Sophie's Nutrition

To my UK followers, here is a brilliant find for extra virgin olive oil in Sainsburys for you! 🙌

It’s a single-origin Greek extra virgin olive oil from the Kalamata region, PDO certified so you know it’s single source, and it’s in a dark glass bottle (which helps preserve the oil.)

I often talk about the trap that many of us can fall into spotting a “cheaper” price in the supermarket, thinking a product is better value but it could actually be a smaller pack size and therefore it’s not a true price comparison! When buying extra virgin olive oil we always need to compare price per litre, not the bottle price to see which is better value. The Italian premium looking one may look like a better price but it actually works out more expensive as it’s only 500ml, and isn’t single origin!

Do you look for the PDO stamp when buying your extra virgin olive oil? And do you compare price per litre? I’d love to know in the comments 👇❤️

Below is my recipe for Honey & Mustard Dressing which takes literally a minute to throw together! This recipe is from my NEW Book “Sophie’s Swaps: Homemade Wins” 😍 which is filled with many other homemade swap recipes for everyday ultraprocessed foods (in the condiments chapter I have 3 different salad dressing recipes along with this one, my 5 minute mayo, quick & easy ketchup, 5 minute bbq sauce and more 😍)

In case you missed it the other day, I announced an amazing competition to celebrate my new book!! 🤩

If you’re in Ireland or Northern Ireland and you pre-order the book with Easons, you’ll be entered into the competition to win a supermarket shop with me 🥳 I’ll come to your local supermarket to do your weekly shop with you, find lots of clever swaps and the cost of the shop is on me up to €300 😍

❤️ Pre-orders are SO important for authors and it would mean the world to me if you’re keen on this book to purchase it via pre-order. Just comment BOOK and I’ll send you the link to pre-order 🫶

Now here’s the recipe! 👇

Honey & Dijon mustard dressing

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
Sea salt and black pepper

1. Add all the ingredients to a jam jar. Put the lid on tightly and give the jar a good shake!
2. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
3. Add to salads just before eating, shaking the jar of dressing again just before using. It will keep in the fridge for a week!

Love Sophie x

Re-sharing one of my earliest supermarket reels! Have you made this swap?! Which minimally processed frozen chips do you think are the best? These Naked Ones, the Aldi ones or the Lidl ones that I’ve also done videos on?? I’d love to know! 👇❤️

If you buy Cadburys you’re paying a premium price for the brand name, not for the quality of the chocolate.

Good quality milk chocolate should be made with cocoa butter and milk and not palm oil, and should have minimum 30% cocoa solids! Unfortunately Cadbury’s maximise profits by using really cheap ingredients like palm oil and low cocoa solids 👎

I think it’s very sad that Cadbury’s is not the same quality that it used to be… once Mondelez International bought the company they’ve been putting profit over people by using palm oil and lower cocoa solids.
I found a really good swap in Sainsbury’s with their own-brand milk chocolate! £11.50 per kilo as opposed to £20 per kilo of Cadburys!! 😱
And it contains 31% cocoa solids and No palm oil! It’s made with cocoa butter and cocoa, the way chocolate’s meant to be made.
Cheaper AND better quality. A definite clever swap 🙌

This is why I keep saying it, more expensive doesn’t mean better. Turn the pack around and read the back to make a fully informed choice of what you’re spending your money on.

Have you tried this chocolate? 🍫

❗️ Please SHARE this reel so we can pressurise and other retailers to put up warning labels on their slushy machines now!!

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has updated its guidance following a new risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), advising that children aged 10 and under should not consume slush ice drinks containing glycerol.

Glycerol is an additive that gives slush drinks their frozen, slushy texture. According to the FSAI, it is increasingly being used in food reformulation to lower the sugar content of drinks. In the case of slushies it allows companies to market their slushies as “no sugar” as seen in this video. However, EFSA’s latest assessment raised concerns about its effects on younger children when used at high levels in slush ice drinks.

Potential side effects include headaches, nausea and vomiting, and there have been reports of children requiring medical treatment following consumption.

When I saw these large slushy machines in Applegreen on the way home from Galway yesterday I had to make this video because it’s a complete disgrace that they are not displaying any warning labels and we need to put pressure on these retailers to do so for children’s safety!

The FSAI has advised that retailers selling glycerol-containing slushies should display clear point-of-sale warnings so that parents and caregivers can make informed decisions!

