Tips and Ideas For a Soft Food Diet
A soft food diet may be recommended by your doctor if you have swallowing difficulties, or if you’ve had surgery of the jaw, mouth or gastrointestinal tract.
While it can be difficult, especially in the early days, your diet doesn’t have to be boring.
Thankfully, it’s much more than a soup and jelly diet!
It is however, important to make sure your diet has lots of variety, as this will help you get all the nutrients you need for good quality of life.
Try to base your daily meals around the food groups:
- At least 5 servings of soft fruit and well cooked vegetables.
- 2 servings of tender meat, poultry or fish (take care with bones), eggs, peas, beans, or lentils.
- 2 servings of milk and dairy foods — calcium fortified soy or rice milk can be included here if you prefer.
- Bread, cereals, rice, pasta, or potato should be included at each meal.
- Have small amounts of foods containing fat and/or sugar.
- Drink around 8 to 10 cups of fluid per day — water, tea, coffee, juice, or milk.
Soft Food Diet Menu Ideas
Breakfast
- Porridge or other cereals (without nuts or dried fruit) and milk
- Scrambled egg
- Baked beans
- Stewed fruit with natural yoghurt
- Coffee or hot chocolate made with milk
- Fruit juice
Main meals
- Casseroles and stews made with lean meats, which are cooked until tender
- Soups made with lots of veggies and legumes, pureed with a swirl of cream before serving
- Shepherds or cottage pie with gravy
- Moussaka or lasagne served with extra sauce or gravy
- Fish pie with potato topping, or baked fish with sauce or gravy
- Cheese omelette or cauliflower cheese
- Egg or tuna mayonnaise
- Pasta dishes made with small pasta shapes (or noodles) and plenty of sauce
- Lentils made into dahl
- Dips such as hummus, guacamole, and cream cheese
Side dishes
- Mashed potato — sweet potatoes are slightly more nutritious
- Mashed vegetables — carrots, turnip or other root vegetables
- Broccoli or cauliflower florets cooked until soft — these could also be mashed into potatoes
sxc.hu: bluegum
Desserts
- Milky puddings — rice, semolina or tapioca
- Crème caramel or egg custard
- Natural or Greek yoghurt
- Fruit mousse
- Milk jelly or blancmange
- Bread and butter pudding
- Home made trifle
- Pureed or stewed fruit with Greek yoghurt
- Mashed fruit with ice cream, custard or evaporated milk
- Ice cream or fruit sorbet
Nutritious drinks
- Coffee, malt drinks, or hot chocolate made with milk
- Milk shakes, fruit smoothies or drinking yoghurts
- Nutritional supplements — ask your doctor or dietitian about these
11771
2073
853
19 Comments
Meeks
03.22.2010
I could have done with this post after I had my wisdom tooth removed. I survived on yummy soups, but your lovely ideas would have given me a bit more variety! Thanks. (and thanks for visiting my blog!)
Melanie
03.23.2010
Hi Meeks,
Aw, I wish I had written it sooner!! I had my wisdom tooth removed a few years back and had quite a bit of hassle afterwards, it’s not a fun experience, I can empathise with you.
Zengirl
03.22.2010
Mel,
These are nice tips to know, I wish I had known earlier when I had a surgery and was on soft food diet for little bit. I got tired of eating jello
I like your site here, congratulations on your little baby girl, she looks cute. Parenting is lot of joy and lot of work!
Thanks for stopping by at my blog and commenting.
.-= Zengirl´s last blog ..7 ways to overcoming overwhelm =-.
Melanie
03.23.2010
Hi Zengirl,
I can imagine jello would get tired very quickly!! Thank you on the congrats, being a mum certainly is a wonderful experience AND challenge, all rolled into one!
Zapalenie stawow
05.09.2010
I think very important is have more but smaller meals, that what I doing anyway
.-= Zapalenie stawow´s last blog ..Zestaw zdrowe stawy =-.
