Can't cook 3 times a day

[Elsby]

My husband died just over 3 months ago and until then I was bed ridden. He did everything for me but in order to survive I now have to look after myself. I am in a wheelchair all the time. I am 80 years old with T2 diabetes and completely alone (no family available)
I am trying to follow the LCHF diet as I recently had a scare about my eyes. I also want to follow a mainly vegetarian diet but am considering some oily fish. I have toast and marmalade for breakfast and cook myself a main meal (from scratch although slowly) midday. By teatime I don't have the energy to cook really so end up having a sandwich. I don't really like the alternatives to bread that are suggested in the available booklet e.g. Lettuce wraps etc.
Eggs and cheese are becoming boring but this diet does not seem to like pulses or grains which I would normally consider having.
Suggestions welcome.

 

[samantha13]

Hi @Elsby I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. It's great that you have found this forum though you will have plenty of company on here! I'm not following LCHF so can't offer you any help there. Would you consider a care package from the NHS? I know you need to be assessed etc but one call per day could help you prepare that evening meal. Maybe speak with a social worker? Take care xxx

 

[Resurgam]

Toast and marmalade are about the worst thing to start your day - signalling your metabolism to expect more carbs rather than settling down to consume fats.
Could you perhaps make extra for your main meal and save some of that for breakfast? Or perhaps prepare double the amount and put half into the freezer, so you have more time to make an evening meal.
My breakfasts are easy to do, eggs, kippers, salmon, smoked haddock or cod, tuna - all are eaten with various salads or a tomato and usually a little mayonnaise, and they set me up for the day in a way that bread just doesn't.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Welcome @Elsby. There are web sites such as diet doctor that can help with recipes and this site runs a free course at www.diabetes.co.uk/lowcarb which you have to register for but it pretty painless after that. Each lesson is only a few minutes long which is a blessing.

Other cooking tips since you are alone. I cook up batches of food and freeze it. I don't freeze entire meals but the individual components then I can mix n match and put it in the microwave. You can eat well like that.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Hi @Elsby I agree with Samantha above that you could ask if there is any help available to you. Perhaps your GP would be a good person to ask.

Meanwhile, it is good weather for soup. If you want pulses, pop some in your soup and see how it affects your blood glucose levels. You might be lucky. Batch cooking is a good way to cut down on time spent cooking. If you want some bread, Burgen soya and linseed loaf is sold in many supermarkets and is lower carb than most.

 

[AndBreathe]

I'm not veggie, but I do enjoy vegetarian food. Overall, I enjoy food a bit more than I enjoy cooking it!

On that basis, I tend to have Greek yoghurt for my brekkers, with some rhubarb, when I can find it. Lunchtime tends to be a home made coleslaw type thing (batch made) with some shredded cold meat, cheese or oily fish turned through it at the point of serving. My OH (not diabetic) tends to have toast at brekkers, then either as I do, or a sandwich at lunch. We therefore tend to have one cooked meal per day. Like you our food is prepared from scratch (95% of the time), but we do quite often have leftovers we can enjoy the day after next (preferring not to have the same dinner 2 days on the trot), which certainly eases cooking further.

As others have suggested, if you could have a bit of support, for whatever makes your life better, it might just help your energy go a bit further. Good luck with it all.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I am sorry you find yourself in this position. It must be very hard for you, but you have my total respect for getting on with your life and being so proactive.

I have a soft boiled egg for breakfast with a cup of tea. That is sufficient for me with another cup of tea mid morning. For lunch I have a salad of some sort, either with a 2 egg mayonnaise or a small tin of salmon, and a small amount of cheese, cherry toms, and half a Lidl roll. (The high protein very low carb ones). Then we have a cooked meal for tea. We have never found the need to batch cook, but I can see some people swear by it.

Good luck and keep posting. No question is silly.

 

[DeejayR]

Hello @Elsby. I'm so sorry to hear of your situation. I'm sure you will find the support you need on this forum to deal with your diabetes and I hope you will think of us as your family now.

 

[Chook]

@Elsby - I'm so sorry to hear about your husband and your current problems. Please do mention it to your doctor or practice nurse as they may be able to arrange some kind of practical help or at least help find someone for you to talk to.

