Any T1s living in the Caribbean?
Hello! For the last 3 months I’ve been trying to eat more vegetarian-like. I’m a carnivorous vegetarian. Living in Canada, I am able to buy pre-prepared foods and frozen veg mixes liked riced sweet potato with cauliflower or a kale, squash, and quinoa mix. I have fibromyalgia, so I get really tired and cutting up vegetables is definitely not my thing.
So here I am, 6 days into my 3 month trip to Grenada and I could die for a Tim Horton’s chilli. Imagine that where we live is in the country, but about a generation or two back in time. My husband likes to cook, but he really doesn’t understand the idea of a plant-based, whole foods diet. Also, I’m a picky eater and I don’t like peppers, which is hubby’s main flavouring food.
I am too used to carb counting by looking at the nutrition label. Here, you might not even find a label with ingredients. I’m keen to eat organic, natural foods, but I don’t really know where to start.
I will have oatmeal for breakfast after my Fiber 1 from home runs out. Bananas tend to spike my BS, but usually have some homemade unsweetened juice on hand. In Canada, I usually have yogurt with berries and hemp seeds as well, but these items are either unavailable or ridiculously expensive. Grenada is a small island, so most foods have to be shipped in. Eggs are plentiful, as currently are cucumbers, limes, plantain, breadfruit, and guavas. I remembered today that I should get canned chick peas next time in town.
I need help putting together an easy tasty meal that is also inexpensive. Any and every input will be found stupendous!
The rum should be plentiful.
Frantastic, I guess you can make salads and have them with cheese or fish (if you eat fish). Pasta with sour cream and mushrooms (gently fry the mushrooms and stir in sour cream and any other veggie you fancy).
A couple of ideas for you.
Vegetable soups are easy to make and there are probably plenty of veggies there that you can use that you wouldn’t normally think of. Breadfruit can be baked or fried ( according to the internet). Fruit smoothies are filling and easy to make as long as you have a blender. Sweet potatoes appear to be common in Caribbean cuisine and you can just bake those at 425 degrees Fahrenheit until soft. Plantain are delicious pan fried in a little butter or oil and since they’re not sweet like bananas they shouldn’t be as terrible for your BG’s.
As for carb counting I would just go online and look up the nutritional info for each ingredient and go on that. Don’t forget that rice and beans are staples in most countries and should be cheap and easy.
Have you considered asking your neighbors to teach you how to make their favorite non meat dish, it will probably have peppers in it but you can often omit those and the recipe will still work. Good luck on your culinary adventure.
How do you do with beans? beans and limited rice?
Too plentiful! Hubby brews his own to barter for eggs, chicken and
whatever. Should I get him to throw in some veggies? 
Fran Selinger
selingerf@gmail.com
Yeah, I like the idea of building a salad with lots of goodies in it.
Thanks!
Fran Selinger
selingerf@gmail.com
Thanks for getting me to think about soups. Hubby has already made tomato,
squash and pea soup.
Lady up the hill has a breadfruit tree.
I love sweet potatoes. We don’t have an oven so they get boiled or steamed.
Plantain… yum.
I have a scale with a nutrient database and an internet connection, so I
make good use of those. Sometimes I have to do some research to find the
actual item because, for example, the names of fruits can be very
localized. The other day I wanted to look up golden apples, a little mango
shaped fruit with a prickly core. After finding lots of info on golden
delicious apples, I finally found the proper latin name and got my carb
count. We do rice and peas here. Thanks for that reminder too.
I don’t have the energy for cooking, but I can definitely help hubby with
new ideas. Maybe I’ll check the restaurant down the road.
Thanks Firenza!
Fran Selinger
selingerf@gmail.com
I like rice. I don’t think I have a problem with beans. Unfortunately, “beans” when I was growing up meant maple flavoured pork and beans. I need to educate myself. Pigeon peas are very common here. I don’t really know where to start with anything else. Canned beans would make it easier for me. Got any favourite recipes?
I’m not the one to ask - you would do better with an internet search. Once, while abroad, I ate nothing but white rice for every meal. I like it with milk, raisins/nuts, and sugar, for breakfast. Its pretty adaptable. I had to google pigeon peas. Maybe you could use them like chickpeas? Yea, theres an element of trust with your cook to eat beans and verify if the beans are prepared with meat.
Would you eat your rice breakfast cold or hot? Breakfast is the one meal where I don’t mind eating the same thing every time, but it’s nice to change it up once in a while.
Hot. Like, a hot, rice porridge with raisins and cinnamon and sugar. Delicious.
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