Knowing which foods are low FODMAP is one thing. Figuring out what to eat for breakfast, pack for lunch, and cook after a busy day can feel much harder.
A practical low FODMAP meal plan gives you a starting point: a few familiar breakfasts, simple meals that share ingredients, and a shopping list you can adjust to your appetite and schedule.
This seven-day example focuses on everyday foods, realistic leftovers, and optional pantry shortcuts. You can repeat meals, change the order of the days, and substitute foods you tolerate.
How to Use This Low FODMAP Meal Plan
The low-FODMAP approach temporarily reduces certain fermentable carbohydrates to help identify which foods contribute to IBS symptoms. It works best as a structured process that eventually expands your food choices.
Monash describes three stages: an initial low-FODMAP phase, reintroduction, and long-term personalization. The initial phase generally lasts 2–6 weeks, with progress reviewed before deciding what comes next.
Seven days can help you organize meals and practice checking portions. It does not establish all your food triggers or complete the full process.
If the food categories still feel unfamiliar, start with our low-FODMAP foods guide. Our guide to how long to follow a low-FODMAP diet explains why the restrictive stage needs an endpoint.
Portion Guidelines for the Sample Menu
A food can be low FODMAP at one serving size and contain more FODMAPs at a larger amount. Food type and processing also matter: rolled oats and quick oats, for example, have different serving guidance.
Use the following as starting portions for the meals below, then check the current food or product entry in the Monash FODMAP App:
- Rolled oats: 40 grams of dry, plain rolled oats for each oatmeal breakfast. Check quick or instant oats separately before substituting.
- Rice: About 1 cup cooked plain rice for a rice bowl or main meal. Adjust to your energy needs.
- Potatoes: One medium plain potato as a starting portion, with more or less according to appetite.
- Meat or fish: About 3–5 ounces cooked, plain chicken, turkey, or salmon at a main meal. These amounts are meal-building suggestions rather than FODMAP limits.
- Vegetables: Start with approximately 75 grams of each vegetable listed, weighed before cooking. A smaller handful of leafy greens also works. Check the exact variety and current serving guidance.
- Milk: About 1 cup plain lactose-free milk for an oatmeal breakfast. For plant-based alternatives, check the product ingredients, low-FODMAP serving, and calcium content.
- Fruit: The menu uses one orange or one green kiwifruit at a time. Check the serving guidance before changing fruit types or adding more.
- Packaged foods: Follow the tested serving for certified sauces and check the ingredients and serving information for yogurt, rice cakes, noodles, and pasta.
These meal ideas combine common low-FODMAP ingredients. Your tolerance, the portions you use, and the actual products you buy still matter.
A Flexible 7-Day Low FODMAP Meal Plan
Use the portion guidelines above for lunches and dinners unless a different amount is listed. Prepare foods with plain olive oil or a suitable commercially prepared garlic-infused oil, herbs, and seasonings that fit your current diet stage.
Snacks are optional examples. Add meals or snacks according to your appetite, and include enough calcium-rich foods and overall food throughout the day.
Day 1: Start With Familiar Staples
- Breakfast: Cook 40 grams of rolled oats with lactose-free milk. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon.
- Lunch: Make a chicken rice bowl with plain cooked chicken, cooked rice, carrots, and a handful of spinach.
- Dinner: Bake salmon and serve it with a potato and green beans.
- Optional snack: One orange with a serving of plain lactose-free yogurt.
Prep shortcut: Cook extra chicken and rice for tomorrow’s lunch. Refrigerate the portions promptly.
Day 2: Reuse Ingredients Without Repeating Every Meal
- Breakfast: Scramble two eggs and serve with a cooked potato and wilted spinach.
- Lunch: Turn yesterday’s chicken and rice into a bowl with lettuce and cucumber. Dress lightly with olive oil and lemon juice.
- Dinner: Shape plain ground turkey into a patty with dried herbs. Serve with rice, carrots, and green beans.
- Optional snack: One green kiwifruit and a glass of lactose-free milk.
