My surgery is scheduled for September 10 and I'm trying to prepare as best as I can. I've seen people talking about meal prepping for themselves after surgery. What is it that you're prepping?

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I didn't do any meal prep before surgery, and I don't think it's really necessary. After surgery, you'll have a very limited diet. Depending on your program, you'll have some period of time that you can only have liquids (which require little to no prep) and then only pureed foods. There are a lot of no/low-prep pureed foods, like applesauce, yogurt, sugar-free pudding, cottage cheese (which is actually available pre-pureed now), mashed cauliflower, and refried beans. Most of it requires no prep other than stirring in some protein powder and maybe throwing it in the food processor. If you really want to do some advance meal prep, maybe make some pureed soup and freeze it in small containers. You are going to be eating very small quantities, so one recipe can make many servings. I made some black bean soup and one recipe came out to 14 portions. Ricotta bake makes 8 portions. Just those two recipes make dinner for 3 weeks.

Since that didn't really answer your question, I would suggest you check YouTube. There are several videos on WLS meal prep. I find them very boring because they're mostly just mixing protein powder into food and dividing it into a bunch of containers!

I just made sure I’d have all the shakes, soups, broths, etc. I would be eating during the liquid stage. I live alone & didn’t want to bother others to do my shopping. I bought all the over the counter meds too like gasX, benefibre, stool softeners, pain meds, hydralite, etc. Also bought a mini thermos to keep soups & broth hot as it took me hours to drink them. I’d make up my shakes in zippy cups/water bottles so I could have a couple of flavours on the go in the fridge. Your taste buds do change after surgery & flavours you enjoyed before may become disgusting to you after.

Small storage containers & zip lock bags once you start on soft then solid foods will become your friend. I froze meals I cooked in individual serves - actually still do - so it made it easy at meal times to just defrost & heat.

Good luck with your surgery.

I just made sure I’d have all the shakes, Soups, broths, etc. I would be eating during the liquid stage. I live alone & didn’t want to bother others to do my shopping. I bought all the over the counter meds too like gasX, benefibre, stool softeners, pain meds, hydralite, etc. Also bought a mini thermos to keep soups & broth hot as it took me hours to drink them. I’d make up my shakes in zippy cups/water bottles so I could have a couple of flavours on the go in the fridge. Your taste buds do change after surgery & flavours you enjoyed before may become disgusting to you after.
Small storage containers & zip lock bags once you start on soft then solid foods will become your friend. I froze meals I cooked in individual serves - actually still do - so it made it easy at meal times to just defrost & heat.
Good luck with your surgery.

A mini thermos! That's a great idea!


So you made protein shakes ahead of time and kept them in the fridge?

I have a bunch of different protein powder flavors, including an unflavored one. I'm hopeful that I'm covered on that front.

14 hours ago, MagentaMom said:

A mini thermos! That's a great idea!

So you made Protein Shakes ahead of time and kept them in the fridge?

I have a bunch of different Protein Powder flavors, including an unflavored one. I'm hopeful that I'm covered on that front.

I sometimes found I’d make up a shake but couldn’t take the taste after a few sips so I’d pop it in the fridge & try it again the next day. My taste buds & tummy were really erratic to begin - tolerating something one day but not the next. I had my surgery in winter so I sometimes used hot water to make up my chocolate flavoured shake so I could pretend it was hot chocolate without the marshmallows - lol.

The thermos idea is genius! Im over here eating cold soup......("eating"..humm...not exactly) but i didn't do any prep..not really needed.. your so limited to what you can have. But b4 hand i would stock up on the few things you will need.

On 8/27/2020 at 9:25 AM, MagentaMom said:

My surgery is scheduled for September 10 and I'm trying to prepare as best as I can. I've seen people talking about meal prepping for themselves after surgery. What is it that you're prepping?

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I am only a few days post op. Meal prep was handy preop. Right after surgery using the small containers (1 ounce disposable from amazon) reminds you to sip and not gulp. I have 1 ounce and 2 ounce disposable for the puree phase so i can make a batch of something and divide it out. I also have some nondisposable plastic 4 ounce ones from target (2$ for six) that can be microwaved for hot foods. I haven'tused them yet though