Hospital food

[kitkatz]

I have had some bizarre experience with hospital food while on dialysis.  when they screw up my food it makes me cry.  The one thing to look forward to all day.
I had them bring me a baked potato on a plate, that was it, a baked potato. When I asked the nurse what was this? She asked me where the meat was? I said this what all you brought me.  They had to change out the tray.
Kaiser has new phone ordering system. If it is not on your diet, you cannot have it.  They will tell you no.
I have had them forget to bring me a meal because I was at dialysis.
I have been yelled at for not eating while I was recovering from surgery and major infections last year.

Here is link I found on the internet. Hospital food around the world.

http://www.realfarmacy.com/20-eye-opening-photos-of-hospital-food-from-around-the-world/


What are some experience you have had with hospitals and their food?

[jeannea]

I was suffering from CMV colitis. A few days without eating then please try to eat again. I didn't know which diet was ordered for me and a lot of foods didn't even sound good. The menu was a combo for all diets with some things marked high salt, some marked a few other things. I had to order a day before for options. I couldn't seem to order right. I would order something and the kitchen would decide it was not on my diet so I got barely any food. One morning all I got was cold dry toast. For dinner my plate was empty. Yes, empty. Some doctor came in and asked if I was eating. I lost it. I went through a day and a half of not getting decent food. He couldn't believe it. He got on the phone with them and it took forever for them to compromise and get me something I could and would eat. Food service kept overriding the doctor!

That was a few years ago. When I got my latest transplant 2 years ago, I was told they were working on the food. I was recently admitted. The food still sucks. I love my doctors and the medical care there. I just really hate the food.

[PrimeTimer]

A doctor once told me that since he ate in their cafeteria often, he knew their food really well and proceeded to point out what didn't taste good on my dinner plate. The only item he didn't point to was the jello.    You think that's bad? Hate to admit it but some of the hospital food in those pictures look tastier than what my own cooking has been like lately but even then, still not as bad as my sister inlaw's!   

[obsidianom]

When my wife is hospitalized I stay in her room with her. Since she is on a feeding tube and doesnt eat , I get her food. At our local hospital they have a decent menu you can order from. Its like room service at a hotel . Its actually quite good.

[cattlekid]

My local hospital actually has tasty food but when you are on the renal diet, it becomes bland and devoid of anything crunchy.

In the big university hospital, the cafeteria food is good but the patient food is just ugh.  I happened to mention that to two of my doctors in passing conversation and they both said that big university hospital food is usually terrible.  I wonder why that is?

[jeannea]

Cattlekid, that was the same for my recent stay. My hospital food sucked. My mom went to the cafeteria and had good food and good options. Not right.

[marlinfshr]

I was just in the hospital for 5 days in which I only had tests. The food was actually edible, just not enough. Then I went back in for a bypass the following week and was there for another 2 weeks. I couldn't eat at all. Not just being on a renal diet but the food overall was terrible. But i have experienced that before after major surgery. I guess my senses get effected temporarily as everything is entirely too dry and I can't eat it at all. Once I got home though, I got my appetite right back. Now to just tone it down so I can keep off what I lost in the hospital!

[komomai]

Staying in the Japanese hospitals, the food is very different, I got a bowl of white rice with every meal along with different vegetables which I have no idea what they were.  Sometimes I would ask the wife to bring me something from outside.  Also got a lot of fish, which was super dry after sitting in the warmer.  It got to the point that I would eat my wife's bento box and she would eat my hospital meal.

[Michael Murphy]

My favorite hospital food story occurred about 20 years ago. My father who had terminal cancer was in a large regional hospital in upstate New York.  The waiting room for visitors to the icu was joint with the cardiac care unit.  There was this cardiac patient who kept searching for food. He was a thin man  I mean really thin.  We'll one day he decided since he could not find any food on the returning trays. He would go to the cafeteria. Problem was his wireless heart monitor flt lined as soon as he left the floor.  They began the search for his body and called his doctor.  When he returned he was confronted by both the head nurse and his doctor.  He explained he couldn't get buy on the 500 calorie diet the doctor had him on.  The doctor claimed he did not order a restricted diet. And they went off to find out what was up.  They returned in about 5minutes with the doctor and nurse laughing so hard they had tears in thier eyes. The patient  was trying hard not to laugh but he could not.  It turned out his room mate who weighed over 300 pounds and a police captain ha switched beds and the hospital assigned meals by bed not by patient. The next day they changed the policy.

[kristina]

Hello Michael Murphy,
I like your sweet story very much...

I always had very good experiences with hospital food...
... Perhaps the reason is, that I have been a strict vegetarian for many years because of my fragile kidney function ... and I am also allergic to garlic...
... I always mention this at my arrival and the cook in every hospital has put a special effort into cooking my vegetarian food, because of my “special requirements”...
...My vegetarian food in hospitals has always been very tasty and very fresh... (touch wood it continues like that in the future as well...)...

[Deanne]

I feel very lucky! The hospital I was in has a menu that patients can order from at will. Everything I had was pretty good. I could order salmon, steak, chicken, breakfast sandwiches, cooked or raw vegetables, etc. Even snacks like brownies or cheesecake. Everything is ala carte, and condiments, salt and pepper are ordered separately and delivered on the side. It took about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes for the food to arrive after I ordered it. When I was on a liquid-only diet, they gave me a separate menu, so I think they give patients different menus for different dietary needs instead of tempting us with food we aren't allowed to have.

[SooMK]

The food during my transplant stay was terrible. Not just bad tasting but unhealthy for anyone. I had very little appetite anyway so it didn't matter much but I don't understand serving people over processed, bad tasting food when they are a captive group and you could and should be setting a model for decent eating. I didn't get a menu choice until the day I left and I left before having the meal.

[kitkatz]

I had the chef himself show up in my hospital room to chat.  I surprised him with a few of my comments on his food.