HELP! I need soft high-cal foods for post-surgery husband!

peanut butter or other nut/seed butters. Since he can handle pasta toss it with pesto or cheese sauce. If you have a blender you can put all sorts of food in there. If he can handle pasta he can probably handle eggs.

I would second the mac and cheese idea...comfort food and you can make it as soft as he needs. You can also do some sort of loaded mashed potato...and if you want to get veggies in him, make it with half potato and half cauliflower. I can sneak that one by my family with no issues!

Chicken noodle soup might taste good to him also...overcook the veggies a bit to make sure they are soft. Not super high calorie though if that is what you are aiming for.

You could look up smoothie recipes if you are looking for a healthier version...I'm sure you could make a reasonably healthy and delicious chocolate peanut butter banana combo pretty easily! You could add some protein powder too if you feel like he needs more protein.

A good mix of healthy fats, carbs, and proteins will help his recovery (along with enough calories to fuel it). That is only "mom science" btw.... go with his doctors' recommendation!

kylecpatterson wrote: »

Don't make him milkshakes. Are you serious? Try blending avocado with some protein powder and some spinach and coconut water. Add ice as needed.

Avocado is a good idea. But there is nothing wrong with giving him milkshakes when you are trying to add calories. I would also recommend nut butters and pasta with alfredo sauce.

kenyonhaff wrote: »

kylecpatterson wrote: »

kenyonhaff wrote: »

Unfortunately that is explicitly not OK yet.

kylecpatterson wrote: »

kenyonhaff wrote: »

I'm not planning to feed him exclusively milkshakes.

I'd agree with the avocado smoothie idea, but I'm not sure he'd be convinced to drink it. He doesn't really like avacado. But guacamole might work.

Slow cook him meat and veggies in a crock pot. Put in blender. Feed with spoon.

Unfortunately meat chunks of any sort is still an explicit no-no and against doctor recommendation. He may be ready for that in 7-14 more days. I honestly can't wait until chili or stew is back on the menu. Very soft veggies apparently OK.

I'm curious as to why a doctor would advise against eating any protein whatsoever, and I would be concerned of said doctors credentials with regard to nutrition in general. Care to elaborate on the surgery?

He had a Nissen wrap due to chronic acid reflux. Over-simplifying it quite a bit, he had his esophagus wrapped around in such a way so that the acid can't get up the way it did before. It causes a person to have to go on a liquid diet to soft diet for a few weeks until the body heals.

The doctor did not say no protein, just not chunks of meat. Pureed is fine, such as in baby food. In fact he can eat pretty much anything pureed. Saying that, it's amazing how unappetizing most food is when pureed.

And please be understanding that saying, "just eat this unappetizing food" is not something I want to put myself or him through. He's miserable and in pain. I am currently making two meals three times a day and about half the meals I make for him don't work out. This has been part of the issue of him not getting enough calories.

So I'm looking for ideas that are adult food, bonus points if it's foods my son and I will like too.

All I've suggested you to feed him is whole, unprocessed food. You calling it unappetizing is alarming. Blending slow cooked meat and veggies would be a puree like baby food but it would be 1000x more nutritious and would AID his recovery. If he doesn't like avocado add almond or peanut butter as they are another source of monounsaturated fat. Feeding him chocolate banana shakes I don't see a doctor recommending.

Google "Shelly's baked ricotta" it tastes amazing. I had weight-loss surgery and had to do a liquid - puree - soft food diet. Shelly has a ton of recipes on her website for purees. (her name is eggface) I pureed meatballs and added them to the marinara sauce to up the protein. 15 months later, I'm still eating it, I add garlic and seasonings to taste...

kylecpatterson wrote: »

kenyonhaff wrote: »

kylecpatterson wrote: »

kenyonhaff wrote: »

Unfortunately that is explicitly not OK yet.

kylecpatterson wrote: »

kenyonhaff wrote: »

I'm not planning to feed him exclusively milkshakes.

I'd agree with the avocado smoothie idea, but I'm not sure he'd be convinced to drink it. He doesn't really like avacado. But guacamole might work.

Slow cook him meat and veggies in a crock pot. Put in blender. Feed with spoon.

Unfortunately meat chunks of any sort is still an explicit no-no and against doctor recommendation. He may be ready for that in 7-14 more days. I honestly can't wait until chili or stew is back on the menu. Very soft veggies apparently OK.

