Being a vegan with IBS is tricky at the best of times.
It’s all very well drooling over complicated Instagram recipes, but when I’m bloated as hell after an accidental bread bender I don’t want to traipse round 6 health food shops to find the best kind of matcha. I want easy staples with a few cheap ingredients that I can knock together in 20 minutes or less.
Here are my top 5 low fodmap vegan staples for when I’m having an IBS flare up.
1. Pinky purple porridge
Throw about a cup of your favourite milk substitute into a pan and about half a cup of oats then add a bunch of frozen berries. Raspberries make it pink and blueberries make it purple. Heat and stir until it just starts to bubble then you can either eat it as is or throw whatever fancy embellishments you want on top. Banana is also a good gooey addition to the porridge mix but usually I find I have eaten the banana before I get around to making the porridge so… You do you!
2. Sweet potato hero toast
Sweet potato toast is my favourite recent discovery.
Slice the sweet potato along the widest part about half a centimetre thick. I usually do 2 or 3 slices for one serving. Then just put it in the toaster for about twice as long as you would do toast. You can put whatever you want on top but my favourite is avocado and banana – a truly winning combo. I usually top that with chia seeds so it looks sexy and has an extra omega 3 boost.
Top tip: Sweet potatoes are hard little thugs and are difficult to chop in any shape let alone thin slices. I have found that the easiest way to do it is to chop the first slice so you have a flat sided potato then put that flat side on a chopping board and pushing down as you slide the knife along horizontally.
3. Pasta with not-cheesy sauce.
This is my emergency meal when I’ve got nothing in.
Boil yourself some gluten free pasta. My favourites are the red lentil and the pea ones they sell at Morrisons. Maybe throw in some frozen vegetables too if you want some extra nutrients?
While that’s boiling throw a handful of cashew nuts or almonds into a blender and cover them with your favourite milk alternative. Throw in half a block of tofu and a couple of tablespoons of nooch. Add salt and pepper to taste and whatever other seasoning you fancy. I like to add a bit of smoked paprika. Blitz all of that up and pour it over the pasta and veg when you’re ready.
Top tip: if you struggle with nuts try soaking them in water with a little bit of cider vinegar for 2 to 8 hours or overnight. It makes them a lot kinder on the stomach.
4. Baked potato with minty greens
Super simple, super cheap.
Grab yourself a potato (sweet or ordinary) and cover it with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Then you have two options here. If you are in a rush/ very hungry, prong it thoroughly and stick it in the microwave for 7 minutes. Once it’s done it’s well worth throwing it the oven for another 20 minutes (on about 200°C or 180°C for a fan oven) so it gets all nice and crispy.
If you have an abundance of time then you can skip the microwave and put it straight in the oven and just leave it there for an hour and a half to two hours. The longer you leave it the more wonderfully soft on the inside and crispy on the outside it gets.
You can put whatever you want on top of this potato but my favourite thing to do is boil some frozen green veg with mint to have on the side and grate a hell of a lot of vegan cheese onto the potato (we all have our vices) my favourite cheese to use is Violife. You will often find me nibbling on the slices just as they are (sue me).
5. Chicken noodle soup
This is my dad’s recipe which has been adapted with love by him every time I’ve cut something out of my diet! Now I am adapting it yet again so it can be low fodmap and so you can all enjoy it too.
If I feel a cold coming on I usually make a huge batch of it and keep it in the fridge for longer than is sanitary.
Boil about a litre of water and stick it on a big pot with about a tablespoon of chicken broth (I use Osem chicken flavour which is actually not low fodmap so have a look at the ingredients and make up your own mind. It has never given me any problems – probably because it’s such small quantities).
Add your choice of mock chicken pieces (I find vegan Quorn to be the kindest on my stomach) and once there nearly cooked add some veg.
My choice of veg is mushroom, courgette,
Carrot, peas, and mange tout. But do whatever is going to be kindest on your stomach (I know mushrooms and peas are a problem for a lot of people).
Chop all the veg into roughly even sized pieces and throw it into your pot for a little bit before adding a few nests of dry rice noodles.
Once everything is cooked season to taste and guzzle it down!
I hope you like these recipes. Feel free to adjust them to work best for your tummy. It’s taken me a long time to work out what works for mine and I’m still learning! But it’s worth it to not be a walking gas bag.
Related: I Tried Low FODMAP Diet For Bloating & Pain, And It Changed My Life
How To Turn Eating By Yourself Into A Wellness Practice
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Photo: Kitty Louise
