Hospital food

[Windigo]

I hope you never were unfortunate enough to stay in hospital, but if you had to..

How was the food?

In the hospital where I stayed 10 times, the food was awful. Most of it was dry boiled potatoes with unidentifiable meat and dead cooked veggies. When I had pulmonary embolisms they served me colcannon with a hamburger! If you have serious trouble breathing, hot food is awful. I rarely ate any hot meals in our hospital because of that. For dessert there would be some type of custard or yoghurt usually, and that's what I ate. Also nothing was made fresh on site, it was from the same manufacturer as airplane food. It was all microwaved.

Breakfast and lunchfood was also just low quality bread with plastic wrapped cheese or meat slices and sometimes fruit juice. But never fresh fruit, the hospital did not offer fresh fruit or veg.

I usually got fresh fruit and veg from home, which is what I crave when so ill. Or I would buy it in the hospital store that would offer those things. But the generic menu for patients did not.

 

[caseydog]

When they won't let you eat anything for about four days, you would be surprised what you will eat as if it was made for you personally by Gordon Ramsey.

CD

 

[Mountain Cat]

I've been in hospitals for surgery several times. I have to admit, CD, with my first two longish term stays, I still didn't like their food even after three or four days without solids. I ate it of course, but didn't mean I liked it.

The last visit was at Yale New Haven Medical after having a tumor removed from my knee. They wouldn't let me eat solids until I, ahem, produced something out of the large intestine. (For some reason, I did get a light solid meal after surgery.) Which, as with the previous visits, if little or nothing goes in, NOTHING comes out.

Not going into the details as to how that finally happened, but the food at that hospital was actually mostly good. And the cold stuff came cold, and the hot stuff came hot. There were significant choices on the menu to please me. I was pleasantly surprised at that place. No, it still didn't taste pro-chef quality by any means, but it was good.

 

[TastyReuben]

I've never been in a hospital as a patient. My wife has several times, but I've always eaten in the cafeteria. Sometimes it's been really good, and other times, it's been really bad.

Having sat with my wife while ordering and getting food, I'd say the worst thing is the wait. It used to take as long as 90 minutes to get her food. I told her to start ordering it well before she was hungry.

 

[Windigo]

When they won't let you eat anything for about four days, you would be surprised what you will eat as if it was made for you personally by Gordon Ramsey.

CD

I have been held off food for longer, but it was still disgusting. The quality is just really bad.

 

[Windigo]

I've never been in a hospital as a patient. My wife has several times, but I've always eaten in the cafeteria. Sometimes it's been really good, and other times, it's been really bad.

Having sat with my wife while ordering and getting food, I'd say the worst thing is the wait. It used to take as long as 90 minutes to get her food. I told her to start ordering it well before she was hungry.

You need to ordee food at a hospital there? It's not served at the same time three times a day for everyone?

Here meals are included in the basic hospital care

 

[CraigC]

Won't eat it. When one of us is in the hospital, the other brings food from home or take out.

 

[caseydog]

You need to ordee food at a hospital there? It's not served at the same time three times a day for everyone?

Here meals are included in the basic hospital care

Yes, you order food. Some hospitals give you no choice of what to get, and others have pretty extensive menus.

As for cost, it get's lumped into the overall hospital bill, but I would estimate a meal in an American hospital costs as much as a meal personally prepared by the above mentioned Gordon Ramsey. No, I am not exaggerating.

CD

 

[TastyReuben]

You need to ordee food at a hospital there? It's not served at the same time three times a day for everyone?

Here meals are included in the basic hospital care

Depends on the hospital - it's included in the price of the care, meaning yeah, you're paying for it, just like you're paying for the meds, and the heart monitor, the doctors' time, and everything else. Thank god for insurance.

Anyway, when my wife was in the hospital for her stroke, it was a pretty swanky place, as far as hospitals go, and she had a menu tailored to her dietary needs based on her condition.

She had an ordering time slot for each mealtime. She'd look at the menu, call the number from the phone in her room, order a la carte, and hopefully sometime within the next two hours, an orderly would bring her food. It also worked the same for both my dad and my brother, when they had their heart attacks (different hospital).

