Let me preface this by saying, my surgeon does not require a liquid pre op diet. I have lost 30 lbs so far.

On Friday, I got my surgery date which is next Friday. I figured that I would do my own liquid diet thanks to some helpful people on here.

My problem is this, how do I cook for my son? Last week before I knew I was approved and had my surgery date, I bought all the ingredients for a butternut squash, spinach, gruyere and penne Pasta casserole. It's out of a "Cooking Light" magazine, so it's not completely full of fat, salt and other unhealthy ingredients. My son wolfed it down. I had a small bowl. I did really good all day with Protein shakes. And I did try to pick around the pasta and eat the butternut squash, onions and spinach as much as possible. My son is VERY used to eating stuff like this with lots of veggies and I don't want to change our staple recipes just for me. I also am not big on self sabotaging myself either.

Tif, I don't know how old your son is, but it's not as hard as you think. If he's old enough to cook (or reheat), then he can fix his own plate. If he's not, then you just do what you've always done and serve him his serving of food. The twist is that now you'll need to fix something separate for you OR you can both eat similar meals, but you'll be eating much smaller amounts. I bought a bunch of small plastic containers that I could divide food up into for me. If he eats more than you (and he might soon), then buy two sizes and divide up the food, label it well, and put the leftovers in the freezer.

If he's eating veggie and you're not, then you do the same as above. Just make sure that when you cook enough for two people, you label it in the freezer. You'll quickly have a stockpile of meals for both of you.

Since I now live alone (YAY), I buy the multipacks of meat, freeze the meat on a cookie sheet, then stack it in a plastic container in the freezer. One for beef and one for pork. I also buy bags of chicken breasts. I have a small George Foreman grill that I can quickly whip up 1 piece of meat. If I open a canned veggie, I pour it all into a plastic container in the fridge, then dole out a small portion for me and nuke it when my food is just about done on the grill. I actually prefer to eat frozen veggies now because I can pull out two or three pieces of broccoli or a few frozen carrots and they heat up quickly.

Good luck and hope you can use some of my ideas!

I live alone-but my daughter and her two daughters eat dinner with me almost everynight.

I have been lucky that my daughter had decided that they needed to eat healthier-so they have adopted several of my new habits. If we have a Pasta type dish-I take my protion out before adding the pasta. If we have something like pizza-I substitute zucchini for the crust and top with sauce/cheese/veggies and bake.

My meals usually consist of a Protein (about 3 oz) and then a very small-1/2 cup of salad or 1/4 cup cooked vegetable. I don't have any room left for additional food-so it's not too much of a temptation if they add pasta, or rice or bread.

it's difficult to want to cook when you get to eat so little of it. It's not worth the time or the mess. I do a lot like Lissa and freeze portions to have another time so I don't end up eating the same meal 3 days in a row.

I have a three year old son and fortunately, I didn't have to cook for him for almost a week after surgery. My mom was doing his food prep. Since I've gone back to cooking for him (little over a week) it's not been so bad. It's weird to not taste what I'm cooking for him but he's usually a meat, veggie, fruit kind of kid. I make mostly chicken or pork chop for him and he loves canned green beans or fresh carrots, grapes and strawberries. Once in a while he asks for noodles or mac & cheese.

My boy is 5 and he will eat most anything. But he knows I'm having surgery and why and we talk about how we ALL need to eat healthy. I just don't want to deprive him of good meals for my ease. He eats salmon and just about any type of seafood. I just know it's going to be hard at first and I don't want to sabotage myself.

My friend suggested that I do some cooking in advance for my 6 year old and freeze it..so that is what I plan on doing. Im not a big taster while I cook unless it is something sweet (wonder why my butt got so big?) so I can make him meals and not sabotage myself thankfully! But I will look forward to the day that he and I can have the same meals again (I will just eat much, much less)