If you want to take tiger bread with a generous filling to work, check the actual slice or choose an unsliced loaf that you can cut yourself: ‘pre-sliced’ tells you nothing about thickness. Choose wholemeal if wholemeal flour and fibre matter for your regular lunch, white if you prefer a light white crumb, or tiger rolls if individual portions are more convenient.
If you want to take cheese, egg, vegetables or a spread with you, check that the slice and crumb suit your filling and lunchbox. If you want to choose the thickness yourself, check whether the loaf is completely unsliced.
For a regular office lunch, you can compare the legal product description and fibre per 100 g. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre (Voedingscentrum) recommends replacing white bread with wholemeal or brown bread as much as possible; ‘wholemeal’ alone tells you nothing about the thickness of a slice of tiger bread.
If you only need bread for a few days of lunches, individual tiger rolls or bread that you can freeze in lunch-sized portions are worth considering. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends freezing wholemeal bread in portions as soon as you buy it.
First, decide what matters most for your office lunch: a slice that suits your filling, the choice of wholemeal or a practical portion. Then check the features of the specific loaf.
| What to consider | What to check when buying | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| A slice for a generous filling | Check the actual slice thickness and crumb. See whether the bread is pre-sliced or whether you can cut it yourself. | If I'm taking a generous or moist filling, I want to see in advance whether the slice will work for my lunch. For around 45% of consumers, judging the slice is the top priority. |
| Wholemeal and fibre | Read the legal product description and ingredients; compare fibre per 100 g across specific loaves. | For a regular bread lunch, I want to make a conscious choice between white and wholemeal, rather than judging by the colour of the crust. Wholemeal and fibre come first for around 33% of consumers. |
| Portions and storage | Choose a loaf size or rolls to suit the number of lunches, and check the storage information on the packaging. | I don't take bread with me every day, so I want to store the rest in handy lunch-sized portions. That's the top priority for around 22% of consumers. |
‘Whole’ describes the size of the loaf, while ‘pre-sliced’ refers to how it is cut. Neither tells you how thick each slice is or how well it will hold your filling.
Look at the slices in store or ask how thick they are. If you want to cut thicker slices yourself, check whether the loaf is available unsliced.
The crust doesn’t make the nutritional information interchangeable. PLUS lists 6,4 g of fibre per 100 g for Volkoren tijger heel and 2,2 g per 100 g for Korenlanders Boeren tijger wit heel; that difference applies to these two products.
Read the product description, ingredients and nutritional information for the bread you’re buying. Compare fibre and salt on the same basis, such as per 100 g.
A whole loaf can be impractical if you’re only packing a few lunches. According to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, you can freeze wholemeal bread in portions as soon as you buy it; it may become drier if you keep it in the freezer for longer.
Choose a size to suit your lunch days, opt for rolls if you prefer, or freeze individual portions straight away.
The filling also affects how you should store a tiger bread sandwich. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends not leaving highly perishable food, such as meat, fish and dairy, out of the fridge for more than two hours.
Keep a lunch with a highly perishable filling cool. If there’s no refrigeration along the way, use an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack if needed.
An option if you want to look at AH Tijger volkoren heel in the online bread range.
A brand to consider if you’re looking for white farmhouse tiger bread.
A good option if you want to assess freshly baked bread in store.
Worth considering if you’re choosing between a pre-sliced wholemeal option and white tiger bread.
Useful for comparing the nutritional information of two specific tiger breads.
Worth considering if you want to compare white tiger bread with individual tiger rolls for lunch.
Yes, if you want to prioritise wholemeal bread and compare fibre for that lunch. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends replacing white bread with wholemeal or brown bread as much as possible. PLUS lists 6,4 g of fibre per 100 g for its Volkoren tijger heel; check the nutritional information for the variety you buy and assess the slice separately.
If you won’t use wholemeal bread within a few days, freeze it in lunch-sized portions as soon as you buy it. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre says wholemeal bread keeps for two to four days in a kitchen cupboard and for one to three months in the freezer; it may become drier if kept in the freezer for longer.
Yes, keep a lunch with a highly perishable filling cool. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends not leaving highly perishable food, such as meat, fish and dairy, out of the fridge for more than two hours. Use an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack when you’re on the go, if needed.
You can’t assume that all tiger bread does. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority explains that iodine compounds may be present in bread only through added baker’s salt, which can contain no more than 65 mg of iodine per kg of salt. This doesn’t tell you whether the bread you’re buying contains baker’s salt; check the product label to find out.
