Budget Food

[pagandialysis]

I'm working on a list of cheap renal friendly foods and meals. This is not only for my blog but for me as well since I need to cut down on my food budget.

If you would like to share any ideas or thoughts please do, I could use the help.

-Chris

[PrimeTimer]

I'm not a great cook but I'm good with a budget and no one starves from eating my cooking. I like using a crock pot because of it's ease and the fact that you can make a large meal to be divided up and frozen and then nuked at a later time. I can throw just about anything into a crockpot in the morning and by afternoon, "dinnah is served". I've never burnt anything in a crockpot. One of my faves is making a pot roast and veggies. I buy the cheapest hunk of beef I can find (about 1 pound or so for two people) and throw some veggies on top (fresh or frozen, including zucchini..yum..) and let it cook on low 7-8 hours. I add salt free all-purpose seasoning just before serving while it's still in the pot (so the flavor of the seasoning won't get cooked out). Sometimes I add a cup of water at the start for it to cook in but otherwise it's own juices are enough as the "gravy". We get a couple meals out of it (dinner and cold beef sandwiches).

[Zach]

I'm not a great cook but I'm good with a budget and no one starves from eating my cooking. I like using a crock pot because of it's ease and the fact that you can make a large meal to be divided up and frozen and then nuked at a later time. I can throw just about anything into a crockpot in the morning and by afternoon, "dinnah is served". I've never burnt anything in a crockpot. One of my faves is making a pot roast and veggies. I buy the cheapest hunk of beef I can find (about 1 pound or so for two people) and throw some veggies on top (fresh or frozen, including zucchini..yum..) and let it cook on low 7-8 hours. I add salt free all-purpose seasoning just before serving while it's still in the pot (so the flavor of the seasoning won't get cooked out). Sometimes I add a cup of water at the start for it to cook in but otherwise it's own juices are enough as the "gravy". We get a couple meals out of it (dinner and cold beef sandwiches).

YUM!!
 

[kristina]

There are many ways how to cut down the food budget...

I bake my own (salt-free) bread in my (good quality) bread-maker...
It is very cost-cutting and I had the same bread-maker for many years 
and bake about three very tasty breads very week...
Instead of salt I use for each bread one quarter spoonful of fresh pepper,
same amount of Ground Cumin and a little fresh Nutmeg... and quality white flour
plus a little of Wholemeal Rye flour...

I also cook my own fresh (salt-less) vegetable soups with kidney-friendly vegetables
i.e. half carrot, some peas and some  fresh broccoli...
and whatever there is on offer on the weekly farmers market...

... another tasty soup is crepes-soup, also called "pancake-soup" ...
(thin pancakes baked well, cut into little stripes and pieces
and put them into a vegetable stock bouillon... with a little fresh pepper...
... very tasty and very easy on a sensitive stomach...

Another favourite of mine is Couscous with cooked vegetables...

Very occasionally I also have a tiny little portion of Sicilian spaghetti...
(1 small tomato cooked with a little bouillon and some fresh vegetables (peas & carrots)
plus a few small-cut olives... plus some quality spaghetti-noodles...
... sometimes I put a little tomato mark into the sauce,
but I always only take one little spoonful of sauce to be mixed with my portion of spaghetti...
... it just makes my boring kidney-friendly diet a little bit more interesting sometimes...
The secret seems to be to honestly only use a tiny little bit of the sauce...

[kristina]

P.S. I always cook my vegetables in lots of water to “wash out” as much potassium as possible...
...  and I also pour fresh boiling water over the vegetables after they have cooked before I put them into the bouillon...
... I also buy my vegetables and fruit fresh from the farmers market... and I avoid to use any frozen vegetables ... 
... I was told many years ago to avoid any meat, tins of food and “fast food”
in order to preserve the function of my “two little fighters” better and longer ...
... Fresh pancakes can also be used for vegetables as nice "wraps", which is healthy and also cost-effective...

[pagandialysis]

P.S. I always cook my vegetables in lots of water to “wash out” as much potassium as possible...
...  and I also pour fresh boiling water over the vegetables after they have cooked before I put them into the bouillon...
... I also buy my vegetables and fruit fresh from the farmers market... and I avoid to use any frozen vegetables ... 
... I was told many years ago to avoid any meat, tins of food and “fast food”
in order to preserve the function of my “two little fighters” better and longer ...
... Fresh pancakes can also be used for vegetables as nice "wraps", which is healthy and also cost-effective...

I love all the advice but I have to ask, are you saying you don't eat meat at all?

[kristina]

Hello pagandialysis,

I never eat any meat/sausages and have not touched any meat or sausages since my kidneys first failed (uraemia and coma) in spring 1971...
... The reason for my strict vegetarian diet is, that I was advised at that time by a Professor of Medicine to go completely vegetarian,
if I wanted to protect my very poor kidney function a little bit longer ...
... it was his "hunch" and he believed in it, because he had seen so much during his professional life as a Medical Professor...
... He told me honestly that he could not prove it, but if he were in my fragile position, he would do exactly that...
and I believed him... not only because he was a great physician, but because he was also a great humanitarian...

I have been a strict vegetarian ever since and since my last diagnosis of end stage kidney failure in August 2006
with 6 month to go until dialysis, I have refined my vegetarian diet even further and have for example left out cows milk completely
(because of the many hormones involved) and I use instead an original dairy free milk alternative like Almond milk in my cup of coffee...

