Kitchen Staples

I know hydration is the most important thing for me the first few weeks,

What foods/liquids would you suggest for me to have in my kitchen for my return home?

Maybe a top 5 or 10 must haves to soothe the confused belly and recovering body.

My tummy really liked me to sip on a nice cold glass of 1/3 low sugar cranberry juice and 2/3 cold water, over ice. Number one with me.

Next was popcicles. I couldn't do the sugar free with this, had to do regular. The sugar free sweetener did not agree with me early out. Banana was my fav....

Thanks Christine!

Did you have a problem with sugar free sweetners before surgery?

No, not really. And when I say problems, it cause me gas which caused me pain. Much more so than the regular sugar popcicles. And I still can't eat the sugar free candies, they are of the devil. At 20 months , I can have a regular candy bar but not the sugar free candy. My system will not tolerate it.

I know I am not the "norm" but before surgery I could not stand water, hated it nothing was gonna get me to drink plain water.  After surgery, I cannot stand anything except freezing ice cold water... Not even a little bit less than freezing, like a little bit of water with my ice.

I have tried all the sugar free drinks there are, but I just can't stand anything bu****er.... /shrug!

As far as food, for the first 8 days I think we are on clear liquids, I had broth from a real can of soup, like got some good soup and strained only the broth to drink, I had really thin cream of wheat, and jello. Loved tomato soup.  After that I had alot of chicken salad, ham salad, egg salad, grits, mashed potatoes.

Once I was able to go on full food, I switched over to most protein and followed Lori's profile of what she ate.

I hope this helps! 

I was at Costco today and bought the free-range chicken stock, hoping I could make that egg drop soup. 

Can we do cream soups or bisques? Because I think I could live off of Lobster Bisque for awhile.

I dont know the answer to that at least for the first 8 days, but after the 8 then you are on just liquids not clear liquids or maybe even puree's by then.  but egg drop soup sounds yummy for sure.

Don't buy large quantities of anything pre-op because you just never know what's going to turn your stomach post-op.

That said, lobster bisque may be do-able, but if flour is used in it (and I think it is) it may give you uncomfortable gas issues. Worth a try, though.

Good Point!

I wonder if cornstarch gives the same gas issues as flour based roux?

I am going to have to go through all of my recipes and try to DS them.

Remember I was a revision so I had a frankenstein tummy. But I could eat cream of chicken soup, made with milk and run through a strainer on the liquid portion of the recovery period.

That and tomato soup, made with milk, were the most delicious things to me for the first few weeks.