I'm one of the people here that swears by batch cooking. My husband works shifts and five days out of seven has his main meal of the day at work so when I cook I always cook BIG - anything up to 12 extra - portions and then freeze the extra portions individually in little plastic containers. Then, on the day, he just needs to prep the salad or veg to go with which takes minutes and microwave the meal and/or veg hot when he needs it. I very often have some of the pre-prepared meals when I'm not feeling like cooking just for me.

I definitely wouldn't want to cook three times a day and I like cooking!

 

[poshtotty]

Cooking when in a wheelchair full time must be extremely difficult, especially when you have been used to being cared for and are now coping with grief, so you have my admiration. To make things a little easier for yourself during this transition time, could you perhaps buy in some foods which need little preparation? I have discovered some fresh soups (available in the chiller cabinets of supermarkets) are both low carb, satisfying and comforting Some chilled ready meals are also lowish carbs and nutritious such as Charlie Bingham meals, if you have the budget. Here's an example. This meal serves two so you would reduce the number of carbs: https://www.nutracheck.co.uk/CaloriesIn/Product/96/Charlie+Bigham's+Shepherd's+Pie+650g#.WDn9ndWLTC0

This might help you get through a difficult time until a care package can be put in place, as you would seem eligible and deserving. Its good that you have access to the internet and I hope it will help you feel a little less alone at this difficult time. Welcome to the forum. I hope you will find it helpful in all things related to your diabetes

 

[Brunneria]

Hi and welcome.

I am sorry to hear about your husband and your cooking difficulties. It must seem quite overwhelming sometimes. Are you OK with the shopping?

Please keep reading and posting. The forum is a great place to learn, exchange ideas, recipes, and realise that none of us are alone in this!

I am a batch cooker. And at this time of year my slow cooker is my best kitchen gadget. I count it a bad day if I don't get 6 portions out of it, whether it is a curry, mince and vegetables, a whole chicken with lemon or spices. This week I did pork steaks with tomatoes, onion and barbecue spices. It took five minutes to throw together, 8 hours to cook (while I ignored it), and will feed Mr B and I three times each, with microwaved green veg on the side. I usually freeze some so we don't eat the same thing for days on end.

No cook breakfasts can be ham and cheese, yogurt and berries, or coffee with cream, or a hardboiled egg with a sliced tomato.

Edited to add: apologies @Elsby i wrote my post completely forgetting you are vegetarian. Sorry about that! Now that I HAVE remembered, I can say that my slow cooker does some fabulous veg soups, ratatouille, veg curries and suchlike. Also things like overnight whole oat porridge (lower carb than the instant porridges).

 

[geefull]

Have a hug from me too @Elsby , it can be difficult.

You don't say how low carb you want to try going and I'm not a vegetarian, but here are a couple of suggestions.

Perhaps one cooking could help cover a few meals, how about making a biggish pot of basic veggie soup and blitzing it with a stick blender , then boil it up every day and have a bowl customised with something different on each day, crispy fried onions (can be bought ready made in a packet), a spoon of tomato puree and a bit of Italian herb seasoning stirred in, a few croutons, a dash of curry paste. that would give you something hot and fairly simple for one meal a day. (It could be made in a slow cooker overnight if you have one, like @Brunneria I find mine very helpful).
Another suggestion could be a crustless quiche, make a good sized one with different veggies etc. in each third then slice it up and keep it in the fridge, it should be good for a week I think and you could have a segment each day.

Lidl protein rolls keep well in the freezer and are nice and soft when they defrost (if you have access to them) I have them with a variety of stuff on them, smoked mackerel, cream cheese, sometimes cream cheese with a bit of salsa (out of a tube) or even a scrape of pesto to add a bit of variety.

Have a look for mug cake recipes too, they are very quick and easy to make and you can make a lot of different flavours.

There is a section of the forum for vegetarian diet too and there may be some helpful ideas there.

 

[Elsby]

I think it is easier if I just do one reply My situation is much much more complicated than I said but it is too much to go into. Care packages and help from social services, doctors etc have already been well investigated. I also have a very lively terrier to look after and have just lost my dog walker but hope to find another tomorrow.
I came to this section because I was considering the 10 week LCHF trial but it seems it will be too difficult for me. I am vegetarian and pulses and grains would be a mainstay of my diet. I love veg but cooked, not salad i.e. raw. I did say I was considering adding some oily fish, let's say a little salmon once a week but not more than that!
I do make and like soups which I batch freeze. I liked the idea of freezing components rather then a complete meal. I will try to do that and also a small slow cooker seems an excellent idea.
Remembering I am 80 and very inactive I could not eat the amount of food suggested in the 30 day booklet. Also I could not face much to eat on first getting up; I need quite some time to feel awake first and getting up at what I think a dreadful time is only because of the dog's needs.
I will visit the vegetarian section and see how they are doing.
Thank you to all who replied and for the helpful suggestions which were applicable to me and my situation.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Hi @Elsby I gave our slow cooker away when I got diabetes as I find they are best for root veg which I could not longer eat The kind of veg I can eat can be cooked in minutes on the hob or microwave.

Another good way for a vegetarian to cook is in an actifry (an airfryer). We pop in vegetables, herbs and veg sausages and it only takes minutes as there is no need to preheat the oven or stir anything. Good for small meals.

 

[Elsby]

Hi @Elsby I gave our slow cooker away when I got diabetes as I find they are best for root veg which I could not longer eat The kind of veg I can eat can be cooked in minutes on the hob or microwave.

Another good way for a vegetarian to cook is in an actifry (an airfryer). We pop in vegetables, herbs and veg sausages and it only takes minutes as there is no need to preheat the oven or stir anything. Good for small meals.

That does sound good but aren't they expensive to buy? Actifry, that is.
I have ordered a small slow cooker. ... thinking ratatouille, soups and such.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

That does sound good but aren't they expensive to buy? Actifry, that is.
I have ordered a small slow cooker. ... thinking ratatouille, soups and such.

They are on sale for £99 in Argos at the moment so quite expensive, but we get a lot of use out of ours.

I hope your slow cooker arrives soon so you can cook up some tasty winter warmers

 

[MikeTurin]

Hello Elsby,
I am really happy with a combined regular/grill/microwave oven to heat up the food. You can cook quite well the vegetables with a combined oven, the only important thing to have are glass (Pyrex) or ceramic containers to cook the food that are good both for traditional and microwave.
Unfortunately they're a bit costly http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/...with-forced-air-stainless-steel-art-30300945/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-NN-CT555WBPQ-Combination-Microwave-Litre/dp/B00X80UCXO/

 

[donnellysdogs]

How about something like a nice hash?
Only as it can be put in fridge and just reheated. We just bung frozen mixed veg (broccoli/cauli and carrots) in a saucepan cook then fry in a pan with a tin of tuna for me. You don't have to have meat in it. Or fish. Just frying veg is lovely.

Its a sort of hash as when its fried up its tastier to me than if the veg is just served on a plate. I can only eat very small portions and everything has to be overcooked and mashed.

Any veg can be fried up. it is tastier for me with a nice soft egg on it too. One small fry pan would do 4 meals for us... as said tho, my food qty is very small. I would imagine normal people would have 2 meals??

Things like just a courgette with a bit of vegetarian cheese sprinkled on top and fried are nice.

Couscous is really easy!! Is this vege though? Not exactly low carb but if put with just broccoli and courgette the whole meal would be low carb.

I think its a case of allowing yourself some carbs but putting with lower carb veg etc....

 

[Tabbyjoolz]

@Elsby, some of us do OK eating small servings of pulses, so if you like lentil soup, or dal, one of those might be great with a protein roll or a slice of low-carb bread.

 

[donnellysdogs]

@Elsby, some of us do OK eating small servings of pulses, so if you like lentil soup, or dal, one of those might be great with a protein roll or a slice of low-carb bread.

Agree here.. its balancing out your portion sizes and if you can eat the pulses etc and have less carbs in other things it will just balance out.

Keeping stress free and easy options for you sounds the healthiest way to enjoy your food....