To ask for your thrifty, non-spicy, non-fatty recipe ideas?

[easterholidays]

I have chronic indigestion, and the GP has suggested avoiding spicy and fatty foods for a few weeks to see if that makes a difference. I'm also on a tight budget at the moment, because I'm job-hunting. It's only me, so no need to cater for anyone else's tastes (but equally, it's more expensive buying e.g. meat and fish for one, IME).

Help me to avoid eating beans on toast for every meal - what can I make that is cheap, meets the dietary criteria and won't make me weep with boredom?

What about frittata? Eggs, potatoes and whatever veg you can find. You can have some for lunch as well.

Risotto?

Veg and lentil soup.

Loads of combinations, vegetarian or not.

You can add herbs etc to your tastes.

Chorizo and bean stew. Don't need much chorizo for big flavour so not too much fat. Chorizo, diced onion, chopped toms, pepper, courgette, can of mixed beans squeeze of tom puree, lea and persons, stock cube and a teaspoon of paprika. Leave in slow cooker for a few hours and serve with rice/cous cous or as a pasta sauce. Good reheated for a lunch too or freeze as a batch cook xx

You could jazz up your beans by stirring finely diced shallot and shredded ham into them and have them with a baked potato and salad.

Oh and for fish I would buy those frozen fillets of basa or whatever, really good value and they're easy to poach from frozen. Frozen prawns as well? You could buy a pack of chicken breasts and use half a breast for a meal like a stir fry as you could bulk it up with veg.

Would eggs count as fatty? Part of the problem is that I have no real idea what is and isn't fatty. I am assuming she wants me to avoid cream (easy) and cheese (hard).

Soup and risotto are v good calls, thank you. And I could make lots of soup and freeze it, couldn't I? Although I am a bit depressed at the idea of soup without bread and butter, and risotto without cheese.

Thanks!

Try a diet for gallbladder disease. You should be able to get a leaflet from the GP. Basically lots of fresh vegetables, high carb, high in milk/yoghurt, but low in cheese/lentils/eggs etc. Then add things back in when your GP tells you too.

Avoid oily fish. Avoid prawns.

Oh cross-posted, I love the chorizo stew idea! I might make that this evening, right now. And the beans/fish/chicken ideas are all great too.

Spag bol made with low fat mince and a fat handful of red lentils thrown in, cook it long and slow and my family have never noticed the lentils are there.

Thanks nutty. I don't really do shellfish anyway so would be more likely to be looking for white fish and salmon (is salmon oily?). Will investigate the gallbladder idea too!

I do think lentils might become a staple - Nutty do you know why they're avoided in a gallbladder-safe diet?

You'll probably end up with too much bolognaise sauce for one person but just freeze in portions. Mine also has lots of peppers, carrots and mushrooms in.

I would really suggest getting a cheap second hand copy of the f2 cook book. All the recipes cheap, healthy and great with indigestion in my experience. You should be able to get it on Amazon for a quid.

I usually drain mince through a sieve once I've browned it and it's much less fatty. Or quorn?

Vegetable paella with broad beans and risotto rice and red peppers
Red lentil soup with either a small bit of chorizo or spiced paprika for flavour
Veggie Shepherds pie (more lentils!)
Fish cake and peas
Risotto
Soup with small pasta (aka minestrone)
Pasta with fresh tomato sauce
Cous cous with cucumber and feta

I could go on !

These are brilliant, thanks! Will have a look for the cookbook Jemmy.

Vegetable curry, spaghetti bolognese, vegetable and barley stew might be good options :) and putting mostly vegetables in will save the cost of meat, as you won't need as much meat and stewing cuts of meat tend to be more reasonable than prime cuts :)

I had to eat a fat-free diet for ages while I waited for gallbladder surgery. One of the recipes I made over and over again was this one

www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2366853/Bikini-Fast-Diet-Lo-lo-meatballs-cavolo-nero.html

Sorry for the Daily Fail link - it was also in the Times but you have to pay to view it!!

You can have any veg with it if you don't want cavolo Nero, and leave the chilli out of the tomato sauce.

Lots of 5:2 recipes are very low fat / low calorie - I found quite a lot that I made when I had to avoid fat, but of course you can eat bigger portion sizes than they suggest for fasting. I liked them because 5:2 recipes tend to be "real" healthy food, rather than "diet" recipes, if that makes sense!

I also made a lot of roasted veg, really surprisingly tasty without fat. I usually drown them in olive oil but was pleasantly surprised at how good they were. Eat them with whatever you want - salmon fillets, baked potato etc.

Thanks captain! I will work myself up to clicking on the DM link

Aldi has packs of 4-5 frozen cod or haddock fillets frozen for about £3. These just wrap in foil and go in the oven. We have them with new potatoes and green beans, and wrap them with tomatoes and a few herbs.

And good point re stewing cuts of meat Macaron - I'm lucky enough to have a proper butcher just up the road so I'll make friends with him

That fish recipe sounds great too, not sure where my nearest Aldi is but I'll investigate...

I do a soup with a little bit of chicken, carrrots, peas, broccoli, onion, garlic and a sweet potato, it's so hearty and filling you don't need bread with it. And is a one pan bung it all in job, you can substitute the veg for whatever you have about. I usually use half a pack of chicken breast for DP and I one night and use the other half, and any leftover veg for stir fry the next day.