Meals without onion or onion powder

[twoandcooplease]

Since late stages of pregnancy I haven't been able to digest meals with onion or onion powder. I don't know why? But I basically lived on tea and toast and takeaways during my pregnancy so I didn't come across the issue much until now

Everything I go to cook or eat has onions in the ingredients. From the bolognaise sauce to lentil soup, it's all bloody onion! I do chicken fajitas, chicken and peppers, Maggie oven chicken but that's about it
It's really driving me insane. I am so sick of making dinner for only DP (not his fault). I batch cook him meals of things I can't eat just so I don't have to make it again. The days he has leftovers I don't usually have a dinner. And given that I only have a late breakfast and never lunch I'm really not keeping my body healthy. I've been getting a bit shaky this week

I think I could find a recipe to make sauce for bolognaise and chilli but I'm not the best at cooking. Italian foods all use onion. Mexican too

Do you have any suggestions for me? Micro meals and quick dinners and meals that don't involve me having to make sauce from scratch?

And btw to anyone who suffers from an intolerance or digestion problem - you have my sympathy it is very tough

TIA x

Try celery instead?

You can make most things just skipping the onion.

Things I make where the recipe doesn’t call for it at all:

• macaroni and cheese


• oatmeal pancakes


• crepes with asparagus and béchamel


• salmon with lemon and dill


• humus and baba ghanoush with pita, chicken breast and tomatoes


• pizza


• vegetarian lasagna


• steak frites


• carrot and coriander soup

Just leave it out? I frequently make recipes with just garlic if you can tolerate that.

Cooking is art, so you do what you like. Baking is science so you follow the recipe.

I was going to suggest celery also. Or leeks? Although leeks may present the same problems.

Pasta with creamy sauces - chicken and bacon, carbonara, salmon and broccoli, spinach and soft cheese. Also just basic regular meat potatoes and two veg meals eg chops, steaks etc. Only takes 20 minutes to make anything like that. Chicken wrapped in Parma ham with (hassleback) spuds. Fish in parsley sauce with mash. Chips eggs and beans. All that kind of thing.

Also get yourself to a doctor as your digestive habits have changed.

Onions are my enemy. I can't eat tomatoes either though, at least you have that! Adding basil and or oregano, and black pepper will make a decent enough sauce. Maybe peppers, mushrooms, and of course celery as suggested by
Stichintime.

Try Alfredo sauce instead on pasta?
I made brocilli cheddar soup the other day without onion. It was a bit bland but still good, I used store bought chicken broth which I see has onion listed, but it is not enough to cause issues with me.

Good luck with it all, when is your baby due?

I feel your pain. I'm 32 weeks pregnant. I have a FODMAP issue normally which is way worse now. This is mainly found in onions and garlic. Jain recipes are great, have a look online! But also, look up low FODMAP recipes. There are loads.

you can make most dishes without onion unless it’s a really major ingredient. Or you can use a little bit of asafoetida powder to give an onion-y flavour.

DH can’t stomach onion. he gets horrible indigestion. His father has the same problem and so did his grandmother. I have found in most dishes you can just skip it. He can a handle a bit of garlic and as long as that is still present in recipes that call for it, the dish is just fine.

My DD cannot tolerate anything with onion or onion powder. We simply use a generous amount of chives instead of onion in most things and find no problem with those and the taste is very similar. Asafatoeda is also a useful substitute in spicy dishes.
Stock cubes are a big culprit and instant gravies but sainsbury's chicken stock cubes have no onion or onion powder.
Try googling low fodmap recipes as most should be onion free.
And this might help: www.pinterest.com.au/alimann13/garlic-and-onion-free-recipes/

Pesto doesn’t have onion in. I’ve been making pesto pasta salads with pine nuts, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella pearls. I also like pesto chicken and tomato sandwiches!
Here are some other things we like:
Sesame chicken and broccoli noodles
Falafel
Jamie’s peanut chicken
Stir fry
Halloumi burgers
Soy and honey salmon
Baked feta pasta

Just leave the onion out, it won't make much difference. I often will do that if I don't have any onions in the house.

This is what I was going to say. Just cook as normal but without onions.

How about your standard meat and two veg meals? So a bit of grilled marinated chicken or fish with potatoes and veg

Can you eat garlic? You can make stews, curries and pasta sauces without the onions.

Thank you everyone - lots of suggestions here I will refer back to. I will of course give my own sauces a go without ingredients but it's so frustrating how much it is used in quick meals and pre seasoned meat

Do you think I could do bangers and mash without onion in the gravy? Mince and tatties too? Or will it just be too bland?

The one that really got me this week was stir fry. There was so many option packs and I couldn't eat any. I bought one and cooked it anyway thinking I could put the onions to the side

Thank you to pp for saying go to the GP. I didn't think they'd want to know but I will let them know

Cooking is art, so you do what you like. Baking is science so you follow the recipe
I love this x

I never use onions in bolognaise sauce. You can add lots of other seasoning to get great flavour.

My kids pick out the onions in everything so quite often I just leave them out, especially if just cooking for them, it doesn't actually seem to make that much of a difference. And yes, while I love onion gravy I rarely make it for bangers and mash as I'd have to do a separate gravy for the kids.

I never put onion in stir fry - just some or all of peppers, beansprouts, broccoli, baby corn, mange tout, pak choi, garlic, and meat, and then add a sauce.

Special fried rice, that doesn't involve onion and is quick and easy - boil the rice, fry whatever veg you have to hand - peppers, courgette - or boil - green beans, broc then add to the frying pan - add whatever protein you have to hand to the frying pan- chicken, ham, prawns - Chinese five spice and soy sauce, add the cooked rice, stir in an egg, there you go.

Omelette - mushroom and pepper, doesn't need an onion

Lots of curries I make don't have onion. I don't know if it is in the paste though, probably.

Honestly just make the meals and don't include the onion. If a recipe calls for onion don't use any. If onions are mentioned, act as though they never were. Pretend you forgot what an onion is. So when you read 'one onion' go to the shop, and buy a bottle of whisky instead, go home, cook your food but instead of onion it's whisky, or nothing.

Try asafoetida powder as a replacement.

I never thought about onions being hard to digest. Maybe this explains why I vomited so much last night. (37 weeks pregnant)

I usually don't eat white onions. But MIL made a lovely Chinese last night and there was so much seasoning I couldn't taste the onion so didn't pick them out.

I cook for someone with IBS who cannot tolerate onions or garlic. I replaced onions in all meals with leeks (they are much better tolerated by those with IBS than onions) and frankly, we can't really tell the difference. They are great in pasta dishes, sauces, soups, etc. I'd give them a go and see how you get on.