Label check: Plain ground turkey is easier to assess than pre-seasoned patties, which may contain onion or garlic.
Day 3: Add a Simple Pasta Dinner
- Breakfast: Prepare overnight oats using 40 grams of rolled oats, lactose-free milk, cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon of plain peanut butter.
- Lunch: Make a potato and egg salad with two cooked eggs, a cooked potato, lettuce, and cucumber. Use olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs for dressing.
- Dinner: Serve about 1 cup cooked plain rice- or corn-based pasta with cooked ground turkey and a tested serving of low-FODMAP marinara. Add spinach on the side.
- Optional snack: One orange with plain lactose-free yogurt.
Label check: Gluten-free pasta varies. Check the flour blend and added ingredients instead of assuming every gluten-free product has the same FODMAP content.
Day 4: Make Soup Work for a Busy Week
- Breakfast: Serve two eggs over cooked rice with wilted spinach.
- Lunch: Combine plain canned salmon with a cooked potato, cucumber, and lettuce. Add a little olive oil and lemon juice.
- Dinner: Make chicken noodle soup with plain chicken, about 1 cup cooked rice noodles, carrots, and bok choy. Use a verified low-FODMAP broth at its specified serving, or water seasoned with herbs and salt.
- Optional snack: One green kiwifruit with plain lactose-free yogurt.
Prep shortcut: Set aside a portion of soup for Day 6. Refrigerate it promptly, or freeze it if your schedule changes.
Day 5: Keep Lunch Easy
- Breakfast: Repeat the oatmeal breakfast from Day 1.
- Lunch: Make a turkey rice bowl with cooked turkey, rice, lettuce, and cucumber.
- Dinner: Bake salmon with a potato and carrots. Serve with spinach.
- Optional snack: Two plain rice cakes with 1 tablespoon of plain peanut butter. Have an orange at another eating occasion if desired.
Prep shortcut: Plain frozen salmon portions can make shopping and portioning easier. Check flavored or marinated versions separately.
Day 6: Use Your Prepared Meals
- Breakfast: Scramble two eggs with spinach and serve with a cooked potato.
- Lunch: Reheat the safely stored chicken noodle soup from Day 4. Add more suitable starch or protein if the portion is too small for your appetite.
- Dinner: Make chicken fried rice with cooked rice, plain chicken, one egg, carrots, and spinach. Season with ginger and a little salt.
- Optional snack: One green kiwifruit with plain lactose-free yogurt.
Flavor option: A suitable garlic-infused oil can add flavor without using garlic pieces. Check commercial sauces before adding them.
Day 7: Finish With Meals You Can Repeat
- Breakfast: Repeat the overnight oats with lactose-free milk and peanut butter.
- Lunch: Build a turkey rice bowl with lettuce, cucumber, and carrots. Use freshly cooked turkey or a portion you froze earlier in the week.
- Dinner: Cook a simple chicken, carrot, and bok choy skillet. Serve over rice.
- Optional snack: One orange with plain lactose-free yogurt.
Planning step: Choose two breakfasts and three main meals you would happily eat again. Those can become the starting point for your next shopping list.
A Shopping Framework for the Week
Build your shopping list around the meals you actually plan to eat. If you swap a dinner or repeat a lunch, update the list before buying ingredients.
1. Choose Your Proteins
- Eggs
- Plain chicken
- Plain ground turkey
- Plain salmon, fresh or frozen
- Plain canned salmon for an easy lunch
You can simplify the basket by using chicken in place of turkey. For vegetarian meals, drained firm tofu is a useful alternative; check its serving guidance and choose firm tofu rather than assuming silken tofu is equivalent.
2. Buy a Few Starches You Can Reuse
- Plain rolled oats
- Plain rice
- Potatoes
- Plain rice noodles
- A suitable rice- or corn-based pasta
- Plain rice cakes, if wanted for snacks
One bag of rice can cover several lunches and dinners. If noodles and pasta feel like extra shopping, replace those meals with rice bowls using suitable portions.
