Catering for people with diabetes does not require you to use special recipes. For residents with diabetes who are overweight, these suggestions about adapting recipes to be lower in fat and sugar may help with your catering plans.
Remember that reducing the fat and sugar content of recipes for most of your residents is not appropriate – check with the resident’s registered dietitian for specific advice.
- Grill, bake, poach, steam, microwave or boil foods rather than frying them or cooking with added fat.
- Use low fat dairy products where possible such as skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, reduced fat cheeses and low fat yogurts.
- Light crème fraiche is very similar to traditional soured cream. It is heat stable and is therefore ideal for use in savoury sauces. It is also delicious served on hot or cold puddings instead of double cream.
- Fromage frais is fresh skimmed cows’ milk cheese, but is more like a natural yogurt. It is not heat stable and is therefore best used in desserts and dips in place of cream or Greek yogurt.
- When you feel nothing but cream will do, spoon extra thick single cream onto fruit or puddings instead of double cream. Whip up whipping cream rather than double cream for filling cream buns or cakes.
- Try using stronger cheese for cooking. You'll find that you won't have to use so much to give it a cheesy flavour. Grated cheese tends to go further too.
- Recipes using a reduced amount of sugar will not keep as long as traditional recipes as sugar is a natural preservative. To avoid any wastage, freeze in portions that can be defrosted as needed – but check that the recipe is suitable for freezing first.
- You can experiment by reducing the added sugar in your baking recipes. Most cakes, for example sponge cake, will work even if the sugar in the recipe is cut by a half. Remember that they will not keep as long as a traditional recipe. Recipes such as fruit cakes, fruit scones or teabreads can be made without added sugar. They do not require sugar for bulk and the dried fruit will provide sweetness.
- Cold desserts such as fruit fool and foods that require no further cooking, eg custard, can be sweetened to taste with a liquid or granulated intense sweetener if necessary.
- Hot puddings, such as fruit pies, crumbles or bread pudding, can be sweetened with sugar if necessary but some fruit based puddings or puddings with added dried fruit will not require any sweetening at all.