed in the ingredients, the fibre content varied from 1.2g to 2.4g per 100g, and almost all had stabilisers added.
Top pick: M&S Reduced Fat Potato Salad
Bravo, M&S. This potato salad was the lowest in saturated fat and sugar of the 18 products tested, one of the highest in fibre, around mid-range for salt, and apart from “citrus fibre” and “mustard husk” in the ingredients, nothing else that might ring alarm bells. It was also one of the cheapest at 43p/100g compared to the most expensive, Sainsbury’s Patatas Bravas Potato Salad Summer Edition at 94p/100g.
Not bad: Eastmans Potato Salad
So, this does contain a couple of stabilisers and some sugar (as did they all), but it fared well across the board being low in calories, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. Available at Tesco, it is also one of the better options for fibre and protein, all for a very affordable 33p/100g.
Avoid if you can: Asda Reduced Fat Potato Salad
To be fair, most of the salads had their pros and cons, but this one was the highest in sugar at 3.3g/100g, which is still not considered a high-sugar product but does seem unnecessary. It also scored the lowest for fibre and protein, although it was one of the more affordable products at 37p/100g.
Coleslaw
There’s a huge range of coleslaws available, I compared just 33 and most contained the ubiquitous UPF stabilisers, although the Waitrose products fared best in this regard. All, again, had sugar in the ingredients listing and the prices varied wildly from 17p/100g to 88p/100g.
Top pick: Eastmans Coleslaw
Another showing for the Eastmans brand at Tesco. This healthy choice is the lowest in calories, saturated fat, and salt and one of the cheapest, at just 20p/100g. A couple of stabilisers feature in the ingredients but overall this is a great value product.
Not bad: Sainsbury’s Cheese Coleslaw
Although this coleslaw was a little higher in saturated fat due to the cheese content, it was the lowest in sugar at 3.4g/100g, and ranked pretty well across the board for fat, protein, and salt. The ingredients contained just one additive, guar gum, and at 43p/100g, it was middle of the road on price.
Avoid if you can: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mature Cheddar Coleslaw
It was difficult to pick the worst offender in this category being such a mixed bag in terms of nutritional profiles and value for money. This coleslaw was the highest in saturated fat and salt and the lowest in fibre of all those tested. Although it was one of the better ones for sugar at 3.9g/100g, some had over 7g/100g. At 75p/100g, it was pretty pricey, too.
Chicken kebabs
Other than fat, sugar, salt and UPF additives, the other factor to consider here is meat quality. When choosing your kebabs, it’s worth checking the packet information to see if high-welfare British chicken has been used.
Top pick: Waitrose British Chicken Tandoori Kebabs
These kebabs tick all the boxes: they are low in calories, saturated fat, and salt, have no UPF additives, and no added sugar. Waitrose chicken is always British and higher welfare. Price-wise, they’re a very reasonable £1.13 per kebab, about average for our test selection.
Not bad: Waitrose Lemongrass and Ginger Chicken Breast Kebabs
Another winner for Waitrose. These score well across the board, just a little added sugar in the form of honey and no UPF ingredients. They are smaller than some of the other products as they are made from chicken mini fillets but still offer good value for money.
Avoid if you can: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Texan Style BBQ King Kebabs
These were the most expensive and were the highest in calories, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. On the plus side, the meat quality is decent, but they’re not the healthiest option.
Sausages
From a health perspective, sausages, being made from processed red meat, are never going to be a healthy food. Eating too much red and processed meat raises the risk of bowel cancer and high blood pressure. The best sausages have a high percentage of good-quality meat and minimal preservatives and salt.
Top pick: Duchy Organic British Pork Sausages
These were the joint most expensive at 88p per sausage and did not have the highest pork percentage (86 per cent, compared to 98 per cent for Waitrose No.1 Free Range 6 Pork Sausages). They took the top spot because they are made from top-quality organic pork, were the only ones without UPF preservatives and had one of the lowest levels of saturated fat.
Not bad: Heck 97% Pork Sausages
For a more budget-friendly option, Heck is a good bet at 53p per sausage. Their sausages contain 97 per cent high-welfare pork and have the lowest sugar of our test range, although they are higher in salt than some of the other options. As with all the sausages except the Duchy brand, they contain preservatives, in this case sodium sulphite.
Avoid if you can: Richmond Thick Pork Sausages
They sell more sausages in the UK than anyone else, and they are certainly affordable at 30p a sausage. The issue is the pork content, just 42 per cent, for reference the next lowest was Waitrose Essential British Pork Sausages at 65 per cent. As such, they were the lowest in protein and one of the highest in salt. There was no statement as to the meat quality of the product.