for think this is an odd choice?(hospital food related)

[Samcro]

so dh was in hospital , he was overnight them home next day. so we were glad he was fed.
but one of the choices was so random
Shepherds pie, with a choice of mashed potato, or baked potato.
now we got a bit confused...
shepherds pie has mash. so did they mean mince with a choice of mash or baked?
he came home so never had the meal.
any one know?

The food in my local Hospital is excellent for patients and staff. Their canteen is chockablock with visitors.

At my local trust, food is generally ok, and there is a fair amount of choice, IF you happen to be at the end of the ward where they start first. Someone goes around asking what people would like, and cross things off as they go. So of course when you get to the end, there is a very limited choice and you can end up with random stuff.

I spent 10 days in hospital due to complications linked to gallstones. I'd been told previously to stick to a virtually fat-free diet, which was easier said than done! Nothing on the menu was marked as low fat, I asked for a tuna sandwich and got tuna mayonnaise, yoghurts were full fat, in the end a HCA took pity on me and arranged for me to have plain chicken or fish with plain potatoes and vegetables, and a lovely fruit salad for dessert, but it took 9 days!

Had my tonsils out when I was 13 - in the Heath in Cardiff, so major hospital that you'd think would be able to provide a reasonable standard of. I guess I must have had what the last person had chosen and it was inedible. I think it was fish and veg in a sauce, but it actually tasted like vomit.

My dm ended up in hospital a few years ago. Her db turned up with a flask of hot water, a bunch of local asparagus and a pat of butter. Proceeded to cook the asparagus in the flask then popped butter on the top. Bloody amazing. Only he would think to do that.

On the other hand, I remember eating cold porridge after ds1s birth thinking it was amazing......... so hungry.......

My mother is a trial at the best of times, but I think she drove them mad in hospital when it came to meal times. I was there with her once when they brought dinner. She didn't like the look of it, so asked for the kosher meal was. On being told that it was fish pie, she said "Oh no, I don't fancy that either. Can you bring me a ham sandwich?"

I've never seen anyone's face say WTF more than that nurse's.

Ive just been in for a week and the food was brilliant. If anything, there was too much of it. And i didnt like the way you had to order for the day the minute you opened your eyes.

Their curries were out of this world.

Try being vegetarian in hospital, it's enough to make you weep.

Try being vegetarian in hospital, it's enough to make you weep.

Yeah, in mine, you get no choice. Some times I just had the pudding because the main looked awful.

The longest period I ever spent in hospital was on a psych ward, and the food wasn't an issue at all. I actually liked it most of the time. There was a chicken salad on the menu quite often, which I remember quite fondly: a proper grilled chicken breast and a large plate of fresh vegetable and nice dressing. We also had access to a little kitchen, where we could keep things in a fridge, had the use of a microwave and a toaster, and unlimited tea and coffee.

Our hospital seems to be decent with feeding you in general. When I've had to go in late at night, or have for other reasons missed the meals, they have always found a sandwich and snacks. The only time I've had a seriously weird portion it was something the previous patient had ordered, and really just a very odd combination of things swimming in gravy that had no business being in gravy. I was hungry, though, and ate most of it.

To pps saying there will be gluten free options, there probably would have been if I had been allowed to order from the main menu, but I was specifically given the diabetic menu for some reason. I did query it obviously, but was told that was all I could choose from. The only thing I could order was a plain jacket potato. Literally that was it. There was nothing I could have for breakfast. It was miserable. Failing to breast feed, getting zero sleep due to my own and everyone else's babies crying all night, and no food to top it off.

This was 7 years ago though, so I hope it's improved since then.

When I was in after having Dd I got given what the previous occupant of the bed had ordered for lunch - chickpea and vegetable curry with a jacket potato, pasta salad and scrambled egg.

The food was rank when I was in. I imagine the on site costa and M&S did amazingly well if my spending was anything to go by. I didn’t really eat the main meals as they tended to look like someone had vomited on the plate. I did eat a lot of white bread and mini cheddars though but quickly realised I’d be buying my own food rather than relying on the hospital meals. It must be so depressing for people in long term that can’t afford to supplement.

