Histamine Intolerance: A Guide to Prepping, Cooking, and Storing Food and Leftovers Safely

Properly preparing foods is a key component of keeping histamine levels at bay with histamine intolerance. However, food prep with histamine intolerance can be tricky if you are new to low-histamine cooking. Some common food prep and cooking mistakes not only can increase histamine levels of your food, but also increase the risk of foodborne illness.

Prepping Food

The first step is to temporarily avoid foods that are naturally high in histamines. You also want to avoid certain cooking methods that can increase histamine levels, too. High-heat cooking methods, such as grilling, frying, and boiling can increase the histamine content of your food. Long cooking times, such as using a crockpot, and fermentation can also increase histamine levels.

Storing Leftovers

Leftovers are convenient, however, storing food for too long increases histamine content. This happens because histamine-producing bacteria can multiply in your food and make more histamine as time passes. This can explain why you may be feeling fine after eating something one day but experience symptoms from it the next day. Though not everyone with histamine intolerance reacts to leftover foods, many do. The longer the leftover foods sit in the fridge, the more likely to cause a problem.

Food Prep Methods to Avoid

Here are the top food prep methods to avoid with histamine intolerance:

• Deep-frying

• Frying

• Grilling

• Roasting

• Broiling

• Boiling

• Using your crockpot

• Fermenting food

Food Prep Methods to Choose

• Instant Pot: The instant pot decreases cooking time, which means that it also reduces the risk of histamine buildup. It is a great and quicker alternative to a crock pot. It also cuts down on preparation, cooking, and cleanup time. You can also cook just about anything in your instant pot, including vegetables, stews, meat, sautees, soups, broth, and more.

• Air Fryer: Air frying is a convenient and fast cooking method for histamine intolerance. Don’t let the name fool you; instead of frying, it uses hot air. The hot air circulates at high speed to create a crispy layer and similar results to frying. It is actually faster than frying, and it also spreads heat more evenly.  The air fryer is a great option for making vegetable fries and french fries, but you can also make meat, hash browns, falafel, kale chips, fish…etc  

• Sautee: Sauteeing food with a little oil is a great way to quickly and safely cook food with histamine intolerance. I like to use non toxic pans such as the ones from Caraway or Our Place.

• Oven: Cooking food in the oven is another great option for prepping meals safely. I like to cut up my ingredients and spread them out on a baking sheet with a little drizzle of avocado oil to make meal prep easy!

Preparing Legumes

I recommend avoiding canned foods with histamine intolerance. Soaking and cooking legumes from scratch may help reduce histamine levels compared to consuming canned legumes, which could contain higher histamine levels due to processing and storage

To cook beans, the night before, rinse them off then place them in a container. Next, cover them with warm water, put a lid on the container and let them rest overnight (for 7-24 hours). The next day, rinse them off then cook them in an instant pot or in a pan on the stove with an equal amount of water. I like to make more than the recipe I’m going to make calls for so I can put the extra legumes in a container and freeze them. I recommend freezing them in individual portion sizes to make it easier when it’s time to cook!

Invest in Good Storage Containers

Make sure that you have quality, sturdy, airtight containers. Using airtight containers can help keep food fresh. Choose glass containers over plastic containers and silicone ziplock bags over plastic bags to avoid toxins. Avoiding toxins with histamine tolerance is really important!

Freezing Your Meals

Freezing extra food is the best way to save time with histamine intolerance. Storing food in the refrigerator builds up histamine quickly, whereas storing leftovers in the freezer stays safe for much longer (for up to 3 months). When making meals that freeze well, such as soups, I like to make extra and store them in a freezer safe container.

When purchasing meat or fish, freeze each portion individually and defrost it when ready to cook.

Storing Leftovers Safely

I recommend only storing ingredients in the fridge for a couple of days max. (However, some people are highly sensitive and may not do well with 2 days and should avoid leftovers altogether).

Tips for storing food safely

1. After cooking, allow food to completely cool before storing it in an airtight shallow container and putting it in the fridge.

2. Don’t let food sit out at room temperature for longer than 2 hours

3. Add a piece of masking tape to the lid to mark the date it was prepared - this way you can be sure they’re eaten or tossed within a couple of days

4. Set the refrigerator temperature to 36-38 degrees.

5. Avoid overfilling your refrigerator, because it prevents cool air from circulating around food.

6. Reheat leftovers on the stove, in the oven or in the microwave until the food is nice and hot, with an internal temperature of at least 75 degrees.

Check-in with Your Body

it's important for individuals to experiment with different approaches and adjust them based on their own tolerance levels and dietary preferences. Additionally, consulting with a healthcare professional or a registered dietitian knowledgeable about histamine intolerance can provide personalized guidance and support.

Need help navigating a low histamine diet? Reach out!