The wraps we see today are not a new concept; unleavened bread has been around since ancient times. We take a look at the options.
Note: It’s not just the wrap that’s important — it’s what we put in it! Load it up with lots of vegetables and some lean protein to create a healthy meal.
What’s available
Wraps are a fantastic substitute for a sandwich — in fact, you can often get more filling (especially vegetables) into a wrap than in a sandwich, making them a healthy alternative. Wraps come in many other guises: tortillas, Lebanese bread, mountain bread and roti. Essentially, a wrap is a flat bread that can be rolled. With all this variety available, what should we be looking out for when buying wraps?
Energy
Even though wraps look thin, they may contain more energy (kilojoules) than you think. Two sandwich slices of grainy or wholemeal bread provide around 540—690kJ. The wraps we looked at varied from 285kJ for a Mountain Bread Rice Wrap to 964kJ for a Pams Jumbo Tortilla. So your choice of wrap will depend on your needs. If you’re watching your weight, a lower-energy wrap like any of the Mountain Bread wraps would be a good option. But if you need more energy or need to gain weight, a larger wrap such as the Jabal Lebanese Bread Wheatmeal, at 896kJ, would be suitable.
Fibre
Fibre is important for our bowel health so we need to include it where we can. While some wraps are lower in fibre than others, it’s easy to boost the content by adding high-fibre fillings. Spinach, carrot, avocado, tomato, pumpkin, capsicum, hummus, beans, nuts and seeds are all good high-fibre options. The fibre content also depends on the size of the wrap. We recommend choosing wraps with more than 2.5g fibre per wrap.
Sodium
The sodium content of wraps is something else we need to watch. While the sodium content of those we sampled wasn’t too high, it did depend on the size of the wrap. The range was from 12mg in Pams Naan Garlic Flat Breads to 427mg in Old El Paso Jumbo Tortillas. We recommend choosing wraps with no more than 325mg sodium per wrap.
How to choose
Use the criteria below to compare wraps.
Some healthier choices we found

$2.99 per 350g pack
Nutrition per 70g wrap: 703kJ; 12mg sodium; 3.2g fibre; $0.60
Love the garlic taste! Would be delicious toasted.

$2.99 per 300g pack
Nutrition per 50g wrap: 560kJ; 215mg sodium; 5.5g fibre; $0.50
Soft with good texture.

$5.89 per 420g pack
Nutrition per 70g wrap: 830kJ; 290mg sodium; 5.1g fibre; $0.98
Great texture and taste. Fresh and wholesome.

$4.99 per 364g pack
Nutrition per 59g wrap: 696kJ; 59mg sodium; 6.3g fibre; $0.83
Moist and delicious! Easy to wrap.

$7.60 per 260g pack
Nutrition per 65g wrap: 607kJ; 141mg sodium; 5.4g fibre; $1.90
Tasted delicious. Soft and pliable for easy rolling and can also be filled.

$5.19 per 480g pack
Nutrition per 80g wrap: 896kJ; 344mg sodium; 6.7g fibre; $0.87
Authentic and tasty. Fill or roll it! Could be used as a pizza base.

$4.59 per 250g pack
Nutrition per 25g wrap: 333kJ; 142mg sodium; 0.6g fibre; $0.46
Soft with a good texture. A good size.

$5.59 per 200g pack
Nutrition per 25g wrap: 293kJ; 100mg sodium; 0.6g fibre; $0.70
Thin with a good taste and texture. Low in fibre so load up with high-fibre filling.

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