I also never touch any fast food, no tin-food and no "ready made" food, because of the many unhealthy chemicals involved...
... Of course, that restricts my food choice a lot and it gives me no chance ever for any food-fancies,
(sometimes it can be a bit hard to keep so strictly to my strict vegetarian diet, because I happen to live in in a very tourist-friendly district
with uncounted shops of delicatessen, sweets, cakes and coffee shops etc...)
... but there again, my very strict vegetarian plus my exercises, lots of walks and a bit of luck have assisted me to avoid dialysis since 1971...

[Jean]

Hi Kristine,
I never thought to ask you, but are you married? And, if so, how does your husband manage with the vegetable only diet?

[kristina]

Hi Jean,

My husband is also a vegetarian and has been so for many years...
... he assists me very practically in my struggle to keep myself pre-dialysis
for as long as possible with my very kidney friendly diet...

Best wishes from Kristina.

[kristina]

P.S. 
No one need suffer with their health by having a vegetarian diet... (this means no meat which includes fish)
... Please remember gorillas are vegetarians except for the odd bug they may eat ...
... and elephants have a vegetarian diet... they are some of the strongest animals on earth....
(and the vegetarian diet does not affect the elephant’s good memory!)

Just have a balanced vegetarian diet in which you get all the nutrients your body requires...
(minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, protein etc...) The Internet is now so comprehensive
and diets for vegetarian people have been used for so many years
that it requires very little effort to discover that there are many ways
to satisfy the body’s requirements and satisfy your enjoyment of a good meal...

Be assured you will not "lose your marbles" on a vegetarian diet...

Likewise, you can even have a successful dairy-free diet (no milk, no cream, no butter, no cheese etc.)
and you can still have biscuits and pastry dishes using butter-alternatives...
It is all on the Internet...

Please ask your doctors first to make sure you go about it the right way from the start...

Good luck and best wishes from Kristina.

[kristina]

P.S. That reminds me: when I first went completely vegetarian ... from spring 1971 onwards,
I could always find very understanding cooks in Restaurants who were catering for my vegetarian food...
...and this trend continued during the 1980’s, when my husband and I went regularly to Restaurants together;
our vegetarian food was always being catered for, there were even vegetarian Restaurants to be found ...
....These days we can hardly find a Restaurant catering for us as vegetarians and if they do, they put lots of garlic into the food...
...nothing for me to eat there, because I am still allergic to garlic...
... adding to which, many Restaurants also put huge amounts of added salt into their food ....
... in an effort to invite customers to drink more...  no chance for me to eat there either,
because that could be the end of my "two little fighters" functioning...

...I have been wondering whether this development about such little food-choices for vegetarians in Restaurants
might be connected in any way to the meat-industry...?

The reason why I wonder about this, is because when I first became a vegetarian in 1971,
I was certainly always "the odd one out" as a vegetarian eating in Restaurants,
but nevertheless, I was always being catered for...
... These days there are so many more vegetarians about, but the Restaurants are not overly keen anymore
to cater particularly for vegetarians .... and I think about this development as being very odd...

[iolaire]

This weekend I made Pancakes (With No Baking Powder), which turned out ok, made them a little thin, next time I'd make them thicker and add some fruit for flavor.  I believe its low phosphorus but does contain some sodium from salt and baking soda.

[Deanne]

Kristina, I think it's the opposite here (Western USA) on vegetarian restaurants. I think it's much more common in restaurants now than it was in the past. I'm not vegetarian, but have friends who are and vegetarianism seems very common in the Western US. A "meat and potatoes" type of restaurant that primarily serves traditional American food probably won't have much to choose from, but most places I go have vegetarian sections of their menus. Asian restaurants I've been to let you select the type of protein you want with just about any  meal and the choices always include tofu. Even our cafeteria at work (set up like a mall food court) has a vegetarian stand and the non-vegetarian stands offer vegetarian versions of their foods.

Salt is another issue. Restaurant food here has always been salty and I don't think that's changed.

[kristina]

This weekend I made Pancakes (With No Baking Powder), which turned out ok, made them a little thin, next time I'd make them thicker and add some fruit for flavor.  I believe its low phosphorus but does contain some sodium from salt and baking soda.

Hello iolaire, here is my pancake recepy:
Whisk one egg with 135 ml of almond milk and half a teaspoon olive oil, and then add 70 grms of flour very slowly whilst whisking it in. Leave for one hour...

Thank you Deanne for your suggestions, I shall try them out in a very careful way because of the salt which I try to avoid....

[iolaire]

Hello iolaire, here is my pancake recepy:... Leave for one hour...

Thanks, what is the effect by letting the batter sit for an hour?

[kristina]

Hello again iolaire,
 
I don't quite know precisely the answer to that, but I surmise
that it is to "let the bubbles" settle, after whisking all the air into it...
...and let the flour absorb slowly into the mixture in its own time...
... A cook told me once, that by "letting it settle for an hour",
the pancakes finally settle much "easier" in our (fragile) stomach...

Good luck from Kristina.

P.S. The measurements for this recipe are for two pancakes only
(one pancake for my husband who has it as a special wrapper for his veggies)
and one pancake for me to have it cut into little stripes
to put into my bouillon-soup (with my veggies as a special little side-dish...)

...if you want to have more pancakes, just increase the ingredients accordingly...

[pagandialysis]

Ohhh that's kinda like Soldiers right?