Pureed food for Cancer sufferer

[meanmum]

Sorry for horrible title but I'm hoping to get a good response. A friend has just found out she has mouth cancer and is having about half of her tongue removed this Wednesday and will need to be on pureed food for at least 2 weeks after the operation and maybe even longer. I know we've all pureed food for our kids and in fact she has because she has a 2 year old herself but I'm trying to do something special for her and thought maybe some meals already cooked and pureed might be a nice treat as her and her husband will probably have times when the last thing they want to do is cook or prepare meals.

So if any of you have any good recipes/ideas that would be wonderful.

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See if she has also had radiotherapy, as that can affect the taste of foods a lot. This is such a kind idea of yours. I would have guessed that she would needed things pureeing, so I would guess that anything is posible, but make sure there are no pips etc. Salt would have to be out, I guess as well as using comercial stock cubes.

Have a look at the bacup web site for more general information and good luck, this was such a good idea.

How awful . I often cook casseroles for my ds because everything (meat and veg) comes out nice and soft and can be mushed down to a varying degree. So something like beef with onions, carrots, mushrooms and other veg, or lamb casserole with redcurrant sauce or a chicken casserole, depending on what she likes.

Haven't seen you on here for a while meanmum. Hope things are going well for you and that your friend makes a good recovery.

Thanks ladies. Sorry I went off to bed not long after posting this. She will start her radiotherapy after her operation this Wednesday so I think I might actually wait until that starts and find out what foods have changed in terms of taste etc as she won't want things cluttering up her freezer that she doesn't like the taste of. Her husband is actually a professional chef but I figured he will be so busy with her and their young daughter that thinking about what might be healthy and tasty every day would get quite wearing. He also may just want to come home and defrost something for himself rather than cooking. They'll need to keep their energy up in terms of how draining this will be on all of them.

I'll do a couple of casseroles and what do you think about pureeing lasagne and other pasta dishes.

Meanmum, you are sooo kind. Not sure about pureed lasagne tho' - could it possibly be mashed?

If she is having radiotherapy her mouth will be very sore. Icecreams would be a wonderful idea. She will also need to get a lot of calories in as small a volume as possible, as she will need 'building up' and eating will be quite difficult for her. Wating to see how the radiotherapy affects her will be a very good idea. She may also lose some saliva glands to 'wet' food would be easiest to digest.

I still think that you are ace to think of this. She is lucky to have a good freind like you.

Meanmum, my dad died of cancer (pancreatic, so inevitable .. not like your friend's situation) but I remember the hospital provided high calorie drinks for him. So she might be ok with those for a while, and possibly when she's feeling more comfortable, ask her what she'd like most of all. All hugs and best wishes to you all XXXX

Just wanted to add something positive, Meanmum. DH's sister called this morning, to ask how our holiday was and how we all were. Of course, I said great, fine .. how are you ... And then she said fine, but XXXX (her hubby) has got to go into hospital for an operation. Digging further, it transpires he has prostate cancer. Just shows how things have changed - she/he aren't bothered by the news at all. Good luck. XX

I was going to say the same thing- calories are good! My friend's dd had throat cancer and was unable to taste anything after her radiotherapy, plus it hurt to swallow. She started to lose weight dangerously, so they tried giving her things like bananas, double cream and brown sugar mashed together (quite nice sounding actually), but I guess this wouldn't freeze well.

I agree with the others meanmum, she's lucky to have such a thoughtful friend.

Meanmum, you are so kind to think of something really practical like this. Very sorry to hear of your friend's cancer and really hope the op goes well. How about leeks in cheese sauce, a very mild Thai chicken curry? Trying to think of recipes where a) the texture is not what makes the dish super-special b) the scent is pleasing as well as the taste.
Would not bother pureeing anything with pasta as a big component, it will go a bit gluey even if it tastes yum.
Can you let us know how she gets on?

chicken dinner
the chicken can be blended
with plenty of veg they can also be blended with gravy to soften it all up a good cooked dinner always makes people feel better in them selfs plus the vitimins will help build he back up after the opperation
hope she feeling better soon

Thanks everyone. I'll keep you posted on how she does. Great idea bout the calories. I hadn't thought of that. Even if I just tell her husband these simple things will be good too.