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Low FODMAP Stock-A-thon

2 Full size baking trays in an oven with 4 chickens and lots of vegetables .

Costco does frequently have low FODMAP stock. It’s ok stock but nothing to write home about. Certainly buying it is a lot easier than making it if you value your time. I don’t really find it challenging to make stock as It’s something I do while doing other things. Yet, another trip to Costco. We had a food processing day. We elected to make multiple loads of stock instead of freezing the ingredients and thawing them to make stock later. This resulted in trying to make 4 loads of stock at the same time.

2 Full size baking trays in an oven with 4 chickens and lots of vegetables .
Full size baking trays in the oven with 4 batches of stock.

(2 “loads” of stock per full size baking sheet.) It gave me an excellent perspective on stock making through the different methods that I could make them. (Insta pot, Slow Cooker, Stove Top.) The secret to making stock this way is to pick flavourful ingredients and assume that 1 tray will make ~8 servings(Double batch of stock). So pick your vegetables for 1 serving and you should be safe to multiply it by 8.(Stay in green according to Monash) Said another way, 1 batch of stock for me typically yields about 4 cups of stock. 1 cup of stock is usually a serving. It can be less of a serving in sauces but it’s a good rule of thumb to live by. I usually run my stock ingredients twice. That means I drain stock and refill the ingredients with water to get a second run out of the same ingredients. This gives me the 4th cup of stock and I usually incorporate this back into the first run of stock. After I have both batches finished I typically will reduce the volume of stock by 3/4. This give me a nice concentrated stock that stores compactly. I often will add water back to reconstitute the stock. (And this will help to thaw my Stock Cubes.)

My analysis of the different methods:

Stock pot vs Slow Cooker vs Insta pot

  • Slow Cooker
    • Positives:
      • Set it and forget it. Throw everything in. Put in on for 12 hours.
      • It reduces as it cooks.You do lose some water over the 12 hours which makes it better easier to reduce
      • Cook anywhere there is a plug – This is something people don’t think about, but I have cooked stock in many rooms in my house.
    • Negatives
      • It’s Slow – 12 hours is just a long time.
      • Can’t control heat – you pick low or high, if low still creates too much of a boil you can’t do anything about that. A boil will agitate the ingredients and cause your stock to be cloudy. Most times this isn’t an issue but it depends on your SlowCooker/CrockPot.
  • Stock Pot
    • Positives:
      • It’s massive. I could put two batches of Stock one Stock Pot.
      • It reduces as it cooks.You do lose some water over the 12 hours which makes it better easier to reduce
      • You can control the heat to exactly where you want it. (You want it just simmering so that you don’t agitate it and make a cloudy stock.)
    • Negatives
      • It’s Slow – 12 hours is just a long time.
      • Your stove is occupied for 12 hours or longer
  • Instapot
    • Positives:
      • It’s Fast Throw everything in. It’s done the first round in ~ 2 hours
      • Cook anywhere there is a plug – This is something people don’t think about, but I have cooked stock in many rooms in my house.
      • Does not need a stove element
      • Low Agitation: The increase pressure means that the stock doesn’t boil and hence doesn’t agitate the ingredients, and produces a very clean/clear stock. (Must use natural release for “No Boil”. If you quick release it will agitate your stock and produce a murky stock.)
    • Negatives:
      • Natural release: It’s better to use a natural release, when making stock and you need to actually turn off the pot after it’s done cooking so that it will cool enough to do a natural release. (The residual heat of the stock makes takes a long time to reduce especially with “Keep Warm” on.)

Over all, I find the Instapot the best option, as it’s the best use of my time and lease use of power to complete the same amount of work. There is nothing wrong with the other methods, I just like the speed of the insta pot.

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low FODMAP Microwave’s are a weapon in the battle.

Microwave with reflection of messy kitchen.
My messy kitchen.

The secret to eating to not cheating on a FODMAP diet is being able to deliver low FODMAP food when you are hungry. Like it or not that mean a microwave should be a weapon in your battle against hunger. I recently upgraded my microwave and I wanted to share some very fast snack that you can use to help you stave off getting “Hangry” so you can keep on the low FODMAP diet.

