<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
My "extended" stay in the hospital was to have a large brain tumor removed
-- and it's ALL scary, when we don't have the safety of our own kitchens to
fall back on. Although strangely (and perhaps a little stupidly), I was
actually more anxious about not getting GF food during my recovery than I was
about the actual brain surgery! Maybe a strange blessing, in that it kept me
distracted about something that was far less threatening.
But I had enough advance notice of the surgery to speak with the hospital
kitchen, to find they actually had a GF menu available. You might easily
guess that it didn't go entirely smoothly, with a number of misunderstandings
-- but having the menu was a good start, and each day got a bit easier at
both ends.
I've also heard from others that it's often possible to provide frozen or
packaged foods (including frozen bread), for a hospital to heat up. I don't
think most hospitals would accept foods prepared at home -- but it does seem
they are open to purchased supermarket products that are sealed and just
need to be heated or opened up to serve.
If you go the Yoplait yogurt route as well -- I'll be they'd store a stash
for you in the refrigerator at the nurses's station, right on your floor.
Or small cans of V8, fruit juices or maybe even Mott's single-serving
applesauces that you bring, and know are GF.
I also recommend a stash of GF crackers, little packaged jams, GF candy and
other snacks, put together in a lunchbox or something that you can keep
right by your bedside -- in the event they don't manage to serve you a safe
meal on any given day. This way you won't starve! (I never thought of these
smart ideas, of course, in ADVANCE of my own hospital stay!) If you have the
time, lots of single-serving condiments (including peanut butter!) are
available through minimus.biz, if you're not already familiar with that site.
Enter "gluten free" into the search field, and lots of stuff pops up -- but,
in addition to that, there are lots of single-serve packages from Kraft and
other manufacturers that we pretty much know to be GF, even though they
don't have "gluten free" in their product names.
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