@Dog OK, this gives us some better perspective about your Mom. I’m so sorry that she is having to go through this. And it can range from mildly irritating to scary as hell for you.
The drink from Target is so yummy that she’ll probably like it. Buy them, and simply pour them into a nice glass with a straw and tell her that it’s chocolate milk or a shake or whatever, because it’s so tasty that it doesn’t have any weird off taste. But the Target brand (ask them at the pharmacy what it’s calle, because they have a brand name for some of their own products that does not say Target, it’s kind of like with their Archer Farms food products, which are specific to Target, I just can’t think of the name, and I’m not at home right now).
One of my friend’s mother, who passed away about 5 years ago, was in a similar boat. She had lung cancer and lost her appetite. For some reason she craved lemon jello. I looked high and low for lemon jello, but couldn’t find any. I think it is a flavor that was common in the 60’s and 70’s but then they stopped making it. But she did actually eat a little bit of lemon sorbe.
Do you think your mom would eat pudding or Jello or sorbet or sherbet or ice cream or frozen yogurt? There’s lots of different ice cream goodies (some healthier than others) like fudgescicles and ice cream sandwiches (which my Dad will eat).
Bread and butter, or bread with peanut butter is also a good choice. He loves quickbreads like Pumpkin Bread and Banana Bread. These are also good, because you can slice off a few pieces, then freeze the rest of it. Dad loves this slathered with butter or Smart Balance. He will also eat chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies (with dried cranberries and chocolate chips) like These
And now that I think about it (his appetite is a little better after they took him off Coumadin about 6 months ago) he’ll eat apple and orange slices, bananas if they’re sliced into his cereal, and dried apricots and dried cranberries.
He’ll also eat tuna salad and deviled eggs.
So your best bet is to make yourself a reminder list of all the things she can/will eat and then simply give her a little bit of this and that on a plate, but make sure that she eats lots of mini-meals. It will help you, to make a chart so that you can actually see and remember what she ate and how much. I tried to mix it up a lot with my Dad, but he would actually prefer to eat the exact same thing every single day (this sounds awful, but fixes himself a sandwich with cheese, mayonaise, and peanut butter) then he has some sliced tomatoes and some avocado. He would eat that every single day if we let him.
Become one with the prep and freeze method. Because your Mom won’t eat a lot of anything, you’ll end up with leftovers. But the quick breads, the pudding and Jello and rotisserie chicken and macaroni and cheese will become your friends.
Sample menu for one day:
First Meal Small bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and maybe some dried cranberries, with a tiny glass of milk.
Second Meal 3 cubes of cheese with a few slices of apple or pear.
Third Meal ¼ or ⅓ of a peanut butter sandwich, ½ of a glass of Target’s drink, and a spoonful of cottage cheese.
Fourth Meal Small plate of Chicken Salad, half of a hard boiled egg or deviled egg, other half of glass of Target’s drink
Fifth Meal A small glass of a smoothie blended with plain or vanilla yogurt, sliced strawberries and a banana, with 1 or 2 Triscuits or a Wheat Thins crackers spread with butter, peanut butter or almond butter
Sixth Meal 2 Oatmeal Cookies (from recipe above with cranberries and chocolate chips) and a small glass of milk.
ALTERNATE MENU
First Meal A single pancake with butter, maple syrup and a sprinkle of chopped nuts, small glass of milk.
Second Meal A container of pudding (tapioca, rice, vanilla, chocolate) and 3 pieces of walnuts.
Third Meal A small piece of a quesadilla made with a flour tortilla and some melted cheese and maybe a few cubes of avocado, a very small bowl of refried beans with melted cheese, ½ glass of Target drink.
Fourth Meal ⅓ of a sandwich on a burger bun with rotisserie chicken mixed with barbecue sauce, a small portion of potato or macaroni salad or coleslaw, a few slices of orange or a chunk of fresh pineapple.
Fifth Meal Slice of pumpkin bread with butter or Smart Balance or cream cheese, 5 pistachios, ½ glass Target drink.
Sixth Meal A few crackers with sliced swiss, cheddar or jack cheese, 3 olives or a tiny bit of a pickle.
You want to make sure that she eats often, gets enough fat and protein, varied tastes and textures, and it needs to be healthy and not junky.