  • Protein
    • Bacon – wrap it in paper towel 1 minute per slice
    • Crack an Egg in a bowl- 30 seconds cook time, 20 second wait, 30 second cook time. (Egg is less likely to explode a little wait time.)
  • Veggies – (the secret to good microwave food is steam, so water is often added to help team the veggies as well as microwave them.)
    • Almost any low FODMAP frozen vegetable, 2 tablespoons of water, in a bowl with a loose lid, and cook for 2-3 mins . Cool them quickly under cold water.
    • low FODMAP Fresh vegetables, 1/4 cup of water, in a bowl with a loose lid, and cook for 2-3 mins . Cool them quickly under cold water.
    • Baked Potato – wash it, poke it, cook it for 3mins, flip it, 3 more minutes. Poke it with a fork. If it slides in easily, it’s ready, if not keep cooking. (Add 1 minute to each side per potato. If you want to cook more than 1 potato.)
    • Any oven Potato dishes – Cut your oven cook time by 1/4 by microwaving. 2 minutes of cook time = 1 minute of microwave time. I strongly suggest you Only do this for 1/2 the cook time and finish them in the oven so they still have the “oven cook” feel to them.
      • An example: If you are supposed to cook for 40 mins. Cut the cook time to 10 minutes microwave and 20 minute finish in the oven.
  • Reheat leftovers – 2 tablespoons of water, cook them with a lid, and let them sit for 3-5 mins. This 3-5 mins allows the heat to even distribute and is well worth the wait before eating.

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Do you want to eat good food? Cause I now know the secret.

The secret is good stock. Like good “flavoured water”. Well maybe good “vegetable/meat flavoured water”. This is the way to eat better and be a better cook. Well your friend will think so anyways. Really homemade stock is the way to shine in a dish that otherwise falls flat. I actually have to tell my mom, that I know why when she made one of my dishes it fell flat. I think that the stock wasn’t tasted, wasn’t concentrated enough and didn’t give the rich flavour we were looking for. This sucks but it makes perfect sense. This is a great example of how store bought stock can make a dish ok, but when you use home made, concentrated stock the dish is a revelation. Well for us low FODMAP people we need to make our own stock. I can’t say that other FODY stocks are bad, I just know from experience when I control the flavour I make an amazing dish. The secret is simple… and something not a lot of people do. Simply taste the stock, if it isn’t concentrated/tastey enough keep reducing the stock until you love it. If you don’t fall in love with it. Stop. freeze it in 1/2 cup cubes. Add it to the next stock with more/different vegetables (in 1/2 cup sizes). Never throw away stock just add it as an “accent” to the next version of stock you make…. this is the key to good eating. Make better stock.

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Costco Order Packing Hacks.

When you order from Costco and Package up the meet into usable servings it takes effort. Here are some Costco packaging Hacks to help you get through your processing of a large order.

  • Calculate how many bags
    • Look at the weight ahead of time, or the number of cups and just write on the bags in advance. This makes it a log easier than labeling after the bags have meat/stock in them.
two bags of chicken stock in plastic bags, lying flat in a metal cooking sheet.
Chicken stock ready to freeze.
  • Use wax paper to extend you countertop
    • When you are working with meat it’s easy to make a mess. Make your life easy and give yourself a ton of counter space by using wax paper/plastic wrap to make for easy cleaning.
tenderloin roast about to be butchered on wax paper.
  • Go Vampire – Keep the blood
    • When butchering larger pieces of meat they often have blood in the packaging. This is an amazing additive to create a rich gravy. I highly suggest draining the blood into a bowl and keeping it for another day.
  • Get Creative
    • Do not be afraid of immediately turning your leftover meat scraps into a meal for another day.
    • Below is an example. I had some leftover ground beef but it wasn’t enough to keep in it’s own. I could either make all my ground beef bags more than a pound, or I could premake some Burgers. I use a convenient freeze tray here but you could just use a cookie sheet and form your burgers on that, freeze them on that, and then after frozen bag them up for later use. (Freezing them before putting them in a bag will prevent them from sticking.
Ground beef in a hamgbuger mold ready to be frozen.
  • Lets not forget the water trick we’ve talked about in the past.
    • Closing the bag %90 of the way,
    • Dunk the bag in the water and it will force air out of the bag.
    • Completely close the bag.
Freezer bag of meet, being dunked into the water.
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Mash Potato Cubes

As a follow up to my last post about Ice Cube trays. I had some extra mashed potatoes leftover from a dinner. Instead of throwing them out I used the trays to help make life easier for our next dinner. This was an amazing life saver the other day. They are perfectly portioned to become a part of any meal. I froze them in ~1/2 cup each. I added a tbsp of water per cube. Microwaved for 1 minute, then 30 seconds later another minute. (You could probably just do 2 mins a cube to reheat.) This was a real life have that saved food from the compost, saved time, and tasted amazing. Totally something I would definitely suggest you doing. I used to make complete frozen meals with leftover potatoes but now I think this is my new way of freezing mashed potatoes as it really allows a ton of flexibility.

