Lunch meat alternatives.....
To avoid eating a lot of super processed meat... I get one of those chunks of cooked/flavored turkey, and you can have the deli slice it for you. Its in the meat section. You can also get small spiral hams that are already pre-sliced for when you can dip into the red meat on occasion. I also get rotisserie chickens and just take the meat off them, put that in a storage container and keep that in the fridge for sandwich's or salads.

Breakfast....
Turkey sausage (jenny-o) has less fat and easier for me to stomach than pork sausage. You can make your own pre-made breakfast sandwich's by freezing them and re-heating them when you want. Its not as great as fresh obviously, but it works.

Lunch/ Dinner-
Figure out seasonings that you can tolerate. There are a million different ways to season something, which is great for people that need to eat a lot of the same food.
Chicken, Turkey, Salmon, shrimp, and various other kinds of easy to digest meat.

Thank you Justdreaming! So is there a big difference between a cook/flavored turkey sliced up than pre sliced turkey? Rotisserie chicken is a great idea, I just have to watch it because I deal with a LOT of nausia and too much chicken makes me sick! Are any frozen meals okay?

Not everyone may be able to tolerate the following but this is what usually make:

For breakfast, greek yogurt mixed with honey and blueberries and sometimes, with Fiber One cereal. This is my all time favorite, at home and work breakfast. Whole wheat english muffins and toast are good with a little bit of some natural peanut butter. I need to eat a pretty substantial breakfast so I'm not starving by 10:00am.

I'm big into making soups, even in the summer. I don't make my own stock because I don't have a lot of time for that. So, I buy high quality vegetable, beef or chicken stock. And then I just saute onion and garlic with either a seasoning or with a red or green curry paste (I like and can tolerate spicy food)and kind of riff off of what I have handy, like beans, veggies, etc. Sometimes, if I have left over meat, I throw that in. I don't eat pasta, but sometimes, I'll throw in brown rice, although I typically would rather have more veggies and beans vs rice in my soup.

I make fish a lot and I make meatloaf out of ground turkey and turkey tenderloins and chicken breasts are easy to make, just marinate them or season them and throw them in the oven. Sometimes, pork doesn't sit well with me so I don't make pork too often but I'm cooking for my husband as well and he likes it. You can slice leftover tenderloins to make sandwiches.


I also make salads as main courses but I don't use lettuce or spinach because it can interact with some meds I take for another issue. So, I make a greek salad, cutting up cucumbers, tomato, red onion and toss it with lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, feta cheese and greek olives. Sometimes, I throw in sliced cooked chicken breast. If you can't tolerate these foods, then substitute. That's the thing, if you get some basic recipes down, you can start varying them, substituting ingredients and seasoning and before you know it, you've got a ton of variety. Right now, I've got a salad in the fridge of chopped celery, green onion, cherry tomato, parm cheese, green pepper and garbanzo bean tossed in an italian vinagrette.

Personally, I'd stay away from the prepackaged, frozen dinners just because they're high in salt and have so many preservatives. I used to eat a lot lean cuisines out of convenience but stopped buying them all together. Has anyone ever felt satisfied after eating a frozen dinner? I know I never did. I was always hungry after eating them. So,regardless of IBD, why eat that when you can make really good, filling food yourself. On the other hand, I also think, if you like it and it doesn't make you sick, so what. Sometimes, we want to eat what we want to eat. So, if you don't want to cut them out cold turkey, just maybe not eat them all the time. Once you start cooking your own food, you find that these dinners taste like shit anyway.

Getting in the habit of reading food labels makes you so aware of what you're ingesting, to the point where it's a complete turn off to buy anything too overly processed. And it's not that I don't buy processed food. I just try to buy "real" food when I can and when it makes more sense.

I think the biggest obstacle is to change our American way of eating that involves putting processed meat on 2 slices of bread.

Think about salads topped with a little meat (or a lot) and a little cheese sprinkled for flavor with a dressing your colon likes.

You can add different ingredients every day for a different salad.
Just wander the grocery store for ingredients:
olives, feta cheese, swiss cheese, steamed veggies (cooled off of course) like peapods, green beans, fresh veggies like carrot, tomato. Well the list is endless if you have an open mind.

Just omit processed foods as much as possible. Cook a chicken or turkey and freeze the cooked meat in small packages until you need it. Shrimp mentioned by someone sounds REALLY good on a green salad.

For a hot lunch I just love a hamburger without the bun but with lettuce and swiss.