3. Pick Produce That Appears in Several Meals
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Cucumber
- Green beans
- Bok choy
- Oranges
- Green kiwifruit
- Lemons, if using them for dressing
Plain frozen vegetables can be convenient. Check mixed bags for onion, sauces, or vegetables that require different portion limits.
4. Include Dairy or Suitable Alternatives
- Plain lactose-free milk
- Plain lactose-free yogurt
- Suitable calcium-fortified alternatives if you avoid dairy
Lactose-free dairy still contains milk proteins, so it is not suitable for someone with a milk allergy. Plant-based products also vary: check both their ingredients and their calcium content.
5. Keep Flavoring Simple
- Plain olive oil
- A suitable commercial garlic-infused oil, if desired
- Cinnamon, ginger, and simple dried herbs
- Plain peanut butter
- A tested low-FODMAP marinara, if making the pasta dinner
- A suitable broth, if making soup
Before buying everything, count how many portions of each meal you need. Include planned leftovers, check what is already in your kitchen, and scale the list for your household.
For broader food options and shopping ideas, see Monash’s low-FODMAP shopping list.
Optional Products That Can Make Meal Planning Easier
Specialty products are optional. Ordinary supermarket foods can form the foundation of the week; a few convenient products may help with flavor, time, or organization.
Garlic-Infused Oil for Simple Cooking
A commercially prepared garlic-infused oil can add flavor to rice bowls, vegetables, and proteins. Fody describes its garlic-infused olive oil as certified low FODMAP. Check the bottle and current product information for the version you buy.
View Fody Garlic-Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil on Amazon.
Marinara for a Faster Pasta Dinner
A suitable ready-made sauce can reduce preparation time. Use the product’s tested serving and check the current label. You can also use olive oil and herbs if you prefer a simpler pasta dish.
Check Fody Marinara Pasta Sauce on Amazon.
Plain Rice Cups for Busy Days
Microwaveable rice can help when you have little time to cook. Choose a plain version and check the ingredients; seasoned varieties need a separate assessment. Cooking a batch of ordinary rice may cost less.
Browse the plain white rice option on Amazon.
A Cookbook for More Meal Ideas
If you want to expand beyond these basic meals, Monash University Low FODMAP: The Cookbook includes 120 recipes and guidance on the diet’s stages. Follow each recipe’s serving instructions when using it.
View the Monash University Low FODMAP cookbook on Amazon.
A Food and Symptom Journal
A journal can keep meals, portions, and symptoms in one place. A regular notebook, a phone note, or the diary in the Monash App can serve the same purpose.
View the food and symptom journal option on Amazon.
For food and portion checks, use the official Monash FODMAP App page, which links to the app stores.
Meal Prep Without Cooking Every Day
A short preparation session can cover several components. You do not need to assemble an entire week of meals at once.
- Choose the next few days’ meals. Decide which portions will stay refrigerated and which will be frozen.
- Cook a starch. Prepare rice or potatoes for upcoming meals.
- Prepare a protein. Cook plain chicken or turkey with simple herbs.
- Prepare vegetables. Wash lettuce, portion carrots, and keep suitable frozen vegetables available.
- Make one breakfast ahead. Prepare overnight oats for the following morning.
- Label leftovers. Include the preparation date so they are easier to use safely.
USDA advises refrigerating perishable leftovers within two hours, or within one hour when temperatures exceed 90°F. Use shallow containers for rapid cooling, keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, and use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days. Freeze portions intended for later in the week and reheat leftovers to 165°F.
Common Mistakes That Make the Plan Harder to Follow
Assuming Gluten-Free Means Low FODMAP
Gluten and FODMAPs are different. A gluten-free product may still contain high-FODMAP ingredients, while some foods containing gluten have suitable low-FODMAP portions.
Check the actual product rather than relying on the front label. If you have celiac disease, your gluten-avoidance requirements also need to be maintained.
Missing Ingredients in Sauces and Convenience Foods
Broths, seasoning blends, marinades, and snack products may contain onion, garlic, inulin, chicory root fiber, or certain sugar alcohols. Their suitability depends on the product and amount consumed.