Cooked mashed potatoes in 1 cup ice cube tray.
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Frozen 2 cup cubes – Frozen Meal Maker

r/FODMAPs had a post about 2 cup ice cube trays a while back.(See picture below) This is a thank you to that person. I didn’t buy the ones they suggested I found this cheaper version for $21 CDN. I made my favourite peanut chicken stew into a frozen meal pack. I know have 4 servings ready as a frozen meal I can thaw/reheat. (Rice actually freezes pretty well, and with a stew it’s perfect!) If you are struggling with meal planning this might be a great tool for you to help make frozen meals. The meal cube is easier to thaw/store. Even if you are going to reheat multiple servings at 1 time you will find that this is easier to reheat than 1 large freezer bag. Just add to a microwave safe dish and add 2 teaspoons of water and a lid place on top. (Don’t seal the lid) This will help use the steam to reheat all sides of the cube at once.

This will also help a lot with my stock making. I always thought it was clunky to measure out my stock then add it to a plastic back to be frozen. Now I can just poor in a freeze. This will be so much easier! Enjoy!

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New Tips for Eating out at a restaurant.

Use Open Table to book a reservation. You can type your concerns into your reservation and list allergies. This helps take the talking out of it.

Make a reservation and tell them you need an experienced waiter. (More likely to know the menu better)/, handle recipe questions.)

Don’t let the waiter leave until you know everything that will arrive on the plate. Everything.

Ask if the restaurant has an allergy protocol. (Big chains are more likely to have one.)

Allergy protocols can save horrible mistakes from happening to you.

Use simplified list to remove the worst FODMAP:
Grains:Wheat and rye-based products
Vegetables:Onion, garlic, leek, cauliflower and mushrooms
Fruit:Apple, pear, dried fruit, stone fruit, watermelon
Dairy:Milk and yoghurt
Meat/alternatives:Legumes

We have taken our previous post and created a permanent page in our resource section for a more complete guidance of how to navigate a restaurant with low FODMAP complete advice.

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Buy Big, and Butcher it yourself

There is nothing better than Cutting up your own steaks. You hands down get the right thickness, and the right size. You can make them super thick or thin, whatever floats your boat. You also just can’t beat the price. Buying large chunks of beef is much cheaper than buying steaks pre-cut in the store. I just get angry when I go to buy steak and end up paying $15 a steak for a steak I don’t even enjoy eating. These steaks shown above a delish tenderloin steaks. When the steaks are broken down this way you get the steak meat at about $1 an ounce. You can’t beat that price. Any meat that doesn’t look like I can cut into a steak I chop up and use for Beef and Broccoli or Kabob meat. Now of course you are going to have to freeze the meat to make sure it keeps. Here’s a cool trick to help keep your meat as fresh as possible. I use plastic bags to freeze meat, but it can be hard to squeeze out all the air, and air is your enemy in the freezer. To get the air out, partially sub-merge your meat in a bag in a sink full of water. The water static pressure will help to squeeze all the air out for you:

Final product with air squeezed out:

I was actually really impressed with how well this worked.

For more tips on Saving money check out my Costco shopping post, that I wrote previously.

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The difficulty of translating a recipe to [FODMAP]

I convert recipes all the time from {recipe’s in the wild} to low FODMAP. There are a lot of easy recipes, that pretty much you swap out garlic and onion and your good. There are other recipes that take more refinement. If you are making a dish that contains a Monash app green/yellow/red then you have to restrict the amount of that ingredient. And sometimes you can get away with only a restriction, other times it creates an imbalanced flavour or decreases the volume from 4 people to 2 peoples worth of food. This is where creativity comes in! This is also why I test food on my poor family before sharing it on the website. I thought it might be interesting for others to see the process/collaborate so I’ll share my start to finish in a series of posts. Here’s the recipe that I like (Found on the internet) and Here’s my process so far. I will later on post the final recipe and chat about what it took to create it. My family only tolerates repeated meals every other week so it will take some time for the process to be complete.

For now here’s the recipe we’re working with Spinart Enchiladas. This is a pretty literal translation. It’s OK but it’s not amazing. And it needs more volume to actually be filling enough for more people. This is also a portion controlled dish with you needing to eat less than a third of it to be in a “Green” FODMAP friendly zone.

My notes say that we need more filling. (So need to develop other vegetables, to fill it out.) Also I think I want to add cheese into the filling even if that’s a sin for Enchiladas…. I’m not enchiladas expert but I think more creaminess would be good. These are my initial notes.

I have enlisted my Mother to help with the recipe. She is an excellent cook in her own right, she is actually the one that gifted me my “Cook’s Illustrated” subscription and cooks for my vegetarian father all the time so may be able to give me pointers on how to make this delicious.

More to come!