I stopped by the grocery store last night to pick up cold cuts for my daughter’s school lunch. She told me she was tired of peanut butter and apple sandwiches (I was also tired of making them).

It was late and the cold cut counter was closed so I picked up a package of Sara Lee Honey Roasted Turkey Breast. Now, I know that there’s a lot of salt in processed meat, but for grins, I donned my reading glasses and decided to read the ingredients. I shouldn’t have done that. Here’s what I found:

• Turkey Breast
• Water
• Honey
• Contains 2% or less of:
• Salt
• Sugar
• Sodium lactate
• Sodium phosphate
• Sodium diacetate
• Sodium erythorbate
• Sodium Nitrite

It gets me the way they package it as 2% or less of…

So, with 2% or less of 6 different types of salt, that means that the turkey package is potentially 12% salt.

Serving Sizes

The serving size for such chemicals are 4 slices which yield the following nutrition facts:

50 Calories of which 5 are from fat

.05g Fat
20 mg cholesterol
550 mg sodium
2g carbohydrates
2g sugar
10 g protein
2% iron.

The Truth of the Matter

The prepackaged slices are approximately 4 ½ inches in diameter and sliced so thin that it’s next to impossible to pull one slice off without it ripping. With such size and thinness, most folks use more than 4 slices to make a sandwich.

On the conservative side, let’s say you use 6 slices of turkey to make a sandwich. That means that you’re consuming 825 mg of sodium (and that’s not including the bread, mayo or mustard). Wow, that’s a lot of salt.

According to the MayoClinic adults shouldn’t exceed 1,500 to 2,400 mg of sodium a day. The requirement drops if you are over 50, African American and have any type of chronic diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

A long time ago, I used a homemade recipe for cold cuts. It’s time for me to stop being so lazy and get back to basics. Making my own turkey cold cuts is not only healthier, but it’s cheaper too (plus I can season the turkey any way I want).