Gall Bladder Problems and Diet on a Budget!

gismo1554

OK so I thought I'd ask for meal advise over here to see what ideas you thrifty people have.

My BF has a gall bladder issue and so at the moment is trying to limit his intake of fat and spice. Our diet used to consist of a lot of spice (in fact spice on almost everything) and a lot of cheese which has a high fat content. He doesn't like low fat cheese and to be honest nor do I. Our average shopping bill is around £30-40 a week and consists of:

• Basics (toilet rolls, milk, margerine, bread, cheese)
• 1 meat portion (usually chicken or beef)
• 1 ready meal type meal (keivs or something like that)
• 1 pizza meal
• Veg for Spaghetti bolognese or stew
• Fruit for during the week
• Some sort of drink (usually a bottle of wine) for the weekend

The last few weeks since Dan's been diagnosed I think I've done about 20 Veggie Spag Bols as I know these are quite low in fat and don't upset his stomach but I'm getting bored and need a little variety.

Has anyone got an ideas about cheap easy to cook meals that are low in fat and spice? Haven't got a freezer so can't buy much in bulk so get screwed on the prices there.

Horace

I have had my gall bladder removed so know what it is like.

Why not grill the chicken and have it with stuffing.
Dry roast your meat (in other words don't put lumps of lard on it, just a teensy bit of fat from the butcher that you take off the top when its finished cooking).
Cheese in moderation
Definitely no spices or curries.
Make a chilli but only put a few chilli flakes in there - just to give it a little bit of taste but not so overpowering.
If you can cut out the ready meals and the pizzas as they will contain more fat than you think so it would be easier to make your own.
The weather is getting warmer so you could try salads.
Use very lean meat.
Switch to skimmed or semi skimmed milk

HTH

Gingernutmeg

When I had gall bladder problems I found I couldn't eat hard cheese at all, but I was ok with things like cottage cheese and very low fat soft cheese, which make nice baked potato fillings.

I was also ok with mince as long as I got the very lean stuff and made sure that I didn't leave much fat in it. I used this to make things like lasagne, which I found was ok as long as I used an egg-free pasta and made a sauce with skimmed milk, low fat spread and not too much cheese (a little bit of parmesan for flavour but no cheddar). Also I bulked out the sauce with lentils, grated carrot and grated courgette, which again lowered the fat content of each portion (and made it cheaper too!). I was also ok with pasta with veg/tomato based sauces (no cheese or mascarpone lol!), so that's a possibility - a pepper and tomato sauce is tasty, and can be cheap if you make it with value peppers etc.

I'm not vegan but when I was gall-bladdery I found vegan recipes useful, a they can be fairly low fat and high fibre, both of which seemed to help. I also found that smaller portions did make a difference, as if I ate a big portion of 'stodge' it triggered pain. I found that I could eat fairly normally as long as I was careful with fat - no butter, olive oil etc - and as long as I didn't eat rubbish. I know that Rosemary Conley's Hip and Thigh diet came from her having gall bladder problems so if you find a second-hand copy of that it might be useful even if you're not wanting to lose weight, I know I got a few recipes from it.

Maysie

i have had my gallbladder out.

tips i found helpfull

not using butter or magarine at all.
when making sandwiches i used bbq sauce and such instead on the filling. if you toast bread add sauce with chicken brest pieces its lovely. Aldi do a extra light mayonaise that has hardly any fat in it its great for low fat tuna sarnies. As long as you can keep your sanwiches moist with something you barely notice no marg or butter.

potatoes.
i like roast potatoes but had to really avoid the fat so i used low fat receipe.
parboil potatoes with a stock cube (something beefy for more flavour) and use fry light ( its like a spray can and oil comes out in a fine mist) when you put in the roasting pan.

I am a biscuit and cake lover my alternatives were these really thin flat breads
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/displayList.do?type=PROMO&promoId=145750 this brand i bought mine in waitrose they are quite often on offer. Individually they are very low fat its only if you eat the whole box its not good. Some lovely flavours.

Sainsburys do a low fat sponge cake mix thats pretty tasteless but if you get a decent jam its much more enjoyable. Or just ignore the tin bit and make individual cup cakes and deocrate with icing.

The economy range of pasta sauce is rather low fat and taste ok at sainsburys.

cook off any mince and drain the fat off .

If he really really wants cheese what you can try is microwaving a portion for 10 seconds once its melted you have a few seconds to pour away the fat! Then spread quickly whats left on toast it quickly loses the fluidity though.