How good is your food?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I recently was inpatient to deliver my baby. The food was terrible. I didn't expect much, but honestly this food was gross. You could only order what would fit on one plate, so you were limited on what you could order together at mealtime. Like i ordered a slice of cheese pizza and a side of 3 chicken strips. Since they will only give one plate they put the strips on my pizza where they melted into the cheese. Yuck! This coming from a hospital that brags about it's award winning chef.. No thanks I'd rather eat disgusting McDonalds. My hubby brought me food in so I didn't have to eat too much of it. So how is the food at your facility?? Do you have it outsourced or is it made on site?

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Wow...I remember a steak dinner and a bottle of wine after my babies.....this is an improvement of services? :no:

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I'm still mulling over the idea that a patient can only order what will fit on one plate..?? Why on earth can't you have TWO plates if you so desired? You just gave birth to an infant, and they're putting such weird restrictions on your diet?

Can't quite get my head wrapped around the one-plate-only thing.

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Wow...I remember a steak dinner and a bottle of wine after my babies.....this is an improvement of services? :no:

There's still a hospital in my vicinity that offers the gourmet dinner and champagne option, but only if you happen to be there at the right time, for at least two nights....kinda like if the stars align for you. If you happen to deliver after breakfast on Day One, it's not enough notice for dinner that night...and if you are discharged prior to dinnertime the next day (commonplace nowadays, too!) well, you missed out. OH, and if you're breastfeeding, no-go on the alcohol, same if you're staying a bit longer because of c-section and on pain meds. So hardly anyone gets that dangled carrot.

Mostly, cost cutbacks are such that I think most women would be happy to give up the fancy dinner just to stay overnight!

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The hospital that I use as my primary hospital now has REALLY GOOD food! It is a tertiary care center/teaching hospital and their dietary services has you choose your own food. They have options such as Salmon (REALLY GOOD!), Veggie Burgers, Chicken, Asian Chicken Salad (REALLY GOOD!), etc. for the main course, mashed potatoes, sweet potato patties (mashed sweet potato in the made into a thick hamburger shaped patty), spinach, carrots, etc. for veggies, a few different soups (none of them are that good IMO, they all taste too watery), and for dessert they have chocolate cake, fresh baked (read hot when it arrives) chocolate chip cookies, fresh baked apple turnovers, raspberry sherbert, lemon ice, orange ice, etc.

Then they have the regular drinks, but you can order soda as well from the fountain and ginger ale by the can.

When I was here for about a month with a CSF leak I couldn't really eat anything (I had really bad hyperemesis that required the insertion of an NJ tube at first and a GJ tube after a trial of the NJ tube) but I always had some sort of diet order to try and keep my stomach working as much as possible. As long as I was on something more than a clear liquid diet I did okay because there were enough decent choices to keep me happy. I was REALLY happy once I was placed on a regular diet and could order ANYTHING from the menu (even if I "ate" it twice, if you catch my drift) because the food tasted so good! None of the other hospitals I have been in even come CLOSE to this hospital!

The last time I was admitted there was around May for C Diff (I still have a PICC line (and GJ tube) bc of the hyperemesis and a need for additional IV fluids at night while I am getting my enteral feeding, and had spiked a HIGH fever in the middle of the night. I had been on IV abx a couple weeks before b/c of a bad UTI, but had not been having bad diarrhea (I had JUST started to have a bit of loose stool that day) so I thought that the fever might have been caused by the PICC and feared a line infection. I took myself to the ER by bus the next morning and they tested for just about everything infectious including the line infection, C Diff, and a UTI. Thankfully the blood cultures came back negative and we discovered it was indeed from C Diff, so my ID team and my GI doc got me on abx and kept me inpatient for a few days until the diarrhea (that started BAD after admission) was under control.) and I made sure that as soon as I got to the floor I called hospitality to order what I wanted to eat on day of admission instead of just whatever they sent me. Then they give you a paper everyday for the following days food order. Since this was my most "with it" admission, I looked forward to meal time (with the exception of breakfast, I don't ever really eat breakfast) as if I were a kid looking forward to high sugared treats!

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I'm still mulling over the idea that a patient can only order what will fit on one plate..?? Why on earth can't you have TWO plates if you so desired? You just gave birth to an infant, and they're putting such weird restrictions on your diet?

Can't quite get my head wrapped around the one-plate-only thing.

THANK YOU!!!! It made no sense. I'm still waiting on my survey to show, and plan on writing some letters. It's just ridiculous.

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I lost 10kg just eating either fried rice from the cafeteria for dinner, sandwiches for lunch and toast for breakie. It made for an expensive 4wk 3day stay

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the food is one of the better things where I work. Sometimes I go in early to get dinner before the cafe closes for the night.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

I've never eaten the food where I work (LTC). when I interviewed they said they had recently switched from an in-house dietary system to something the corporation chose and the menus were awesome and the foods were so flavorful, etc. The residents don't agree however! I did have to venture into the dining room to give some meds the other day and the lady had a BEAUTIFUL looking salad on her plate, truly a work of art and I mention how yummy it looked. She said "yeah, it's pretty to look at, but check this out" and she started disassembling it with her fork: beautiful looking strips of raw carrot that she can't chew. crisp celery stalks that she can't chew. Big pieces of lettuce that she can't easily cut. Went to show that looks aren't everything!!

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Everything at our facility is "heart healthy"- low sodium, low cholesterol, dark chocolate candy only, baked chips, etc. Nothing against that, but IMHO, you should be able to follow what diet you choose , not have one forced on you!

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I was in the hospital for pyelonephritis back in November, and was actually surprised by the food. The brought me a beautiful fresh fruit plate that was delicious! Even their veggies, pasta, and meat were good....of course it could have been that way to me because I hadnt been able to eat in 5 days due to extreme nausea & vomiting.....:yes:

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I have never been a patient at my hospital but I have had hospital from the cafeteria and it's decent. There have been a small handful of things that I thought sounded good but didn't taste good at all...but overall, I cannot complain. Our patients seem to be pleased with the food, too.

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Specializes in Peri-Op.

Ours is pretty good. Our cafeteria is small and has a limited menu daily. Today I had grilled salmon and smashed potatoes... Excellent.

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