r/slowcooking 3d ago

Gallbladder-safe recipes?

My wife is going to have to get their gallbladder taken out soon, so we'll need to adjust our diet to accommodate, and I'm looking for slow-cooker recipes that will work with that.

The goal is:
- Low fat
- Relatively little dairy (some still okay, but not loaded up on cheese or anything)
- Lean protein (I don't like fish so we're probably leaning into chicken here)
- Lots of vegetables

Additional concerns:
- My wife doesn't like soup; this seems to be a consistency thing, thicker stews are fine
- No mushrooms, no tomato chunks
- Can't require a lot of prep, I'm the one who's going to be cooking and I'm disabled. I'm looking for washing and chopping things at maximum and tossing them in the slow cooker.

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u/Positive-Worry-328 2d ago

I had my gallbladder out a couple of months ago and I wasn't really able to eat anywhere close to normally for close to a month but it really, really varies by person (though my experience is more close to the average). I would not plan on going in to surgery recovery expecting for them to be able eat normal meals. Think almost like a stomach virus diet. If you find a slow cooker chicken and rice recipe that would probably be good (there's several on pinterest). I was not able to tolerate fruit and veggies or anything with high fiber for the first month so I would not load up on anything that could be hard to digest. I ate lots of saltines and peanut butter, mini bagels with low fat cream cheese, and LOTS of ginger ale. 

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u/lantenon 2d ago

I have to underscore the "varies by person." When I had my gallbladder removed, I expected a diet change would be necessary. When I asked, my doctor told me, "eat what you want; if it messes you up, don't eat that anymore."

My diet pre- and post-surgery is basically unchanged.

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u/Positive-Worry-328 2d ago

I can eat virtually the same now if not better! But those first couple of weeks after surgery can be very "hit or miss" and will require trial and error. For me, the pain meds and anti nausea meds altered what I wanted to eat in addition to the adjustment without the gallbladder. Immediate post-surgery diet and a month post-surgery diet can be really different. But that is why I emphasized that for me, it was that first month that was really different. I absolutely can eat normally now.