Chemotherapy meal ideas

[mealideas2024]

Not sure if this is the best place so feel free to suggest it being moved.

My SIL is undergoing chemotherapy and I'm looking for some 'meals on wheels' ideas. She is quite a foodie, but has been told that the medication will make her quite nauseous and have a lack of an appetite. She also has been told to keep an eye on her iron intake.

I was thinking soups are quite a good one? Maybe things like cottage pie? Is there anything to be avoided or anything that is a good way to pack in a lot of calories? She's already quite little and I don't want her losing a lot of weight!

I do know from talking to my friend on chemo that everything must be very well cooked.

That's for meat and also for veg too (so nothing that is just 'lightly steamed').

It's also extra, extra important to make sure everything is prepared in a way that reduces any potential germs or bugs so I would give the kitchen surfaces and whatever an additional clean with something like dettol wipes before prepping.

Also avoid seafood and soft cheeses.

Basically similar to preggo guidelines but with well cooked veg.

Thank you for your reply! That's good to know.

My dad had chemo last year, lost his appetite quite a bit and had a very dry mouth, and found things like jelly, rice pudding, trifles, mousses, soups good, also to try and keep his calorie intake up the little milkshake things with 300 calories and vitamins in we're good, also can't remember who told him, but taking a vitamin b tablet each day to help the white blood cells stay strong. He felt cold a lot, especially his feet, so slipper socks were a godsend in hospital. Xx

When I had chemo I craved really strong, salty flavours like bbq sauce and salty bacon and I couldn’t get enough tomato soup! Mouth soreness and a dreadful feeling in my mouth and a weird inability to taste much at all drove me crackers as I love my food! So I’d suggest nothing too plain or bland. McDonald’s breakfast muffins were a favourite too! Not healthy at all but oncology team said just eat what you like. I got back to normal pretty quickly afterwards though and I don’t eat tomato soup anymore!

When I had chemo the only thing that stopped the nausea was eating, so I stopped eating meals really and just picked all days. I really craved carbs for some reason so ate loads of cheese toasties and buttery jacket potatoes and toast.

I think chemo can be so wildly different that you may be better seeing how she feels and what sort of food she craves first.

DH has been on lots of chemo cycles, depending if she's having a drip, tablets or combination therapy - the side effects can be very different.

It's pretty much the same food precautions as for a pregnancy, everything pasturised, no soft or blue cheeses, undercooked steaks, cured meats , raw or undercooked eggs, reheated rice - and no "dodgy" takeaway.

Certain chemotherapies have odd ones like no grapefruit or no alcohol (including alcohol free substitutes) so it's worth reading through the literature when she gets the information.

Biggest wins were shepherds pie with jelly and tinned custard for pudding. Or traditional meals based around meat and potato. These were easiest on his stomach,

Look at the older people's ready meals (smaller individual portions) at marks and Spencer and you have the chemo menu!

He was craving spicy flavoured food by the end of each cycle, but his taste was off and everything seemed to repeat or not sit right with nausea.

It's quite tricky as everyone is different and different chemo drugs cause different side effects.
Yes, the foods to avoid are the same as during pregnancy.
When I had chemo, my appetite wasn't too badly affected. I ate the same sort of things I usually did but smaller portions. Some people get mouth ulcers so anything which aggravates them is best avoided.
I agree with seeing what sort of foods she fancies.

Male things with lentils and other legumes. They are really good for digestion and help with "chemo belly"

If she suffers from a metallic taste in the mouth swop to decent plastic cutlery.

made all the difference when I was on chemo.

If able it would be good to ask your friend what sort of things she fancies. An average dinner for my mum would have been mackerel, new potatoes, steamed broccoli, fresh berries and yoghurt for dessert etc. When she was ill her tastes completely changed and she started craving Greggs corned beef pasties, custard creams and pot noodles. There were a few occasions when she made me sneak a Big Mac onto the ward for her and I think she'd only had McDonalds once in her life before that. At that point any calories were better than no calories. Generally the things my mum wanted were on the beige, salty and comforting side, anything too spicy or acidic didn't go down well. Whatever you're making would definitely try and include some good quality fats - whole milk, proper butter etc. and I'd add more than usual e.g. in mashed potatoes to get the calories up