 

[rascal]

We all had medical insurance through my company, wife, son and daughter used it multiple times. They all had menus and a wine or beer at night with their meal if they wanted. I never used it but I did have to go to our public hospital, food was crapola. I had to go back a year later to fix a hernia from the original operation. That was private then. And food was good. I used southern cross insurance.

Wouldn't go public again!

Russ

 

[caseydog]

We all had medical insurance through my company, wife, son and daughter used it multiple times. They all had menus and a wine or beer at night with their meal if they wanted. I never used it but I did have to go to our public hospital, food was crapola. I had to go back a year later to fix a hernia from the original operation. That was private then. And food was good. I used southern cross insurance.

Wouldn't go public again!

Russ

I'd eat bologna sandwiches on stale bread in the hospital, if I didn't have to spend 10-grand a year for health insurance, plus 8-grand a year in deductibles and copays.

CD

 

[rascal]

I'd eat bologna sandwiches on stale bread in the hospital, if I didn't have to spend 10-grand a year for health insurance, plus 8-grand a year in deductibles and copays.

CD

My work paid for it. The company was making good money. Yet everyone benefitted but me. Lol

Russ

 

[Windigo]

We all had medical insurance through my company, wife, son and daughter used it multiple times. They all had menus and a wine or beer at night with their meal if they wanted. I never used it but I did have to go to our public hospital, food was crapola. I had to go back a year later to fix a hernia from the original operation. That was private then. And food was good. I used southern cross insurance.

Wouldn't go public again!

Russ

Wow wine and beer in a hospital would be unthinkable here, because it's 'unhealthy'. Nevermind that the canteen does sell fried snacks, ice cream and candy.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

I hope you never were unfortunate enough to stay in hospital, but if you had to..

How was the food?

In the hospital where I stayed 10 times, the food was awful. Most of it was dry boiled potatoes with unidentifiable meat and dead cooked veggies. When I had pulmonary embolisms they served me colcannon with a hamburger! If you have serious trouble breathing, hot food is awful. I rarely ate any hot meals in our hospital because of that. For dessert there would be some type of custard or yoghurt usually, and that's what I ate. Also nothing was made fresh on site, it was from the same manufacturer as airplane food. It was all microwaved.

Breakfast and lunchfood was also just low quality bread with plastic wrapped cheese or meat slices and sometimes fruit juice. But never fresh fruit, the hospital did not offer fresh fruit or veg.

I usually got fresh fruit and veg from home, which is what I crave when so ill. Or I would buy it in the hospital store that would offer those things. But the generic menu for patients did not.

I’m a bit surprised to hear that the hospital did not offer fresh fruit or veg, I’ve always thought it’s one of those things that are allowed as first thing. regardless the country. I have never been hospitalised except for a night because of a car accident occurred to me - so no direct personal experience in food hospital - but my mom has been a nurse for 30 years old (she is now retired) and she said that fresh fruit is definitely allowed. Then my brother has been hospitalised several times and he experienced HF.. and apart from fresh fruit, he still has nightmares about the rest, remembering how bread tasted like plastic tray

 

[Windigo]

I’m a bit surprised to hear that the hospital did not offer fresh fruit or veg, I’ve always thought it’s one of those things that are allowed as first thing. regardless the country. I have never been hospitalised except for a night because of a car accident occurred to me - so no direct personal experience in food hospital - but my mom has been a nurse for 30 years old (she is now retired) and she said that fresh fruit is definitely allowed. Then my brother has been hospitalised several times and he experienced HF.. and apart from fresh fruit, he still has nightmares about the rest, remembering how bread tasted like plastic tray

Oh, the fresh fruit is allowed. But it's 'too expensive' for the hospital to afford these days, thanks to the government taking away a lot of hospital tax exemptions. The fresh fruit you get at hospital is either fruit you bought yourself or that was donated to the hospital by volunteers.

Fresh vegetables are also unavailable, same story. The vegetables served at dinner have clearly been preserved. The closest we could get to fruit on the hospital menu was a small portion of preserved peaches.