Melanie
05.10.2010
Yes, small frequent meals, exactly!
Naicisum
07.14.2010
Hi,
I have problems with my jaw and I’ve just been put on a soft food diet, can I eat baking such as cookies and scotch pancakes (dropped scones)? Do you have any tips on where to find more meal ideas or a comprehensive list of what I can eat and what I should avoid for my family when I eat with them and my friends so that they can help me avoid the wrong foods?
Thanks
Melanie
07.16.2010
Hi Naicisum,
I think it really depends on you personally. I would imagine that cookies may be too hard to chew if you have jaw problems. Pancakes may be okay since they are soft. However, it’s really up to you to decide what you can manage, there’s no right or wrong diet.
Perhaps your doctors could refer you to see a dietitian, for more help, or a list of foods which are safe for you to eat.
Ria @myorganicacaiberry.com
08.24.2010
These look really good for a soft food diet. My husband had pancreatitis a few years back & was told to go on a soft food diet for a week or two. Same thing when my kids had gastroenteritis. We used to give them congee (chinese style rice porridge with some meat) but this looks way better & more nutritious. Also gives a bit more variation.
.-= Ria @myorganicacaiberry.com´s last blog ..Why Do We Need Antioxidants =-.
Midtown Manhattan Dentist
12.10.2010
Oh, thank you for this great tips. I’m going to get my wisdom teeth removed very soon and I’ll definitely consider the ideas noted above.
Melanie
12.15.2010
Best wishes for that.
TravellingBarman
01.04.2011
Hi,
I broke my jaw recently, and have been on a soft food diet over the holiday period. I agree with everything you’ve mentioned – Good tips! I’d also recommend the use of a hand blender. So long as you have enough liquid, you can blitz pretty much any meal into tasty mush. My christmas dinner with all the trimmings looked like an artist’s pallate, with tasty blobs of different flavoured puree all over the plate! Tasted wonderful though. It’s still worth cooking real meals as the work you put into the flacours still shines through; puree’d roast parsnips taste great
Best Wishes to all,
Barman.,
Melanie
01.06.2011
Barman,
I hope you recover soon, and I’m glad you’ve found the food so tolerable. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
charlotte
03.26.2011
I have recently been put on a soft diet by the hospital as i have a jaw problem. i find it hard knowing what i can eat waht i cant and often dont think about it till after iv eatten what i want to eat then relise when my Jaw starts hurting, am going to print your info out and stick it on my cubard door so i rember this beofre i munch as i would like the pain to stop in my jaw lol. x Great information, Thanks. xx
Melanie
03.26.2011
Hi Charlotte,
I’m glad you found this article, and I do hope you feel better soon. Please let me know if you have any queries.
roxy creature
03.30.2011
im glad i found this site.
i have huntingtons disease, and i got shot in the jaw a few years ago.im missing half my teeth.
Melanie
04.08.2011
I hope this article is helpful to you, Roxy. Let me know if you have any queries.
Sally
07.12.2011
I have had throat surgery and they repaired my valve to my stomach. I am on a soft diet No Meat for 3 months I am in week two. Things get stuck easily and since they wrapped my eschoghaus and repaired the valve I can not throw up so when things get stuck they are down by my breast bone and very painful. Even drinking water can get stuck. I am tired of yogurt. I eat a few bites of something and am standing up with pain waiting for it to go down. Any recipes would be a great help. I can eat Macaroni and cheese and eggs but all I see is weight gain in my future. Looking forward to any help anyone can give me.
gordon
07.13.2011
hi melanie,
i have just come across your site, and want to wish you luck with it. i am 3 years post surgery/chemo/radiotherapy for mouth cancer, which got rid of the tumour but has left me with the well known side effects of dry mouth and also oesophageal strictures which means im very restricted on what i can swallow. i will look through the rest of your site and see if i can pick up some tips! thanks
There are no trackbacks to display at this time.