Unprocessed Eats · last updated 19 October 2026
Toasted Sandwich without the unnecessary extras
PhaseFood ranks real supermarket products by the NOVA food-processing scale and fails anything whose label lists a numbered additive, added sugar, flavouring or emulsifier, so you can see the whole-food or minimally processed option for every ingredient in a meal.
The 4 ingredients a home cook buys for toasted sandwich, each with the cleanest real product on the shelf, and 1 where nothing passes and we give you the recipe instead.
Ham No clean option: make it yourself
0/28 ham options passed.
- Beehive Protein Ham Stackers: Ham (Pork (95%), Water, Salt, Stabilisers (450, 451), Sugar, Acidity Regulator (326, 325, 262), Antioxidant (316), Honey, Preservative (250), Wood Smoke), Cheddar Cheese (Pasteurised Milk, Salt, Starter Cultures, Vegetarian Rennet), Wholegrain Rice Cracker (Wholegrain Rice (Rice, Rice Bran), Corn Flour, Inulin, linseed, Chia Seed, Rice Bran Oil, Salt)
- Beehive Shaved Champagne Ham: Pork (84%), Water, Salt, Acidity Regulator (325, 262, 330), Sugar, Stabilisers (450, 451), Thickener (407), Antioxidant (316), Honey, Preservative (250), Wood Smoke
- Beehive Shaved Honey Baked Ham: Pork (84%), Water, Salt, Acidity Regulator (325, 262, 330), Sugar, Stabilisers (450, 451), Thickener (407), Antioxidant (316), Honey, Preservative (250), Wood Smoke
Sliced Bread Best option is minimally processed
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Real Bread Kitchen Pioneer Organic Spelt Bread
Ingredients: Wheat flour, Spelt flour, water, salt (iodised)grain milled into flour
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Real Bread Kitchen Smoked Manuka Bread
Ingredients: Wheat flour, rye flour, barley malt, water, saltgrain milled into flour
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Real Bread Kitchen Canterbury Multigrain Bread
Ingredients: Wheat flour, water, salt (iodised), kibbled wheat & rye grain, linseedsgrain milled into flour
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Vogel's Sunflower & Barley Toast Bread
Ingredients: Wheat flour, water, mixed grains (16%) (wheat, rye), sunflower seeds (6%), barley (3%), wheat gluten, canola oil, yeast, iodised salt, white vinegar, cultured wheat, vitamin (folic acid).contains canola; sunflower. This isn’t a NOVA guideline, read our stance here. Contains cultured wheat, a fermented flour preservative
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Vogel's Sprouted Harvest Grains Toast Bread
Ingredients: Water, wheat flour, mixed grains (15%) (wheat, rye), sprouted whole grains (8%) (barley, wheat, rye), wheat gluten, canola oil, sunflower seeds (2%), linseeds (2%), white vinegar, iodised salt, yeast, cultured wheat, vitamin (folic acid).contains canola; sunflower. This isn’t a NOVA guideline, read our stance here. Contains cultured wheat, a fermented flour preservative
Butter Whole food available
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Mainland Unsalted Butter
Ingredients: Pasteurised Cream (Milk)
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Pams Pure Butter
Ingredients: Pasteurised Cream (Milk), Saltseveral ingredients combined
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Anchor Butter
Ingredients: Cream (Milk), Saltseveral ingredients combined
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Mainland Salted Butter
Ingredients: Pasteurised Cream (Milk), Saltseveral ingredients combined
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Mainland Semi-Soft Butter
Ingredients: Pasteurised Cream (Milk), Saltseveral ingredients combined
Cheddar Or Tasty Cheese Best option is minimally processed
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Dairyworks Tasty Natural Block Cheese
Ingredients: Pasteurised Milk, Salt, Cultures, Enzyme (Non-Animal Rennet)fermented and salted
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Talbot Forest Vintage Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients: Pasteurised Milk, Salt, Cultures, Enzyme (Non-Animal Rennet)fermented and salted
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Whitestone Cheese Co Totara Tasty Cheese
Ingredients: Pasteurised Cows Milk, Salt, Microbial Rennet, Culturesfermented and salted
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Westminster Farmhouse English Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients: Pasteurized Cow's Milk, Starter Cultures, Salt, Rennet.fermented and salted
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Mainland Tasty Aged Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients: Milk, Salt, Cultures (Milk), Enzyme (Animal Rennet)fermented and salted
How PhaseFood checks the shelf
What does "minimally processed" mean here?
We use the NOVA classification from the University of São Paulo. Group 1 is a whole food or one that has only been cleaned, cut, dried, frozen or pasteurised. Group 2 is a culinary ingredient obtained from food or nature, such as olive oil, salt or honey. Group 3 combines Group 1 foods with Group 2 ingredients, like cheese or tinned beans in brine. Group 4 is ultra-processed. We show groups 1 to 3 and rank Group 1 first.
What makes a product fail?
Any numbered additive on the label (colours, preservatives, acidity regulators, gums, modified starches, raising agents, flavour enhancers, sweeteners), plus anything named as a flavouring, emulsifier or lecithin. Added sugar does not fail on its own — it caps a product at amber with a note. We read the retailer's published ingredients panel and print it verbatim so you can check our working.
Why is plain sugar amber rather than green?
Plain sugar is a single ingredient, not an additive: under NOVA it is a group 2 culinary ingredient, like salt or olive oil. So a bag of sugar is amber here, and a product whose only flagged ingredient is sugar is amber too, labelled “contains added sugar” or “high in added sugar” when sugar is among the first three ingredients. It is never green, and PhaseFood recipes are written without refined sugar. Honey and pure maple syrup are minimally processed culinary ingredients and can replace it in some recipes, but both are still free sugars—not sugar-free choices.
What about seed oils like canola and sunflower?
Under NOVA a refined seed oil is a group 2 culinary ingredient, the same group as olive oil, so it does not make a food ultra-processed. That placement is contested, though: the seed oils on supermarket shelves are heavily refined, and nutritionists and dietitians do not agree on where they should sit on the NOVA scale. So we cap any product containing canola, sunflower, soybean, rice bran, palm or unspecified vegetable oil at amber and say which oil it is, so you can decide.
The prices didn't match my local store. Why is that?
Every price comes from a single supermarket on the date shown on the page, so there will be variation across other stores and regions, and prices move between our checks. Each product links to its page on the retailer's site for today's price, and services like grocer.nz show the price at your local store.
A product I use isn't in the list. Why is that?
If your product is a whole food or additive-free, it may be that it is not sold at general supermarkets, or not at the store we checked. If we have missed something, email us at hello@phasefood.com.
What does "nothing in this store passes" mean?
We only say it when we found the product category on the shelf, read the ingredients panel on every product in it, and every one failed. If any panel was missing or unreadable we say we cannot call it instead. Where nothing passes, PhaseFood gives you the recipe to make it yourself.
Does any brand pay to appear?
No. Products are ranked by how little has been done to the food, then by how few ingredients, then by price. No brand has paid for placement and none can.
Where nothing on the shelf passes, we give you the recipe
Every make-it-yourself recipe is a one-off NZ$2 downloadable PDF. No subscription needed.
Try it with your own meal