Hey! I'm gearing up for my soft food stage next week and thinking about protein sources. I get most of my protein through shakes right now in pureed stage but I also eat eggs and beans. I've been a vegetarian for 7 years now and don't plan on eating meat again. Has anyone tried these foods on soft?

-Steamed tofu (not crispy or hard)

-vegetarian deli meat slices

-vegetarian ground beef, finely chopped up

And can you think of anything else that might be okay on soft food?

How's that chickpea pasta? I might buy some. And I'm super jealous of that plate, I used to have an Alice in Wonderland one that looked almost the same but it broke.

Kids plates are the best, not only for portions but they're just so darn cute. The pasta is great! I tolerate Chickpeas well. It's banza shells. 13 grams of protein per serving although I can't eat a full serving it does the trick. Just make sure to rinse it after boiling so that like sticky gummy layer comes off. It honestly tastes better the next day too.

Here's another vegetarian post op meal: 1.5 oz of cauliflower mac n cheese, 1.5 oz of beyond beef, 1 teaspoon sugar free ketchup and chipotle hot sauce on the Mac n cheese (I like spicy food). Total 3 oz of food about, 150 calories and 12 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of carbs. I know it looks super ugly lol but it tastes great! I actually had the burger patty leftover from a restaurant. I had to go to a work dinner and I didn't want to deal with telling people why I wasn't eating so I ordered a beyond burger and ate a quarter of it (just the patty) and told everyone I was Low carb LOL anyway, the patty lasted me 3 days worth of meals so I stretched my dollar far too!

Just bought some puffed quinoa (although you can do it yourself) which is a great, high protein substitute for grains, if you wanted to use it in a homemade granola or similar.

Just posting another meal here, currently waiting 10 minutes
to eat since I just had 8 oz of water. Shakshuka! It's one of my favorite breakfasts. I cooked the hell out of the vegetables since I'm on soft foods right now. Great way to utilize leftover marinara sauce too. I can't get through a whole jar and keep wasting it. My family eats this too but I just made it for me today since I'm home alone. If you eat both eggs you get 20 grams of protein! Not sure if I can manage both eggs so we'll see. Vegetables in here: yellow squash, onion, shredded carrots. Very spicy and flavorful...just what I need.

Yum!!! I love shakshuka. And I love that the dish is so full of veggies. I hope I can handle the spice after my surgery.

On 3/13/2022 at 12:28 AM, fourmonthspreop said:

Thanks! I tried tofu today and it went down well. I'm interested to see how products like gardein, tofurkey, morningstar and light life will sit in my stomach.

I was a vegetarian for 3 years before I deployed and couldn't maintain that diet without eating garbage as a replacement. I used to LOVE these Gardein Chicken stuffed with spinach things. I have looked high and low for them and they're not made anymore but man were they good. They came in like single serving packages with one loaf of chicken per package.

Yum!!! I love shakshuka. And I love that the dish is so full of veggies. I hope I can handle the spice after my surgery.

Spices usually go down easy. It might be different with VSG but I got the gastric bypass and still have my hot sauce and red pepper flakes.