Hospital food pics!

[BastardMonkfish]

Anyone in hospital/been in hospital recently and has pictures of their meals? Let's compare!

Here's the roast dinner I was given when I was having DD last month. I couldn't cut the slices of beef with a knife and fork because I was breastfeeding and only had one arm free so I ate with my left hand

And of course, the obligatory tea and toast.

Had this several years ago when I was in for five days with preeclampsia. I hope the food has improved now.

They made me a cottage pie after I gave birth, I fucking inhaled it. It was absolutely gorgeous. I haven't had bad NHS food myself. (South East)

Breakfast on the ward after my c section. Plain bread, no toaster available for use. Can’t blame covid as it was the same 3 years ago when I had my first!

Not pictured is my post c section dinner, which was nothing as they’d run out of food 😂

In hospital five years ago with pneumonia so hardly ate the first two days.
After that I ordered a salad with ham and a jacket potato every day. It was fabulous, lots of variety and really fresh.
I lost 7 pounds but disappointed on the day I was discharged as I missed the ploughman's

No pictures but I stayed with my prem twins on a transitional ward for 10 days and they fed me so little I was utterly starving. One tiny pack of cornflakes and a even smaller plain croissant. I was breastfeeding and pumping for two babies and barely had any milk as I was so hungry. My mum started bringing in cooked meals for me.

I work in a hospital and there's always a queue of staff at the canteen. I find it funny when patients tell me that they aren't happy with their food when I am going to stand in a queue and pay £6 for the exact same meal.

The trollies that the meals come up in are heated and it can be a bit of a logistical challenge getting to each ward so they can be beside a warmer for quite some time so stick to hearty saucy meals. Avoid pasta bakes they are always dry by the time they get up and I love the fish and chips but patients often find it dry when it arrives. The soup is usually good. And if you are require halal anywhere in Scotland it will definitely be a microwave curry.

One little hospice I worked in got big serving trays delivered and I loved being able to serve up exactly what my patients wanted. On a Sunday morning we got a cooked breakfast sent up which was delicious...but NEVER eat the scrambled eggs.

@sausagepastapot

They made me a cottage pie after I gave birth, I fucking inhaled it. It was absolutely gorgeous. I haven't had bad NHS food myself. (South East)

I had a cottage pie too (south west). Absolutely incredible.

Just place marking as really enjoying looking at the photos for some strange reason

The food was really good when I was on having my son, I had jacket potato with cheese & beans for lunch and paneer curry & rice for dinner for 3 days running because I enjoyed it so much...I was gutted to get discharged just before dinner 😂

Early 2000s - I was in a side room for a week after having dd as she was in scbu. I had been sick/nauseous for the entire pregnancy and it suddenly vanished part way through labour. I LOVED the hospital food as had struggled to enjoy anything for so long. Felt a right fraud. Straightforward labour, felt better than I had done in months and basically sat around all day waiting for food and regularly rushing up to SCBU to feed dd every time the midwives got a call to say she seemed hungry (a lot!)
Also early 2000s, DH had a horrific car accident and didn’t eat for the 5 days he was in ICU. He is already slender and lost an awful lot of weight. Dietitian prescibed a 6000 calorie a day recovery diet (he had many injuries to recover from which apparently takes alot of calories. He had 3 cooked meals a day with sandwich/cake snacks in between. He was stuck in hospital for 8 weeks and said his daily food deliveries kept him sane (and well) He is unfussy but said he had no complaints. Fellow patients on the ward were envious because he had a fry up every morning and they got toast!

@lemonyfox

I'll join!

Some form of pudding/pie with chips peas and gravy, maternity ward. We are in the North West if it wasn't obvious 😂

Four chips?!?!

I was in as a day patient and got an egg & potato salad that was identical to a M&S one.
As an in patient I got a small baked potato. Just that. No butter, no garnish, no topping. Just a potato.

Last time I was in hospital, I made the mistake of asking for a jacket potato. Didn't really care what was on it. Could have been beans, cheese, tuna, whatever, I'm not fussy.

I got given exactly what I asked for. A potato.

The food has always been fine when I'v been in after my babies but on other wards it's been grim.

One lunch was a slice of ham (90% fat) and some brown lettuce. I couldn't eat it and the elderly lady opposite asked if I was in hospital with an eating disorder. I was actually 30 weeks pregnant and had to beg to go to the hospital restaurant I was so hungry.

Bloody love NHS tea and toast - very comforting.

I wouldn't mind if they expected a small payment in order to get better quality food or made it compulsory for every hospital to have an M & S food & the hospital got a cut of the profits.

@blissfulllife

Loads of choice too 😍

This menu is amazing! What kind of hospital has an actual menu! I'll have the carbonara with garlic bread for lunch, rice pudding for afters and the Cajun cream chicken for dinner please

Poached cod, steamed potatoes, carrots and herbal tea.

From the post-operative bowel surgery menu. Piping hot. It was really lovely.

I'm slightly envious of people who've been in hospital and well enough to eat.

I spent about 4-5 months in a few years ago (multiple admissions) and was mostly on nutrition drinks as I was too ill.

I was tipped up about asking for "finger food" - basically a box of chocolate bars and cake. I knew I was finally getting better when I managed to eat a kitkat.

I was admitted to hospital four years ago on an emergency basis for three weeks. The fact there is a menu and you get to choose what you want is something to be grateful for.

I loved porridge and prunes for breakfast. The trick is to go for the meals that don't sound fancy.

Also the hospital porter that bought me icecream, what a nice thing that was :)

When I was in with DD, the food was pretty good. The desserts were really old school British: jam roly poly, some sort of sponge floating in custard. I certainly didn't go hungry, even if some of the combos were a bit odd! And they came round with tea a few times a day.

Oh and we had a menu too, not as extensive as the one @blissfulllife had though! But you chose in the morning what you wanted for lunch and dinner.

Unfortunately, I’ve had loads of long NHS stays over last 8 years and always found it difficult to eat. Nothing to do with food as such. Most kitchen / serving staff have been lovely and tried to get me to eat.

Barnsley hospital, late December 1999. I slipped on the ice and broke my wrist. While I was sat on a bed in A&E waiting to be plastered up, I went really shakey, and someone decided I was going into shock and needed feeding (it was mid-morning and I hadn't had breakfast). They brought me the best hot buttered toast I've ever had in my life. The perfect colour, the perfect half melted butter, and the best, perfect strength mug of tea. I still remember it. A Michelin starred restaurant couldn't have done it better.

They meal staff are lovely.

I once, through a combination of storms and train delays ended up walking about three miles from a train station to the rehab hospital my grandma was in, in pouring down rain. (DM couldn't collect me after the delays, so the changed plan was that we'd both go to the hospital for visiting hours and she'd take me home from there). I got there at half five having not eaten since breakfast in my university city and looking like a drowned rat!

They gave me soup and a sandwich and cake and tea with all the elderly ladies, and found me a towel.