Ready meal advice

[charlespgw]

I have been looking forward for a long time to having a hip replacement operation, only to be told 5 days before that it can't go ahead because my Hba1c is too high at 80. Since being on my own for the last 2 years I know I have not been eating particularly healthily. I hate cooking and have largely depended on food I like rather than food that is good for me. Plenty of scope for improvement then! Can anyone give advise about any supermarkets out there that do ready meals that will help to lower my blood sugars? Thanks in anticipation. Charles

 

[Inka]

Welcome @charlespgw 🙂 Reducing carbs will help your blood sugar. So avoid too much pasta, bread, potatoes, rice, etc and concentrate on plenty of green veg and protein. Can you give us an idea of a day’s food for you at the moment? And are you on any medication for the diabetes?

 

[Inka]

You can buy pre-cooked chicken and fish and add your own veg. Something like a stir fry is good too. You can buy the veg pre-chopped.

 

[Leadinglights]

I have been looking forward for a long time to having a hip replacement operation, only to be told 5 days before that it can't go ahead because my Hba1c is too high at 80. Since being on my own for the last 2 years I know I have not been eating particularly healthily. I hate cooking and have largely depended on food I like rather than food that is good for me. Plenty of scope for improvement then! Can anyone give advise about any supermarkets out there that do ready meals that will help to lower my blood sugars? Thanks in anticipation. Charles

It is a pity that they did not do some tests some time ago so you would have had the opportunity to address the high blood glucose rather than 5 days before hand but the risks of surgery with high blood glucose are not insignificant as it affects tissue healing and risks infection.
Unfortunately ready meals are not easy to find which are low carbohydrate as many are based on high carb ingredients.
You can still make low carb meals with the minimal cooking, by using meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy, vegetables and salads.

 

[charlespgw]

Thank you so much for your reply. Certainly points the way to where I should be focussing.

 

[charlespgw]

Welcome @charlespgw 🙂 Reducing carbs will help your blood sugar. So avoid too much pasta, bread, potatoes, rice, etc and concentrate on plenty of green veg and protein. Can you give us an idea of a day’s food for you at the moment? And are you on any medication for the diabetes?

Thank you for your reply Inka. Shreddies with slice of toast (seeded batch) and marmalade for breakfast. Can of soup and 2 slices of seeded batch with cheese for lunch plus Muller corner. Evening meal - breaded chicken or fish, or Spag boll or pasta in a sauce with cheese on top. Ice cream often for desert. Not big into veg so usually have frozen peas or sweetcorn. Chips and potatoes occasionally. Have cut out sugar in coffee and on my cereal. Have stopped snacking on biscuits but wonder if nuts or fruit and nuts are OK. Am on per day - 4 x 500mg metformin, 1 x 100mg sitagliptin, 4 x 80mg Gliclazide.

 

[janw]

Oh dear. Breakfast cereals tend to be higher carbs alas, as is pasta, rice, anything breaded as bread is higher carbs too, tinned soup is high, ice cream in moderation as a treat, peas and sweetcorn are higher carbs too. Potatoes are high too. The only way to see if these foods make you have a spike is using a BG meter - test before the meal and test 2 hours after the first bite - you are looking for a rise of no more than 2 - 3 mmol, preferably the lower number.
Do not fret, there are alternatives for those which your body really objects too - cauliflower rice is good - I put my cauli in the blender, bag it up in 100g bags and pop it in the freezer - easy to cook up in the pan with butter when needed...and there is cauliflower mash, where you add cream cheese to the cooked cauli and blend together. You can buy konjac rice and noodles plus there is black soybean spaghetti - most cook faster than the "real" stuff, so there's a bonus, noodles from courgette is good with bolognese - but make it yourself, no jars or packets as they tend to be carb heavy - and you can can freeze half (or more) for another day. A slow cooker is good to have, pop the food in and leave it to cook all day, it can feel like someone has cooked for you when all you need do is serve up 🙂 Again, make double and freeze if you have the room in a freezer. Go for veggies that grow above ground. Wholemeal bread is best and look for the lowest carb per slice that you could eat. Eggs, chicken, turkey, fish and most butcher meats are 0 carbs, so use them as your basis for your meals throughout the day, include fats and proteins, keep your carbs low - but reduce these slowly - start with breakfasts and then move on to lunches, it is best to reduce slowly to avoid other issues.
Nuts are a good snack in moderation - for fruit look at berries as they have the lowest carbs, now and again have apple or pear with a 100% nut butter (no palm oil or anything else added), avoid bananas and tropical fruit except as the odd treat. Dried fruit is a no-no, too high. I'm sure others will pop in with other advice especially as you are on meds - I can't help with those, but you may find they need reducing in time, but work with your GP or DN for that aspect. Best of luck.

