ideas please. No effort to eat foods

[BecauseIlovehim]

DH doing fairly well in the new hospital. Lots of new treatments and another chemo but he’s knackered and mostly asleep, he’s not got the energy to eat meals, find chewing difficult, yogurt and creme caramel are about all I’ve got into him, he says porridge too much to chew.

the hospital are going to try him on puréed foods tomorrow but I wondered if baby foods would be a good idea. He’s desperate to eat as he knows it’s an important part of surviving.

any ideas dear mnsneters? Literally got to be no effort, nutrious and just slide down the throat (he doesn’t want to drink the ensure type replacement meals).

Huel do excellent meal replacements. Nothing like Ensures which are a bit 🤢

Also This is Food shakes. I bought my mum the vegan ones when she was off her food

Alpro puds. They are delicious. Mini fromage fraise ( again I bought the vegan ones for mum )
I hope you find something he likes

If his swallow is ok a nice soup in a thermos that you bring in would probably taste better than most of the pureed options the hospital provides.

You could make them and blend them to make them smoother. If he needs them thicker to help him swallow then just limit the water you add in the cooking process or thicken further after blending.

The Cully and Sully Chicken and Vegetable soup as a shop bought option is quite smooth if he can't manage to chew much.

Ice cream, chocolate mousse and yoghurt are good pudding options.

Procal shots, brilliant stuff. 400cals in a bottle, usually 4x30ml "shots" daily.
Try to encourage the pureed diet. It will be fortified with protein and calories.
There are loads of different supplements, but most hospitals will be tied to a single manufacturer contract (ours is Nutricia, so Foritisip, etc)

As he has a fridge in the room what about little tubs of houmus and taramasalata - as we know they are laden with calories! And very appetising if he likes that sort of thing, could eat a few spoonfuls at a time. Also full fat plain yogurt with a sprinkle of dried herbs to jazz up the taste

most patients dislike Ensure, Fortisip etc as they’re so bland.

Wishing your husband well

Second ProCal Shots

I'm not sure what illness your husband has, but I just wanted to say you are a lovely caring wife @BecauseIlovehim
Sending you both kind thoughts x

We used to add full fat milk powder to everything, including milk for tea etc. It's a good way of getting extra calories in. We found it in the world food aisle. Regular milk powder is made from skimmed milk so is not suitable.

Brings back memories of my illness too. I survived for nearly four months on Fortisip and high calorie shots. I could manage high protein yogurts + double cream, and Actimel also. That was my diet every day for months. I was fine. Dieticians wanted me to puree this and that veg and meat and so on, I just couldn't stomach it, so they were happy to see me try something!

I gradually progressed to home made (massively blended!) shakes with Greek yogurt, fortisip, flaxseed, chia, spinach, walnuts, berries and oats. That was delicious to me and kept me going.

Honestly, it took me over a year to get back any kind of appetite and to lose the nausea and choking feeling. I'm good now but still have days when I could survive on a cup of tea!

Wishing you and DH well, there are lots of great suggestions here, and the hospital should help also.

I used to buy these for my mum, they are tiny pots and sometimes she was better able to eat things if the serving size wasn't too daunting. Sending you love.

It won't actually let me add the picture I was planning to add but search my mini custard by ambrosia x

Not all suitable but lots of ideas here
www.bapen.org.uk/education/nutrition-support/nutrition-by-mouth/food-first-food-enrichment/

I started having difficulty drinking water and taking meds first thing in the morning but found whole chocolate milk helped get the pills down. Tom's Creamery is the one I use every morning (watered down a little with Califia mocha almond drink; maybe a 3/4 to 1/4 ratio with lots of ice in a 400ml cup). I actually really look forward to my morning milk now!

it was an old trick from my uni cycling team days when we needed calories and some nutrition on stomachs cramped after long races (solid food just came back up). You could fortify even more with the milk powder or the complan shake packets (from dietician) or a protein powder.

Huel takes some getting used to and trial and error to find the right flavor you like but they are brilliant when I am going thru non eating periods. I'm getting too gaunt and I can't chew enough but drinking my calories I can do.

I have the same issue re food. Definitely anything high calorie but easy to eat like Creme Caramel. I can't abide Fortsips, but at this stage, anything you can get down. I like tomato juice (and think of it as food) but can understand makes people heave!

Just wanted to suggest Electrolyte powders. Best of luck.