Food Prep for VSG

Hi All

Expecting to have my VSG in about a months time. Was thinking I'd like to do as much food prep and freeze food in little containers of the size my future meals will be. As I live alone I dont have to consider family meals so just for me to grab and go.

Was thinking any stage from liquids to later meals. Soups, casserole etc. What are your best tips or recipes or advice.

The best advice I can give you is not to prep much in advance. Many people experience a drastic change in taste and tolerance for foods after surgery...many do not. There is no guarantee that you will like or tolerate the things you prepare in advance. The best thing you can do is get a few things and be ready for the first couple of weeks, and then go from there. The only way you are going to know is to try things as the different stages progress. Don't waste time or money on a lot of pre-surg prep that may go to waste. Good luck on your surgery!

I completely agree with Cathy. Plus the things you eat early on don't require much (if any) prep and by the time you are eating real "meals" you'll be fully capable of making them.

For liquids I primarily stuck to protein shakes and sugar free popsicles. I also really loved Panera's French Onion soup, so you could make a clear-broth based soup that you like and then freeze that. Strain it before eating. (Although you might have a hard time finding 1-2 ounce containers... so you'll likely need to freeze things in larger than actual portion sizes.)

For purees, I made meaty saucy things - spaghetti sauce, chili, meatballs with marinara, chicken curries, anything like that. Yogurt and cottage cheese can freeze okay, but why bother?

Beyond purees, think dense proteins. I, personally, wouldn't freeze those things. Cooked fish doesn't really freeze super well in my experience. Which is a good food for the soft solids phase. Steak is easy enough to cook a la minute. If you sous vide, you could cook these things early, freeze them, and then thaw them and sear when ready to eat though.

You might find that it's easier to cook some food in larger quantity once a week and portion out your meals for the week then, instead of freezing lots of stuff now. I've found that the things people most often recommend freezing are not things in line with my way of eating. Except for chili and spaghetti sauce :)

I thought of freezing a variety of soups in muffin tins, then bagging them so I could nuke one soupsicle at a time.

Prepping would have been useless for me.

The first week varies for most, but I just had protein shakes, broth, crystal light, sf popsicles, etc. Next week was scrambled eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese. No prep needed. Week 3 was soft foods (My program skips purees) like tilapia and cheese, which doesn't freeze well.

I realized before surgery that I was obsessing a bit over food beforehand. I wanted to "stock up" because I was getting scared. That may not be you, just commenting. :-)

Now, I typically just cook enough for 3-4 days and hard boil some eggs on Sunday. I keep individually packaged frozen tilapia filets and fresh harvestland chicken breasts on hand to cook as needed. I've heard that people use ice cube trays to prep soups, though.

Prepping would have been useless for me.

The first week varies for most, but I just had protein shakes, broth, crystal light, sf popsicles, etc. Next week was scrambled eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese. No prep needed. Week 3 was soft foods (My program skips purees) like tilapia and cheese, which doesn't freeze well.

I realized before surgery that I was obsessing a bit over food beforehand. I wanted to "stock up" because I was getting scared. That may not be you, just commenting. :-)

Now, I typically just cook enough for 3-4 days and hard boil some eggs on Sunday. I keep individually packaged frozen tilapia filets and fresh harvestland chicken breasts on hand to cook as needed. I've heard that people use ice cube trays to prep soups, though.

What everyone else said. Make sure you have enough bottled water....lemon....popsicles...and a sampling of protein shakes.

You most likely won't be able to "eat" enough to start worrying about prepping until you are a few weeks out. The very first few weeks you are going to be concerned with hydration and then getting in enough protein.

Also tastes change after surgery and so does food tolerances. I know I couldn't tolerate pizza (have no idea why) for the first 3 years after surgery....even today my once favorite food is a food I'll eat if it's the only thing there is to eat food.

What you think of as "meals" will completely change immediately post-op. If you wanted to make some home made stock, that might be a good treat, but otherwise don't bother.

Plenty of water (cyrstal lite if you want), some protein shakes, sugar-free jello, sugar-free popsicles. Most of us (no matter what surgery you have) experiment for months - soft food stages would be things like tuna, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.

Remember that post-op (and the first couple of months) you will be exploring what agrees with you, what you like (your tastes will/may change), and how much you can eat. Suggest weighing/measuring what you anticipate being able to eat - it's all mind games. We're talking a couple of bites - literally.

Since you're not cooking for a family, this should be fairly easy (it was for me). You're not worrying about feeding anyone else.

I'm pretty sure most casseroles will be out the window. You'll be focusing on lean meat and real veggies.