<<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.


*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the Celiac List *
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC