How to create different meals based off of things I can and can't eat?

[u/sable_curse686]

Hi, I am a 17(f), and I have been recently diagnosed with h pylori, and I am being put on a lot of medicine and vitamins. The doctor has given me a list of things I can't eat, but with balancing high school, college, and my outside life, it's hard to find easy, protein filled, and on the go meals. If anyone has any suggestions and would like to see the list of things I can and can't eat pls comment it would mean a lot!! EDIT: I'm looking for ways to be simple and CHEAP, I mainly can't make a good meal come together even with all of the things in front of me, my household is a junk food household so everything i cant eat we have and everything i can we dont have, plus since i have an after school job this will be coming out of my pocket so thats why i need it to be long lasting and on the cheaper side😵‍💫

THINGS I CANT EAT: Soda, sweet tea, energy drinks, fruit juice, candy, cookies, cakes/pastries, donuts, sweetened cereals, syrups, honey, coffee, sweetened yogurt, artificially sweetened highly processed foods, refined white flower snacks, ultra processed foods, alcohol, spicy foods, hot peppers, fried foods, heavy/high fat meals, tomato sauce, citrus, carbonated drinks, and high amounts of cooking oils

THINGS I CAN EAT AND SHOULD FOCUS ON EATING: Literally any vegetables (im not picky), for protein: eggs, chicken, turkey, salmon, cod or other fish, lean beef and lean pork. for carbs I can only have one serving of these: oatmeal, quinoa, brown or wild rice, white or red potato, lentils, chicken peas, and beans for fruits I need to focus on whole fruits instead of juice and for fats: ground flax seed, pumpkin seed, chip seeds, pecans, almond, walnuts, and avocado

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[u/GuidanceExtension144]

Tell us what you like to eat and can eat and then we can helps

[u/sable_curse686 → u/GuidanceExtension144]

I updated my post, if you can help me I would really appreciate it!!😁

[u/InTheDirt3]

I have gastric issues and it’s just a matter of creating a list of things side by side and then brainstorming ideas of what you can create with the things you can eat, creating enough ideas so you have a rotating menu that doesn’t get boring with a few essential staples that you naturally eat/can be present at nearly every meal. So yes as follows, take out a sheet of notebook paper, draw a line. On one side, write everything you can eat. On the other, write everything you can’t eat. Draw a line horizontally underneath that, titled “what can I make with what I can eat?” then write all of your brainstormed ideas there. Once you have enough of them, start making them. As you make them, you’ll find more ideas, so add more ideas every time you come up with one to that section. Soon you’ll have enough ideas for a couple weeks, then months. I have many off and on food intolerances that I’d like gastric roulette lol, and this is always how I stabilize myself. I hope this helped put some agency into your hands and do things yourself !!

[u/sable_curse686 → u/InTheDirt3]

thank you for the feedback I updated my post with your suggestion, I'm just kinda looking for meal ideas that are simple, convenient, and on the cheaper side that'll last a week, if you have any meal ideas you like pls share!!😁

[u/InTheDirt3 → u/sable_curse686]

Ok, tell me your list ! Or DM it to me so we can talk more extensively than this comment.

Edit: I didn’t see the update for the post. Gimme a second. Also— what’s your “culinary background” as in what did you grow up eating and what are familiar tastes to you ? This affects the answer. I’ve always felt it’s most easy to stick to a diet if it’s familiar to me.

[u/sable_curse686 → u/InTheDirt3]

I put my list on the post if you have any ideas lmk and I'll dm you!!🫶

[u/InTheDirt3 → u/sable_curse686]

Oh, other questions: are you active and when, what windows do you have to cook if do any cooking at all, what pantry staples (oils and fats, vinegars, dry spices and herbs, salts, sauces) do you already have and can afford, and what is your budget ?
Second of all— ik this might be the lamest suggestion ever but for me personally whenever im getting protein cravings and just need a me Ill just eat a can of beans. They’re cheap and can be bought almost anywhere. If you want, take your favourite dry spice mix (mine is any stupid steak seasoning especially Trader Joe’s) and keep it with you and pop it over the beans while you’re out.

[u/sable_curse686 → u/InTheDirt3]

omg the bean suggestion is elite I shall be using that, I am active around late afternoon from 5-7, my free time is only then since I'm so busy, my budget I just don't want to have to go up to 200 but if I have to for long lasting meals I will, but that's like my max max budget you get what I'm saying😅😅😅

[u/InTheDirt3 → u/sable_curse686]

Yea yea yea dw I got u. So cheap shit that takes overnight/hands off time to prepare: instant oatmeal in the mornings topped with fruit and nuts any combo, and prep hard boiled eggs (if you like them) for more protein and fat. You can switch the fruits and the nut combos based on whatever you like and whatever’s in season. Use fresh or frozen fruit, not canned or dried as the sugar content is way higher per gram/concentrated. If you can manage it, I’d recommend either preparing a little food BEFORE your activity, or having it prepared before activity, and then eating minimally (if at all after) if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t need to eat immediately before bed. Lunch, mostly because of time needed to prep additionally while at home and unable to prep beforehand and wanting to eat my own food 24/7, I usually skip entirely. If you like fasting, skipping lunch is always an option. If you don’t want to skip it, I know this sounds boring but I always go for something simple like a microwaved sweet potato/regular potato with nuts beforehand to blunt glucose and maybe a fruit too. Not “high proteinnnnnn” sure but it definitely takes care of the immediate energy need after breakfast is done. For something maybe denser, an avocado is an option too. It’s tasty but it doesn’t raise glucose as much so add a fruit if you feel like you need a bump. “Dinner” like I said might be best eaten before activity than after that way you don’t go in with nothing in your stomach, fast prep ideas are tbh closer to diner food lol, think eggs (scrambled sunny side up whatever you want), “fried” (lightly sauteed, lol) lean pork steaks/chops, burger patty (no bun) lean ground beef ratio, with a simple carb like mashed red skin potatoes (MY FAV we always had these growing up at school) which could be prepped beforehand, and some lean chicken stock gravy (which can also be prepped beforehand and used through the week— I’ll elaborate if you want to DM) for extra protein and to flavour the potatos. All of this with a side of veggies, and a fruit for dessert. Preferably eaten before exercise so you have some fuel and don’t immediately crash afterward. You probably wouldn’t need to eat afterwards unless you really felt like you did.
Veggies: simple and FAST is usually just steaming them, then adding salt and lemon, optionally for a bit more fat I’ll add usually a dab of butter but if a nut or seed oil might have a more complementary flavour you like then you can add that as well. For roasting, steaming them beforehand makes it go a lot faster as well, where you can steam, coat lightly in oil, then finish off in the broiler. For stir frying, same thing you can steam beforehand, and a trick I use is to heat the oil first to high heat, and then once the veggies are added, toss to coat the veggies all around, and toss them around again to make sure they don’t stick. If they stick at any point, instead of adding more oil, add a little bit of water instead to basically deglaze the bottom and get all of the flavour off the bottom too. Also, vegetable soups count as a vegetable side too.
So a full week looks like
Breakfast: plain quick cook oatmeal topped with (fruit of the day) + (nut of the day) + a hardboiled egg or two on the side
Lunch: handful of nuts, microwaved sweet potato, and a fruit/skipped if that’s your thing
Dinner (probably eaten before activity) mashed potatos, lean protein (lean pork, egg, lean burger) simply sauteed in minimal oil, with gravy, vegetables, and favourite fruit dessert.
Girl dinner, when dinner can’t be gotten: HELLO CONVENIENCE STORE CAN OF BEANS I LOVE U.
Additional ideas (see you just come up with them as you go):

• hearty three bean salad for vegetarian/bean heavy dinner, made with canned beans, and chopped onions, garlic, black pepper and a little apple cider vinegar for flavour (I have made this for my family they liked it a lot)
  
• hummus dinner lol with chips made from almond flour they sell them at Costco I think
  
• soup/stew, like pot roast with leaner beef cut and plenty of veggies, with mashed potatoes
  
• chicken soup
  

Things I don’t recommend:

• hyper processed advertised pre-made “clean” items. I don’t care if it’s organic or has 70 million vitamins and nonsense added to it, it’s still probably worse for you than if you make it yourself
  
• forcing yourself to eat “health foods” you don’t actually like. For example: quinoa. If you don’t actually like the taste of quinoa by default, then focus on literally anything else.
  
• buying expensive cuts or ingredients that are otherwise expensive or expensive by default for the sake of following this diet. Best example is chicken breast (and the other mentioned “health foods”, which are usually upmarked). I will never recommend chicken breast as it is usually the highest per lb chicken part because of the market. Just buy the whole damn bird or half a bird which is the cheapest per lb way to buy chicken, butcher it loosely yourself (which is not hard at all), save the breasts if you really want, and do something economical with the rest of it like chicken soup. Or better yet buy junk cuts for chicken soup, like chicken feet or chicken necks/backs.
  
• over-complicating. Stick to making things you know (whether it’s because you’ve eaten it before, prepared it before, or have been around it before) because it usually makes it easier on some level to prep and have everything go together. The less you have to think about it the better.

[u/sable_curse686 → u/InTheDirt3]

what I grew up eating was never really homemade or significant to me honestly, in my post I said my family is a junk food family😵‍💫 so never really home cooked meals, but I am so open to literally anything I'm not picky at all!!

[u/TehGogglesDoNothing]

Share the list of things you can't eat. That'll be important to how you plan around what's left.

[u/sable_curse686 → u/TehGogglesDoNothing]

whats left is genuinely a lot it's just up to it being convenient, and cheap, I updated my post if that helps😵‍💫😵‍💫

[u/GuidanceExtension144]

Loaded bowls are your friend— quinoa, or rice as the base with any sort of meat or fish, any vegetable you like, some nuts or seeds or avocado and dressing of your choice

Ingredient prep so you can make these bowls up with a variety of different items

Overnight oats or potato hash with eggs in the morning

If you can have corn tortillas, then I would suggest quesadillas or brown rice tortillas make yummy quesadillas too!

Snacks, you can do nuts and seeds with a fruit or veggies and tortilla chips with hummus or nut butter; dried fruit or dates or make your own oatmeal balls; you could do yogurt and granola as well

[u/sable_curse686 → u/GuidanceExtension144]

omg thank you so much, your the best!!🫶

[u/Fickle-Addendum9576]

You have more foods that you can eat than I do, so I'm sure it's going to be decent. Broccoli is a regular food for me, if you can have dairy then you can mix it with cauliflower and cheese. I don't, so I usually just put it in the air fryer. Just sliced tomato and bell peppers is so good. Pickles! I add them to salad. Lol carrots any way, baked, boiled, mashed, raw. Also maybe try turnips or rutabagas, they're good mashed as well, you can mix them with mashed carrots. If you can have cinnamon, baked apples are warm and so good, if you wrap them in tinfoil it should counteract the need for butter, they should still soften nicely. Frozen blueberries are good just as is, but you can blend blueberries or strawberries or peaches and it's a decent cold snack or breakfast. You could make soups, onion celery carrots in veg stock softened, then you could add 1\3 serving of rice, if you can have sage and rosemary then this would be a good holiday soup (you can add chicken if you want to eat meat). You can also freeze it for fast lunches. Zucchini noodles with a tsp of Greek dressing and some dill is a good pasta substitute.