 

[Drummer]

It is a lot better value to buy meat and fish plain naked, and they are far lower in carbohydrate.
I use Lidl supermarkets and they have trays of two pieces of meat packs of chicken thighs - I put them into my huge freezer along with the packs of mixed vegetables. I do get fresh veges, but they would need preparing unless you got the stir fry packs which are a little more expensive but still good value.
We have had to revise our spending due to the price of energy at the moment, but eating low carb is not all that expensive if you chose carefully.
I sometimes buy the big packs when on offer, open them and freeze the individual pieces then store them in plastic boxes separated by sheets of card or paper

 

[Inka]

Thank you for your reply Inka. Shreddies with slice of toast (seeded batch) and marmalade for breakfast. Can of soup and 2 slices of seeded batch with cheese for lunch plus Muller corner. Evening meal - breaded chicken or fish, or Spag boll or pasta in a sauce with cheese on top. Ice cream often for desert. Not big into veg so usually have frozen peas or sweetcorn. Chips and potatoes occasionally. Have cut out sugar in coffee and on my cereal. Have stopped snacking on biscuits but wonder if nuts or fruit and nuts are OK. Am on per day - 4 x 500mg metformin, 1 x 100mg sitagliptin, 4 x 80mg Gliclazide.

Ok, well there’s good news here then @charlespgw What you’ve described above is a day with a fair few carbs. If you reduce those carbs, you should improve your HbA1C and be able to have your operation. You’re starting from a place with lots of carbs so some sustained changes (reducing the carbs) will give you a good result.

As you’re on Gliclazide, you don’t want to cut the carbs right out because you might have a hypo. I’d reduce them gradually. Do you have a blood glucose meter?

 

[goodybags]

Thank you for your reply Inka. Shreddies with slice of toast (seeded batch) and marmalade for breakfast. Can of soup and 2 slices of seeded batch with cheese for lunch plus Muller corner. Evening meal - breaded chicken or fish, or Spag boll or pasta in a sauce with cheese on top. Ice cream often for desert. Not big into veg so usually have frozen peas or sweetcorn. Chips and potatoes occasionally. Have cut out sugar in coffee and on my cereal. Have stopped snacking on biscuits but wonder if nuts or fruit and nuts are OK. Am on per day - 4 x 500mg metformin, 1 x 100mg sitagliptin, 4 x 80mg Gliclazide.

Hi there @charlespgw,
looking at what you say you’ve been eating it’s quite high in carbs for a T2,and it’s the excessive carbs that spike our BS levels.
As far as low carb ready meals I’m not so sure theres many,
but if you have a freezer I’m sure you can adapt to more suitable for a Diabetic wanting to reduce their HbA1c
Are you currently self testing?

 

[Annette&Bert]

none of the supermarket ready meals are low carb, quite the opposite. They all tend to say things like “low fat”, “glutten free” t but beware because low fat or fat free usually mean high carb!

 

[Lucyr]

none of the supermarket ready meals are low carb, quite the opposite. They all tend to say things like “low fat”, “glutten free” t but beware because low fat or fat free usually mean high carb!

That’s a heck of an over simplification.

Take my favourite ready meal, I don’t have it that often but it’s my favourite when i need one. Tesco low fat, calorie controlled cottage pie. The main base ingredient is lean beef mince and the topping is a mash made with potato, carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash and milk. Obviously there’s other ingredients but it’s stuff you’d have in the kitchen.

Nutritional info 237 calories, 27g carb, 5g fat. You can’t say that is not low carb, it easily fits into a low carb diet of under 130g per day.

The non low fat version nutritional info is 303 calories, 39g carb, 8g fat. So 45% more carbs.

The main difference is the low fat one has veg in the mash and the normal one is just potato in the mash. Not all low fat foods are higher in carb! Many are similar or lower.

 

[Annette&Bert]

by your own admission you’re not having it every day!

 

[Lucyr]

by your own admission you’re not having it every day!

I would have no problems having it every day though, even if I was on a low carb diet, it would fit into 130g carbs easily. Normally have it with veg on the side.

 

[Annette&Bert]

Good on you, it sounds lovely.

 

[rebrascora]

I am really impressed with the ingredients list on that ready meal @Lucyr. No sign of any additives or preservatives or colours or E numbers. Quite refreshing to see a product which just contains recognizable food items and nothing else. Find it almost unbelievable in fact.... no thickening agents mentioned which is something you would use if you were making it at home ie flour. Might look out for that next time I am in Tesco's as something to have as an occasional treat. I would be adulterating it with a good layer of grated cheese topping of course.

 

[Lucyr]

I am really impressed with the ingredients list on that ready meal @Lucyr. No sign of any additives or preservatives or colours or E numbers. Quite refreshing to see a product which just contains recognizable food items and nothing else. Find it almost unbelievable in fact.... no thickening agents mentioned which is something you would use if you were making it at home ie flour. Might look out for that next time I am in Tesco's as something to have as an occasional treat. I would be adulterating it with a good layer of grated cheese topping of course.

The ingredients list is a bit longer than the screenshot and there is I think flour and sugar in it, but they’re way down the bottom. It’s often £1 but if not at £1.20 it’s an easy thing to pick up when you’re unwell / busy / etc. For people like the original poster who is looking for a ready meal for a night off from cooking, I don’t think it’s a bad choice. They’re in the freezer section.