Prepping To Start The Autoimmune Protocol Diet – Meal Prep & shopping list of allowed foods to begin the AIP Diet – recipes and meal ideas for beginners.  

Prepping To Start The Autoimmune Protocol Diet

On Monday I will be starting my journey on the Autoimmune Protocol Diet (or AIP Diet). I plan to write this post in real time as I shop for food and prep meals to begin the strict elimination diet. 

I’ve been pinning recipes that I plan to make on my AIP  board on Pintrest. And, now that I’m only days away from beginning, I’ve been going through the recipe collection, deciding which recipes to start with. 

The First AIP Grocery Haul

It’s Friday and I just returned home from ALDI and this is what I got: 

• Sweet Potatoes – on my shopping list I wrote “all the sweet potatoes” as I plan to enjoy them in a daily breakfast hash, soup, roasted, in pancakes and in loads of other AIP friendly ways. 
• Parsnip – to enjoy in parsnip mash, soup and in maple roasted parsnip chips, an old favourite I haven’t made in a while. 
• Ginger – this one of the ALDI weekly specials – only 39 cents for the bag that I plan to use to flavour meals and in ginger and honey tea. 
• Turmeric – to flavour meals and enjoy in golden milk. 
• Lime – for dressings, marinades and salads
• Dates – to enjoy for snacking – be sure to read nutritional panels when buying dried fruit as most of the other varieties of dried fruits contained preservatives, sugars and other non AIP compliant ingredients. 
• Kombucha – it is possible to make your own kombucha, I was just excited to find a ready made bottle at ALDI, so I thought it was worth giving a try. 
• Coconut Oil – to be used in cooking, along with olive oil or avocado oil. (Which I already have.) 
• Coconut Flour – an AIP compliant flour that’s great as a binding agent. 

AIP Diet Food List

In addition to the above grocery haul, here are the items I already have in my kitchen or I’ll be shopping for this weekend: 

• Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Turkey – mince, bones & various cuts to enjoy in meals
• Salmon, Sardines & Tuna
• Vegetables – Carrots, Beetroot, Onion, Garlic, Leek, Broccoli, Spinach, Kale, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Cucumber, Avocado, Pumpkin, Butternut Squash, Bok Choy, Cabbage, Lettuce
• Herbs – sage, thyme, mint 
• Frozen & Fresh Fruit – Lemons, Oranges, Berries, Bananas, Apples, Kiwi, Mango, Grapes, Watermelon
• Coconut Milk – read the nutrition panel carefully as many brands include gums, thickeners and other Non-AIP friendly ingredients. 
• Coconut Aminos 
• Nutritional Yeast – if it agrees with you
• Flours – cassava, tapioca, tigernut, arrowroot
• Gelatin (where to find gelatin)
• Carob powder (AIP Diet friendly chocolate alternative) 
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Honey, Maple Syrup

AIP Diet Recipes For Beginners

When starting out, it’s best to keep it simple and start with the basics. Here’s what I’ll be making over the weekend to set myself up for success on Monday:

• Stock/Broth – having a pot full of stock or bone broth will make it easy to make soups. I like making my stock with chicken drumsticks, it’s quick and easy. 
• Soup – once you have your stock/broth base, you can either use it straight away in a soup or prep veggies to easily make a fresh pot of soup for meals. 
• Sauce Options – think about what you want to enjoy as a sauce on the side of your meals and prep a jar (or two) of AIP friendly sauce options like Nomato Sauce (tomato free tomtato sauce) or an AIP pesto by blending greens, olive oil, salt, nutritional yeast and garlic together. 
• Embrace leftovers – for dinners prepare meals with enough leftovers that you can enjoy them for days as dinners or lunches on the go. 
• Yoghurt – it’s possible to make an AIP compliant yoghurt using coconut milk, a couple of probiotic capsules and tapioca, arrowroot powder or gelatin. It takes a day or so to make, so it’s worth preparing a batch before starting so it’s ready when you want it. 
• Breakfast Hash – experiment with different combinations of vegetables, herbs and breakfast meats
• Lunch Salads – prepare easy lunches with a serve of greens, avocado, tuna, smoked salmon or whatever leftovers are lurking in your fridge. 
• Easy Dinners – Autoimmune Protocol Diet Dinners really don’t have to be complicated – some easy options include beef stew, burgers in a lettuce bun, egg roll in a bowl, cottage pie, honey garlic salmon or another combination of AIP Diet friendly foods. 
• Sweet treats – if you’re craving something sweet, the easiest solution is to make a smoothie by blending together some fruit and coconut milk. Use fresh and frozen fruit for a chilled sweet treat. You could even pour some of the smoothie into an ice lolly/Popsicle Mold, then freeze for a few hours for a frozen sweet treat. Another option is using gelatin to make sweet gummies or panna cotta. 

AIP Meal Prepping For Day 1

In my own instance, here’s what I made over the weekend in preparation for starting the diet: 

• Coconut Milk Yoghurt – it was my first time making coconut milk yoghurt and I roughly followed this recipe for making coconut yoghurt with a can of coconut milk, tapioca flour and probiotic capsules. 
• Chicken Stock – I had planned to make chicken stock with drumsticks but my store was out of free range drumsticks, so I made it with a whole chicken instead. I simply fried an onion and a couple of garlic cloves in coconut oil, added the whole chicken, browned it briefly on both sides then covered it with water, a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and salt. Then, I let the stock bubble away for a couple of hours until the chicken was falling off the bones. Once the stock was ready, I strained it and ended up with a saucepan of ready to use stock and a container full of cooked chicken, ready to use in easy dishes. 
• Roasted Veggies – I had planned to roast a tray full of veggis and having a container full of ready made veggies for snacks or for having as a veggie on the side of meals. I just didn’t have the time and looking at my meals for the first few days I feel like I just may not need them as much as I had thought. 
• Broccoli Pesto – another recipe I had planned to make before starting but may just make on day one or when I need it instead. Broccoli pesto can be mixed through soups, cooked with leftover chicken for chicken pesto dish, to have with greens in a simple salad or with zucchini noodles/zoodles. 

Read about my day 1 experience here. 

In the coming weeks and months I’ll be sharing my experience as I start the Autoimmune Protocol Diet, meals and recipes I enjoy and my overall experience. 

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Disclaimer – this post is meant for informational post only and should not be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your health professional before making any dietary changes.

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