The “allowable foods” food lists for the Lyme Inflammation Diet’s earlier Phases are rather limited. To my mom’s great credit, the recipes are rather diverse given the short list. But there is a lot of cross over in some of the ingredients and how they will be prepared, including preparing cooked vegetables ahead of time, which we’ll use to our benefit to save time.

• Step 1. Review your meal plan and review the ingredients and preparation techniques for the each recipe you’ll be making this week. You’ll notice repetition. For instance, sauteed onions and garlic and shallots and garlic are called for in multiple recipes. We will use this for our example in this post.

• Step 2. Estimate how many onions, shallots and cloves of garlic you’ll need. This is a job for your food processor, which is one of my best friends in the kitchen. (If you don’t have one, a friend for family member may have one that’s collecting dust. Send out some emails and see if you can borrow one if you’re not in the position to purchase one.)

• Step 3. Add the peeled garlic to the bowl of the food processor and chop. Add the peeled onions and pulse until they are chopped. Cook the mixture in the allowable fat of your choice. Remove the mixture and saute as instructed in the recipe. Repeat the entire process with the peeled shallots.I have an electric skillet that is rather large which allows me to saute both mixtures at the same time (see photo). Cooking both at once saves me time. Consider this strategy if you have an electric skillet or very large fry pan.

Preparing Cooked Vegetables – Store and Label in Refrigerator

• Step 4. Once complete put each mixture in a labeled container and store it in the refrigerator. When you start Phase 1 any recipe that calls for cooked onions or shallots and garlic (and many do) you won’t have to concern yourself with peeling, chopping and cooking, which is a real time saver.

We suggest that you do this with other vegetables while you already have the equipment out. Review the recipes to find out if it’d save you time to saute mushrooms, carrots, celery, etc. ahead of time. If yes, prepare these before starting a new phase and place them in a labeled container and store in the refrigerator or freezer until needed.

This is a method you’ll want to implement in any phase of the diet. It’s a great habit to get into and is something you can do over the weekend or on a day off. This will save you some steps when making recipes on days when time is not on your side.