Ground meat during pureed stage?

Hello! I'm still 3 weeks away from the pureed food stage, but I'm starting to make a shopping list in preparation for it. Everything in my booklet is pretty straightforward.

One of the allowed foods is "extra lean ground meat". So it would seem I can eat that without having to puree it. I was wondering if anyone else was allowed ground meat during pureed, and how did you tolerate it? Did you have ground beef, turkey, chicken?

Any tips on how to prepare it so it's not too dry?

I was thinking of ground beef simmered in a marinara sauce. I'm also having visions of a sort of revised Big Mac in a Bowl- ground beef with onion and garlic powder, tossed with a bit of mustard, a bit of cheese, and drizzled with zero carb/calorie 1000 Island Dressing.

I'm kinda excited at the prospect of having ground meat, because I'm just not sure if I can bring myself to actually puree meat I figure I'll have to go slow with it, and not rush into ground meat when I start pureeds.

Oh, another question about cheese: for pureed, I'm allowed hard cheese, under 20% MF. Booklet says to avoid high fat cheese (over 20% MF). What kinds of cheese, if any, did you folks eat at about 4 weeks out? Other than ricotta and mozzarella, that is. Did you have a hard time tolerating high fat cheeses? I'm wondering if the advice in my booklet is based on known wls toleration, or if it's just the usual "low fat" diet advice.

For me at that stage ground meat was wayyyyy to much for me to handle. I was only able to do puréed tuna and canned chicken. My first puréed tuna was heaven that I didn't expect!

I never had issues with cheese. I had a harder time with low fat cheese, seemed it's harder to me.

Thanks, Mel. I can believe it tasted like heaven! I'm getting so tired of sweetened shakes & yogurt, and bland cottage cheese. Maybe in 3 weeks time I'll have no qualms about pureeing meat.

Canned chicken is something for me to look into. Interesting about the cheese. You're right I do think low fat cheeses often have less moisture, like low fat cheddar for example, unless they are naturally low fat.

Guelph wouldn't let me have any kind of red meat for 6 months. I cheated and ate some at 5 months, 3 weeks, lol.

Go to Eggface's website. There are lots of things to eat on the pureed stage. People love her Ricotta bake (think lasagna). How about some refried beans with melted cheese on top, maybe a splash of taco sauce. Zehrs has a turkey spinach meatball that is enormous (you would get a lot of meals out of it) in the hot prepared foods area, and it's super soft in texture. I had a few of those during the puree phase and didn't have any issues.

I don't blame you for "cheating", lol. I know we say it all the time, but it's so funny how different the advice is at the various centers in Ontario.

Ricotta bake is at the top of my list! That turkey spinach meatball sounds great, I'll have to investigate and see if Loblaws has something similar if not the exact same (no Zehrs in my neck of the woods).

Ground meat is not pureed. It has to be baby food texture during the pureed food stage (no lumps). Also they use very tough cuts of meat for ground beef. It is notoriously difficult for WLS peeps to digest early out of surgery.

As for cheese I eat full fat cheese. They add carbs to low fat cheese to give them flavor. Check the labels for carb counts. Fat in proper portions is a good thing, carbs... not so much.

Yes, I'm little surprised it's on the list for pureed, but it's listed as:

1. Pureed meat, chicken, turkey, fish
2. Extra lean ground meat
3. Pureed or mashed beans, lentils, other legumes. Etc.

So I figure it must be allowed as ground meat, not pureed. But I have my 1 week follow up tomorrow, so I'll check with them to make sure. Interesting to note that most find it difficult. I'll have to see, maybe I should give it miss.

I agree with you about fat vs carbs. I really want to keep my carbs down. I think I'll just go with the full fat cheeses. Thanks.

You do realize you'll be able to eat maybe one or two bites of whatever you cook. Your "vision" of a revised Big Mac in a bowl should probably wait a month or two. Raw onion on your new tummy can be a little much. Simple marinara should be fine. If it doesn't agree with you, you'll know soon enough. That's when you put it aside and try it again in a month.

You had MAJOR surgery. Your insides need time to heal so please be kind to it. Stick to the program - I promise it will go quickly and you'll be able to eat foods you can envision. soon.

Other cheeses in the soft or pureed is cottage cheese. You should be able to find fat free or low fat cottage cheese. I'm assuming you're eating yogurt.

Can't answer any questions related to "fat". I had the DS so fat for me is a good thing :)

Oh no, I didn't mean literally a bowl...I just meant that type of recipe, called Big Mac in a Bowl, but without the veggie trimmings (and of course a very small, appropriate portion). But it sounds like ground meat might not be such a good idea when I'm 4 weeks out, so at any rate maybe that will be something I put off until the future.

I'm definitely sticking to my program no matter what, just looking forward to eating something savoury when I finally get to pureed stage. Cottage cheese and greek yogurt, along with protein shakes, make up my "full fluids" diet currently. I'm allowed hard cheeses when I get to pureed. A bit of sharp cheddar or sliver of brie will be manna from heaven.

I never pureed anything. The thought of it just revolted me. I did have ground beef in a bit of gravy and chewed the crap out of it (pureed it in my mouth!). I didn't have any problems with it.

I also don't buy light cheeses - full fat.