Whether you agree with the current guidance or think stronger action is needed, one thing seems obvious: if a product is not recommended for children aged 10 and under, parents should be clearly informed at the point of purchase! We deserve full transparency.

Have you noticed warning labels on slushy machines?? Let me know below and let’s put pressure on these retailers to do the right thing and put up warning labels!

✨ Go to https://geni.us/HomemadeWins or click the link in my bio to pre-order my brand new book via to enter the competition to win a supermarket shop with me!! we’ll do your weekly shop together, find lots of clever swaps, have the chats, and the cost of the shop is on me!! 🥳

I’m SO excited to finally be able to share that I’ve written a brand new book… SOPHIE’S SWAPS: HOMEMADE WINS!! 🥹❤️ Published by DK books who are part of Penguin Random House which is a real pinch me moment!!

Keeping this secret has honestly been so so hard!! I’ve poured so much of me into writing this book this year and I just cannot wait for you to see it 🥹 I’m really proud of this book because I truly feel it answers the question of how to live a life with less ultra-processed foods in our modern busy world.

My first book focused on helping people navigate the supermarket and reduce ultra-processed foods through clever swaps. This book is the next step in the journey, helping you lay the foundations at home to make cooking from scratch more accessible and realistic in everyday life 🙌

Inside you’ll find:
✨ My 3-step process for reading food labels properly
✨ My TOP Supermarket product recommendations in both Ireland AND UK Supermarkets
✨ My approach to “convenience cooking” to save you time!
✨ Hero Ingredients lists & Meal Plans
✨ How to shop smarter and save money
✨ AND 70 simple, delicious recipes which are HOMEMADE WINS away from everyday ultraprocessed foods 🤩

❤️ Pre-orders are SO important for authors and it would mean the world to me if you’re keen on this book to purchase it via pre-order. And rememeber you’ll be entered into the comeptition to win a supermarket shop wtih me when you pre-order with Eason 🙌

And most importantly... thank you for being here ❤️ I still cannot believe that I got the opportunity to write another book but I never ever forget that it wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for you being here... I appreciate you more than you know 🫶

Love Sophie x

Every one of these Innocent juices is mostly made up of apple juice!!! 🙅‍♀️

With names like “Green Alert” and promises of immune support, energy, and mental performance you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re getting some sort of superfood boost!! But flip the bottle around and what are you really getting? Mostly apple juice!

Some of these are 84% apple juice, with as little as 3% berries, even though berries are front and centre on the label. And the “citrus shield” one is also mostly apple juice and yet it doesn’t even list apple on the front which is so incredible misleading! It does list ginger however even though it only contains “a dash of ginger extract (0.5%)” are you serious Innocent??!

I can’t say I’m surprised by these marketing tactics considering innocent is owned by Coca Cola 👎

And yes, they technically “don’t add sugar,” but that doesn’t mean they’re low in sugar. Once you remove the fibre from fruit by juicing it, you’re left with just the sugar.. and a small glass of this contains the equivalent of five teaspoons of sugar 😬

This is such a good example of why we need to read labels, not just rely on front-of-pack marketing.
Because you may as well save yourself some money and just buy apple juice!

I feel this level of misleading labelling is unethical and that’s why I think we all should say no to Innocent.

The garlic in supermarkets is always mostly Chinese garlic and that’s because Chinese garlic is the supermarket default choice due to how extremely cheap it is!

China is the world’s largest garlic producer with huge scale and even after shipping it’s often still cheaper than European or locally grown garlic.

I understand supermarkets prioritise year-round consistent supply and China can supply garlic 12 months of the year (it’s very dried to increase storage life).

But why not stock more Spanish garlic? Spain can supply garlic for much of the year but the reason we don’t see it as much as Chinese garlic on our shelves is because it’s not as cheap! And it’s probably not as consistent as Chinese garlic.

Supermarkets will always prioritise price, consistency and shelf life over the country of origin of produce… but at what cost? Our local growers are dying out. We should at least see Irish garlic in all supermarkets when it is in season! I’ve only ever seen it in Dunnes… has anyone seen it in any other major retailer? It seems mad that we’re getting all our garlic from china, the other side of the world. All for the sake of profit, rather than supplying us with local quality food. The system is broken.

What do you think of this?