I'm curious as to why a doctor would advise against eating any protein whatsoever, and I would be concerned of said doctors credentials with regard to nutrition in general. Care to elaborate on the surgery?

He had a Nissen wrap due to chronic acid reflux. Over-simplifying it quite a bit, he had his esophagus wrapped around in such a way so that the acid can't get up the way it did before. It causes a person to have to go on a liquid diet to soft diet for a few weeks until the body heals.

The doctor did not say no protein, just not chunks of meat. Pureed is fine, such as in baby food. In fact he can eat pretty much anything pureed. Saying that, it's amazing how unappetizing most food is when pureed.

And please be understanding that saying, "just eat this unappetizing food" is not something I want to put myself or him through. He's miserable and in pain. I am currently making two meals three times a day and about half the meals I make for him don't work out. This has been part of the issue of him not getting enough calories.

So I'm looking for ideas that are adult food, bonus points if it's foods my son and I will like too.

All I've suggested you to feed him is whole, unprocessed food. You calling it unappetizing is alarming. Blending slow cooked meat and veggies would be a puree like baby food but it would be 1000x more nutritious and would AID his recovery. If he doesn't like avocado add almond or peanut butter as they are another source of monounsaturated fat. Feeding him chocolate banana shakes I don't see a doctor recommending.

She didn't say whole, unprocessed food was unappetizing. She said pureed food was unappetizing, and I totally agree.

You could try homemade cream soups like broccoli cheese or potato. Make as usual for the rest of the family and puree your husband's serving so no veggie chunks remain. You can even add extra cheese or use heavy cream for his portions to up calories.

I just looked at Webmd, it said a soft diet, not that everything needs to be pureed. I remember one fine chef in our local hospital who liquidised all the food, for one specific person, the meat and veggies individually so this person could enjoy blending their own combinations.

It also said swallowing air with foods could be an issue because it is not as easily eliminated as it was previously. Its an issue which should pass.

More than anything else, calories are going to help his recovery. Especially given that this is very short-term, anything he'll eat is good for him.

Milkshakes would be great. If he's really having trouble getting calories in, you could add some half-and-half or heavy cream, peanut butter or PB2. You could also do fruit smoothies with protein powder if he can tolerate that.

Full-fat greek yogurt tastes more mild than the lower-fat varieties, and if you can add honey/agave/jam, it might taste good to him.

Could he have pureed soups? Something like a butternut squash soup (usually completely smooth) or a potato soup (either cook the potatoes until they're mush or puree it). Cream-based soups have more calories than clear broths and will be more palatable if they're pureed.

Could he have cooked porridge, like a cream of wheat or oatmeal? You could maybe add protein powder to those to give them more protein. Or a very soft polenta with a poached egg? You could add some cheese to the polenta to up the calorie count.

kenyonhaff wrote: »

The_Enginerd wrote: »

kylecpatterson wrote: »

Don't make him milkshakes. Are you serious? Try blending avocado with some protein powder and some spinach and coconut water. Add ice as needed.

He is having trouble getting in enough calories and milkshakes are highly caloric, soft, and highly palatable. It sounds like that's exactly what he could use to supplement his diet.

I entirely agree with you...this would be perfect. If I could get him to try it. Which unfortunately I highly doubt.

You can't get him to try a milkshake?! Or do you mean the avocado smoothie concoction?

I was responding to the previous poster who seemed shocked you would feed him a milkshake, when that sounds like exactly what he could use right now. At this point, he is having trouble getting in enough calories.

Also second stuff such as the Greek yogurt, cream based soups, pudding, applesauce, refried beans, etc.

I had my jaw wired shut for six weeks years ago, so I can sympathize about pureed foods - they do get old rather fast. I remember eating some type of baked potato soup that was pretty good. Towards the end I ate a lot of ground up Skyline chili. I'm not sure where you're from or if you've heard of it. It's kind of a Cincinnati/Midwest USA kind of thing. It at least had a little flavor, even if the texture wasn't the greatest. Also, it's probably already been covered, but fruit smoothies with greek yogurt would be good. You can ground up a small handful of baby spinach leaves in a smoothie without being able to taste it/detect it's in there. Also, maybe applesauce, pudding, jello? Good luck!

Baked beans are soft, plus get some fibre, tinned means it's easy