Nursery (or Comfort) Food and Chemo

Some of us May Moonbeams have been fighting the SE’s of the chemo poisons by indulging in some long-remembered nursery foods - they’re bland, the texture is comforting and the nostalgia factor can give you a lift. I was wondering if anyone else has any recommendations/favourite nursery foods to fall back on when feeling rough? Here are a few of ours-none of them are on the list of cancer-fighting foods, but sometimes we need a little comfort when in the throes of recovery from SE’s:

The BRAT diet - Bananas, Rice, Apples, and Toast. Great for tender tummies.
Apple sauce or puree.
Orange jelly made up with a small tin of mandarin pieces, using the juice instead of water to make up the jelly.
Cream of Tomato Soup, with strips of white bread or toast, soaked in it.
Hula Hoops, (which help settle feelings of Nausea) –especially consumed with ginger ale.
A cube of jelly straight from the packet (good for nail recovery,apparently)
Spaghetti hoops on chunky toast.
Redi-brek: great for The Morning After
Cheesy Balls (thanks to Chelle they were delicious)

Nice idea for a thread Penny.

For me it is Fish Finger butties on white bread and butter, with tomato ketchup. Delicious!

Thanks for adding this Penny. And fish fingers, ooh yes!
I’m adding Ambrosia rice pudding. Yes, I know it’s easy enough to make from scratch, but if you’re feeling delicate you want something NOW! I looked at the single portion tubs of other rice puddings in the yoghurt and dessert section and they all have egg in them. Why I have no idea, but they don’t taste right. Ambrosia seems to be the only brand without egg - just the things you’d expect in a rice pudding - but although they have plastic tubs as well as tins, they all sit together with the jellies in our supermarket. So it needs finding (unless you’re shopping on-line for the duration as I am).

Thanks Jane- your explanation about added eggs has just answered my niggling doubts about the rice puddings in tubs. Can’t get on with them. Good old Ambrosia. I used to fancy it with tinned gooseberries during one pregnancy.

One of my favourites during chemo (although not baby food!) was Ryvita minis, Cream cheese and chive flavour, but they also do salt and vinegar. I felt they were healthier than crisps and also a bit more filling.

Mines not nursery food as such but I HAD to have a Macdonalds last week (my low week) My boys were very amused to see their Mum tucking into a Big Tasty, fries and a milkshake!
Oh and I did have a tin of semolina :slight_smile:

I used to joke about my mashed potato diet last summer- you can add some cheese for ‘cheesy mash.’ Have it with baked beans. Oh god, it brings it all back…White chocolate magnums when it is warm.
This time next year, you can indulge yourselves.
Rattles

Yes, Rattles, and yogurt magnums are apparently available but wondering how safe they are for Netropenics!

I craved chicken supernoodles, ready brek, cheesy bread and beef and hot chocolate!!

Hot weather calls for: Ice Cream Soda. Ice cream (2-3 small scoops per glass). And Soda. Stir and serve!

Cottage pie and Spag Bol for me

What- at the same tiime Penny?

Fajita wraps, spread with honey and rolled up into cigar/sausages with a cup of tea, were my favourites and even tasted good when I had TAX mouth. Is there any wonder I put on nearly 2 stone during chemo!

Mashed sweet potatoes. Either peel, cut up, boil and mash with a little butter, or cook in the oven like a normal baked spud (less time though), cut open, scoop out and mash the same way. With a meal or on its own. Yum.

Jane

What a useful thread!!
Just a comment about yogurt: if it is pasteurised it should be OK, unless your oncologist or dietitian says you should avoid it. Yogurt can be very comforting for a sore mouth.

Hi Mrs Blue I got in some kids’ yogurt for my grandchildren who were visiting last week and read the labels and it looks as if they don’t have live cultures. (therefore safe) Having said that it is not easy to tell from any of the labels whether they are pasteurized or not. I stand there in the yogurt aisle at Tescos reading the labels and for some reason this seems to irritate other shoppers. Is it because they are in a hurry to shop for their kids I wonder? Or is it because this time of year the coolers break down and there are always puddles there- my OH and I call it the “Lake Aisle” (referring to WB Yeats’ poem- my husband is a fan).Who knows. I love yogurts and I need to have them in my diet for comfort and also they seem to help with…erm… my digestion.

millymolly_m my best breakfast is lightly toasted brown bread with butter and honey and a dusting of cinnamon. I’m going to try fajitas now! I am right behind you with the weight gain!

Cheddars. With or without peanut butter. (Thanks, Aly!)

I was told peanut butter was on the banned food list. OH thought that was correct as he regards it as the work of the devil, but I like it. No idea why it should be banned. Black pepper ground freshly onto food at the table is another one I miss.

Yikes! Is black pepper on the banned list too? Clearly I am using the wrong list.

I did break a promise to myself and googled peanut butter+chemotherapy. The American Cancer Institute actually recommends creamy or smooth Peanut Butter for chemo patients recovering from diarrhoea. (!) But on the other hand, one site about alternative treatment prohibits peanut butter because it has so many funguses. How they reckon the fungi can survive being processed I cannot even imagine. I guess you have to remember that Americans eat more peanut butter than we do. A lot more. Those of us who have trouble with Wind should probably avoid it too. But Cheddars are lovely without PB!