Like Apple says "Think different". Best of luck with it.

Thanks for the comments! Imagardener ~ I wish I could eat salads! Raw vegetables are just too hard for me right now. I still cheat every now and then and have a little side salad but I pay for it withing minutes. I would have it made it I could have salads everyday! Unfortunately, I don't care for cooked vegetables near as much, expecially if they're not all jazzed up :o). Someone mentioned brown rice with toasted almonds which sounds good. Also hummus with pita but I'm not sure how I tolerate beans? You would think I would know by now but I don't.

I too know how hard it is to find things our bodies can handle with this crazy disease!
In regard for your love of sandwiches I would say your best bet is to buy a turkey or turkey breast and chow down!! The meat is easy enough to freeze in Ziploc bags if you can't eat it before it spoils,
My naturopath put me on a diet of NO white flour, sugar, salt, beef pork or dairy . If your body can tolerate it eat fresh fruits, veggies, chicken fish and grains. Nothing fried!!! Boiled broiled baked or steamed is best..
I did really well on this diet for 9 months and slipped off. Now my crohns is so bad I can't digest and break down the fresh veggies and fruit very well.
Breakfast I love to make french toast or blueberry pancakes. I've just gotten so I can tolerate Frosted mini wheats again.
I was on a feeding tube for 4 years and just had it removed so I too am going through an adjustment trying to find foods I can eat that don't upset my system and will help put weight back on.
One quick dish I make that i can't get enough of is a beef-mac n cheese dish. Cook up about a pound of ground beef, ( or venison)
add a 15-16 oz. can of Italian dices tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups water, and a box of mac n' cheese. Simmer for 10 minutes, top with 1 cup of sharp cheese cover til melted and enjoy!!
I hope this helps

The Internet is a great place to start to learn to cook. Just Google what it is you like to eat in frozen meals and there's probably a few recipes out there for it with less salt and preservatives. And that goes for vegetables, too. I love salads but my colon doesn't, so I've been trying lots of vegetable recipes from the Web. I find not knowing what you're going to end up with makes eating very interesting (and maybe a little scary).

If you have a problem with ground beef, try bison for hamburgers, meatloaf, and meat and pasta dishes. I made hamburger/rotoni goulash with it, half a bell pepper, and a sweet onion using canned roasted garlic, basil, and oregano flavored tomato sauce the other day and it was great. By law they can't feed the beasts all the hormones they feed cattle. The flavor is more delicate than you'd think.

If you make up extra, you can freeze some and not have to cook as often.

I found some good recipies and food ideas by looking on the Specific Carb Diet foods. There are several web sites that you can check out.

A great way to add some calories to your diet for weight gain and for easy digestion is a daily smoothie. For a basic smoothie put the following in your blender: One chopped ripe banana (freeze in advance for a great smoothie texture), 1 1/2 cups almond milk - original flavour (more natural the better) and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Blend just to mix, then add a couple of scoops of unflavoured Whey Protein (again with as little additives as possible) and blend a tiny bit just to mix. If you can tolerate, add the following...blueberries, strawberries, but watch out for the SEEDS, especially in raspberries, blackberries-not good!

Basic dish: Make your own Basmati white rice at home, takes little time. Add some chopped, cooked turkey breast (easier on the system than chicken) but cooked chicken breast will do (bake it in the oven), a few steamed frozen peas and fresh carrots-to just soft. If you can tolerate add TAMARI Organic Soya Sauce for a little flavour. Try eating more 'white' rice cause it's easier on the digestion and put it in simple wraps with scrambled eggs and grated hard cheese.

Tip: don't drink anything before, during or after eating solids...wait a little while. Remember to read all labels before you eat it and less listed is better and watch out for MSG - you'd be surprised what it's in. Switch to almond butter from peanut butter, honey is not easy to digest and squeeze some fresh lemon into your water.
Eat smaller quantities more often.

Journalling everything you eat is a great idea. Simple, home prepared foods are the best and avoid fast food.

I recently started the SCD and found some good recipes online at:
www.scdrecipes.com
www.scdiet.org
http://www.comfybelly.com/baking_with_almond_four/
http://www.elanaspantry.com/

A friend with Crohn's told me to make pureed soups in a blender with cooked veggies, chicken or turkey, broth and herbs to help with digestion during a flare. It is quick and easy especially if the veggies and bird are cooked. You can make a batch and just have it in the frig. I also make coconut milk yogurt which is easy if you have a yogurt maker.