help with budget friendly food for pre-diabetic aunt with intellectual disability

[briggsy's girl]

thanks ladies

the plan for tomorrow is to have seven slowcookers plus electric frying pan and boiler on the cook top going. yay for info overload. BUT, the main thing is that she can see they have similar vegie bases and it's just the meat and sauce that changes. if we can get her to see how basic the process is, it will help her get motivated!

so, tomorrow, we're making
spag bol (will add pasta when it's almost done and freeze complete meals - one, cos it's easier for DH when he's away, two, so that col doesn't go and add a heap of pasta and end up eating too much)
chicken bolognaise - basically the same as the spag but use chicken cubes and then she can either reheat in the micro or put it in a dish, throw it in the oven topped with light cheese
braised lamb with heaps of veg
braised beef with heaps of veg
chop suey
potato soup
basic mince mix (basis for cottage pie)
couple of lots of vegie soup

and for lunch we're having the cheats version of meat balls - rissoles made heaps smaller, cooked in tom soup, and served with mash!


i guess mybig thing is making sure Col can have lots of ideas so she can budget shop and avoid living on snags and things


ooh, fried rice falls in the too hard basket - tried to teach her that one a few times and she just falls in a heap (or tells porky pies - like that she cooked it, but actually went and bought msg laden chinese at the shop - it's very hard having her live sooooo close to the shops!)

[HotI]

does she like tuna?

easy, cheap, can be quick to make a meal

[briggsy's girl]

does she like tuna?

easy, cheap, can be quick to make a meal

wont touch it!


not that i blame her = not a fan either...

[Lulu]

You might have to set her a reminder to take it out of the freezer of a morning so she doesn't forget and head to the shops instead?

[Tinks]

Sounds like you've got it all worked out.

Can I just make a suggestion though? (hope i'm not out of line) Dont give her too much potato, they are too high in carbs for a diabetic, she should only have 1 small-medium potato a day. Also portion control her pasta to 1 cup per serve.

[briggsy's girl]

pasta is to a minimum (and i use wholemeal so will be encouraging her to do the same)

when i do "mash" it's a combination of white spud, sweet spud and pumpkin, which i'll encourage her to do. she is normally a "snags and mash with peas" kinda girl - lots of white potato - which i know isn't good so trying to change that habit. i hate white mash - gotta have extras in it - so i'm hoping she'll take my lead! everything i cook is very low GI

am also trying to get her to make other small changes - basmatti rice instead of white (i can't do brown rice so i doubt she will), multigrain bread (instead of white). i think if we can get her changing in small increments (like doing this) it won't be such a shock.

[Tinks]

Ahh you've got it all sorted. Sorry for being a sticky beak.

She's so lucky to have you! Can you cook me some yummies too? lol.