Monash’s label-reading guidance can help you recognize ingredients that need closer attention. Tested, certified products can reduce uncertainty when used at their specified serving.
Eating Too Little or Removing Too Many Foods
A limited menu can become difficult to sustain if it leaves you hungry or removes entire food groups unnecessarily. Keep adequate starch, protein, suitable produce, and calcium-rich foods in your day.
Oats, appropriate fruit portions, and suitable vegetables can help preserve fiber intake. If increasing fiber causes discomfort, our guide to introducing fiber without bloating explains a gradual approach.
Worrying About Every Combination of Foods
Several suitable servings can usually be combined in a meal. Monash uses conservative green-light cutoffs to allow mixed meals.
If symptoms remain troublesome despite appropriate food choices, discuss portions and combinations with your dietitian. Monash’s explanation of FODMAP stacking emphasizes that you do not need to worry about it when symptoms are well controlled.
What to Track During the Week
Keep notes brief enough that you will actually use them:
- What you ate and the approximate portions
- Meal and snack times
- Abdominal pain, bloating, or urgency, including timing and severity
- Bowel movements and stool consistency
- Relevant changes in sleep, stress, or medication
Look for patterns across several days rather than deciding that one difficult afternoon proves a food is a permanent trigger. Bring the notes to your dietitian or healthcare professional.
Our guide to food and symptom journals for IBS can help you choose a tracking format.
What Happens After the Seven Days?
Review which meals were easy to prepare, whether you ate enough, and how your symptoms changed. Keep the practical habits that helped, such as planning lunches and checking unfamiliar products.
Seven days may be too short to assess the full response. Follow the review schedule agreed with your dietitian.
If symptoms improve during the initial phase, the next stage involves structured food challenges to identify tolerance. Our low-FODMAP reintroduction guide explains how that stage fits into the wider process.
If symptoms do not improve, discuss the result with your healthcare professional before restricting additional foods. The low-FODMAP approach does not help everyone with IBS.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Repeat Meals Instead of Cooking Something Different Every Day?
Yes. Repeating a breakfast or using dinner leftovers for lunch can reduce shopping and preparation. Keep some variety across the week, check portions, and store leftovers safely.
Is This an IBS Meal Plan for Both Constipation and Diarrhea?
The low-FODMAP approach may be considered for different IBS patterns, but individual needs vary. Fiber, hydration, medication, and other treatments may require separate attention. A dietitian can adapt the meals to your symptoms and nutritional needs.
Do I Need to Buy Low-FODMAP Branded Foods?
No. Plain rice, potatoes, eggs, unseasoned proteins, and suitable produce can form much of the menu. Specialty sauces and other products are optional shortcuts.
Can I Make the Menu Vegetarian?
Yes, with suitable substitutions. Drained firm tofu can replace some meat or fish, while eggs can be used if you eat them. Check portions and ingredients, and get help planning protein, iron, calcium, and other nutrients if your food choices are limited.
What If I Still Feel Bloated After a Low-FODMAP Meal?
Check the portion sizes and any sauces, seasonings, or added ingredients. FODMAPs are only one possible contributor to symptoms, so ongoing discomfort deserves a broader review rather than progressively cutting out more foods.
Blood in the stool, black tarry stools, or unexplained weight loss need medical assessment rather than management through a meal plan alone.
Make the Week Manageable
The most useful low FODMAP meal plan is one you can adapt to your life. Start with familiar ingredients, repeat meals when helpful, and use optional products only where they solve a practical problem.
With portion checks and professional guidance, this week can help you build a routine while working toward a more varied diet based on your individual tolerance.
Sources and Further Reading
- Monash University: Starting the FODMAP diet
- Monash University: Planning meals for the FODMAP diet
- Monash University: App and serving-size guidance
- Monash University: Oat types and FODMAP serving guidance
- Monash University: Tofu and FODMAPs
- Monash University: Low FODMAP cookbook
- Fody: Garlic-infused olive oil product information
- NIDDK: IBS diagnosis and symptoms requiring assessment