That sounds a pretty normal hospital meal, op. I'm a frequent flyer and the number of times I've been given carbs with carbs (often with no veg)

Being veggie can be so difficult. I've been offered fish quite a lot, told there's nothing at all, looked at like I was being a PITA, but thankfully sometimes looked after really well by people who care and have brought me fruit and toast when I'd had nothing all day.

Really does vary between hospitals - my local is much better than the large city one I was under before. Some of the curries are really nice and they do always seem to have a reasonable veggie option, though it is very cheese heavy and very salty.

My DF ordered a beef salad once which was fine but when it arrived it had gravy poured all over it . In my experience the trolley meals are awful but the canteens are generally better. After salad-gate we used to get DF a takeaway from the canteen.

DH has fond memories of waking up in a French hospital after getting his collarbone fixed and being greeted with coq au vin accompanied by a small bottle of wine followed by creme brulee

My Swiss DH's granda got meals on wheels. We were at his house one lunchtime when it arrived and the guy said to him that he'd noticed he wasn't eating the dessert, so would he like them to switch it for a glass of wine? This is how we should all be spending our old age

I bloody love hospital food but my local.hospital is amazing... the pasta and meatballs is lush but the puddings are amazing! Proper stodge! When I had ds2 i had a really quick water birth so just stayed in birthing suite. I got tea and toast (freezing cold buttered white toast but tastes amazing after Labour! Must be something in the gas and air!). It was also lunch time so i got pasta and meatballs and rhubarb crumble and custard. Was lush! DH had my dinner as i was wanting a big mac on the way home... had it at midnight with a glass of wine to celebrate the homecoming of ds2! Those puddings tho... amazing

My friend ordered a baked potato with cheese in hospital... it came with a side of boiled potatoes!

The oddest hospital meal I had was an omelette smothered in gravy. I ordered the omelette as I thought it would be a safe bet.

Needless to say I did not eat the omelette/gravy combo.

Hospital and food allergies does not mix well at all when it comes to food.
my son had to have two major operations, he has multiple food allergies has had quite a few episodes of anaphylaxis, and has to be very careful about what he eats , obviously.
The hospital he was in was 2 hours drive away so it was difficult for us to bring him meals, so we often stopped and brought chips or other safe junk food for him.
our issues:
language barrier trying to explain allergy list.
no allergy menu
no way of written communication with kitchen, e.g list of allergens
daily menu when every meal contained his food allergens (ended up with mashed potato, just that on a plate)
unsafe meals arriving for him.

I ended up walking down to canteen for him and seeing that staff and visitors could ask for an allergen menu and get safe food.
I talked to the manager, but communication failed and things carried on being same.

other issues, son has auto injector , he explained his daily medication and his emergency meds and was asked ' can you administer it your self if you need it'?
bare in mind he was on morphine, a drain etc and couldn't move to reach his auto injector , he said no.
Cue quick nurse conflab and I simply pointed to their crash cart.
Ended well when I did a quick refresher on auto injector use to group of interested staff and one had seen one before. was confident they could recognise anaphylaxis in end, but still a bit stressful.
son survived on quavers, bananas and food we brought on way.

The second op came up and I used twitter to contact the catering company owner, and son was moved to a private room and chef in private ward kitchen cooked his meals. He had a wonderful choice of food or was asked what he fancied by the chef!
so it all ended well, after a lot of stress.
He recovered quicker after the second operation as well.

The best place to be in hospital is a CF (cystic fibrosis) ward.
They'll give you anything they possibly can to build you up and get you to eat.

I spent a week living on ice cream after oral surgery as the soft options were mostly mashed potato related (nonstarter - makes me gag), and the soups were watery and didn't seem to have much in them.

I would have killed for some pureed carrot or something like that. It got to the point where they stopped bothering to give me the menu and arranged for me to have extra servings of icecream.

Just think yourself lucky you were not in a Russian hospital, you don't get shepherd's pie at all. Nor a choice of potato. Just potato.
I always think the food in hospital is nice, when I was in it was nice fish and sauce and peas. Mind you, I like food am not fussy so long as there is no CELERY.