Soft food ideas? (and maybe some ranting!)

[new to caregiving]

Hi everyone;

Okay so I am not on here nearly enough! And I just have to say, to get it out of the way, that this disease F****** sucks! I am a CALS, and I have no idea what I am doing most days but somehow things are still going along! My PALS is doing quite well, although some days I feel like I am too close to actually tell, I notice little things that make me think that things are going to start to go down hill again soon.

Eating has always been a long process, but lately they have gotten a lot harder. Things that were easy to eat (such as pasta) are not going well. I have started to make mashed potatoes, turnip, easy swallow stuff, but shes going to get sick of this stuff fast. Wondering if anyone has any ideas of soft stuff that might mix things up a little bit! PALS has a feeding tube, but she doesn't like to use it a whole lot unless she is really tired or sick. Right now food is all she has. The enjoyment of eating is doing a lot for her and I want to keep that going as much as I can. When I started working with this lady, I always said that I thought she would go down hill when she couldn't eat anymore, as she has so much enjoyment from that!

any help would be great!
hope everyone is doing well!
xoxoxoxo

 

[BarryG]

Boost pudding, high calorie high protein. A high calorie breakfast smoothie is good too, I had one every day for almost a year until I couldn't swallow at all. My recipe included Carnation Instant Breakfast, milk, whipping cream, banana, peanut butter, ground flax and frozen strawberries, raspberries, or cranberries all blended up well.

 

[LizT]

another idea would be to see if your PALS would allow you to feed her nutrition shakes through her PEG just so shes getting enough calories and nutrients. then she could focus on eating more yummy things. im thinking maybe soft desserts- jellos, pudding pies, ice cream. also, you can puree pretty much anything if you add enough liquid to it.
good luck and i hope you find something that works.

 

[Katie C]

Starting with the caveat that my husband refused a peg so I HAD to be creative: Get yourself a good blender. The first time the speech pathologist mentioned it I thought she was crazy... by the end there were few things I couldn't puree! Pizza (seriously), pot pie, ground beef, casseroles... use plenty of cream, half and half, chicken or beef stock to thin to a consistency your PALS can handle.. this will change over time, so hard to give exact ideas but you'll figure it out. Boost or Ensure pudding is great. Applesauce. Almost any fruit can be pureed with some juice. Milkshakes.. which you can add protein powder to to improve nutrition. Don't be afraid to try different combinations.. if it works, hooray! If it doesn't... well then you don't do it again! Have some fun with it... good luck to you!