Menu help

Okay, I've been searching for hours and I'm spinning my wheels (ha ha I actually typed meals).  I need to prepare a 7 day menu of mushies which has to contain 2 oz of protein, 1 oz of fruit/veg and 1 oz of starch. Breakfast lunch and dinner. After about three days I started writing the same things and I don't think my NUT is going to like that. Do you all have suggestions?? I'm mostly trying to think of fruits, veggies and starches that are okay mushed.  HELP!

Thanks
Kelly

I tend to eat the same thing every day so I'm not sure I'm a big help.

can you do a rotation of things?

since we were not even adding fruits/veggies or starch until after we are off of soft food I'm not sure what to advise you.  hopefully some of the more experienced ladies and gentlemen can give you ideas.

Kelly,

Have you checked out the world according to eggface?  theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/  she has a bunch of ideas and recipes for mushies.  When I was in the pureed phase, I found myself eating much of the same things over and over.

Hope that helps,
Heather

I wish I could help. I've been pretty much limiting myself to liquids because pureed food is a BIG turn off for me. I have done cheesy mashed potatoes and chili though. Oh and refried beans, although my pouch didn't like those too much.

I'm pretty much an eat the same thing kind of person too. I really do follow routines with my food. I just think they want variety so I was trying to mix things up and I found myself writing down "regular" food. I am just over thinking things I guess. I'm thinking I'm pretty much going to eat what will stay down and what tastes good to me within the boundaries of the surgery.

Thanks
Kelly

Kel - the NUT didn't care that I had repeated meals.  She just wanted to make sure I was making the right choices.  I did a lot of chili, bean soup, egg beaters, refried beans, tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad (make sure you add low fat mayo to these)...for veg I did green beans that I could smash with a fork, no-sugar added applesauce, mashed banana, lima beans, and for starches, she actually told me I could do mashed potatos, sweet potato, a quarter of a piece of whole wheat bread toasted, or saltine crackers.  The NUT at Upper Chesapeake will also work with you and help you out with meal plans if you have questions.

Thanks so much Bernice! I'm kind of a fly by the seat of my pants eater and now I have to become more planned! It's a lot harder then it looks. I'm getting nervous!

Planning is going to become absolutely vital...I plan my meals probably a day ahead now - especially since I pack both breakfast and lunch.  As well, I plan my fluids and vits around meal time (hence packing breakfast now).  It helps with grocery shopping, and with planning meals out for the family.  We have a lot of leftovers now, so I can fix a pot of bean soup and know that I'll have lunches for two or three days.  I also do a lot of freezing (individual servings) so I can just pull them out of the freezer the night before.

Plus, now that I've gone out to eat a few times, it gets easier to know what I can and can't have off a menu if I've planned for the day.

Okay... for breakfast, I'm pretty much a same thing every day person.  I have EggBeaters scrambled with 1/2 slice of WalMart's Great Value Fat Free Turkey Breast lunch meat (diced tiny), 1/4 cup of diced fresh mushrooms, and 15 grams of Weigh****chers 4-cheese Mexican blend shreds.  I also have 1/3 of a cup of strawberries, and half of a small banana.  You could modify that so that your Egg Beaters and tiny diced fat free turkey and shredded cheese is only two ounces (make the whole thing up but package it in two ounce containers).  I make a whole two pound container of fresh sliced strawberries sprinkled in layers with a couple of packages of Splenda, and I just dish out what I need in the morning, but mashed banana works good, too.... and is high in potassium.  For lunch, I use the Starkist Lemon Pepper Tuna in the pouch, and make up a tuna salad that has one chopped egg, two tablespoons of Best Foods Light Mayo, and some dill relish.  I make sure it's mashed up really good, and I only eat 2 ounces of it at a time.  I found La Tortilla Factory low carb low fat whole grain tortillas, and I've used one of them or a quarter of a whole grain or double fiber English Muffin or a couple of soy crisps to eat it with.  I also do the same with canned chicken or the chicken I've found in the pouches.  For a Vegetable, I've had either some refried or black beans (mashed with a little broth), or mashed peas, or canned spinach with a spritz of "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" on it.  For dinner, I've had sushi innards (like salmon that's so chopped up that it almost looks ground, with a tiny bit of lowfat mayo and some fat-free cream cheese), and scallops (done the same way, but without the cream cheese).  I've also had stewed chicken with carrots, celery and onions, with brown rice for the starch.  I've eaten Tilapia fried in a tiny bit of olive oil, and served with mashed up asparagus, and once again, either brown rice or a bit of sweet potato or yam for the starch, or a half of a slice of whole grain bread.  You can pretty much mush all these up, or put them in a magic bullet and puree them together, and they aren't too bad....and one thing.... I wasn't so concerned about getting starches in at first.... my big concern was getting all my protein, and then my carbs.... and my nutritionist told me that the starches would take care of themselves.

Wow, thanks Erica!!