Soft diet meals and tips

A soft diet means you have to add water or other liquid to food to soften it. It can help you to cope with chewing or swallowing problems.

Getting dietary advice

Speak to your healthcare team if your swallowing problems are making eating and drinking hard. Your doctor may refer you to a speech and language therapist.  

The therapist checks that your swallowing is safe. Also, that food or drink is not going down the wrong way. They might suggest that you stick to eating soft foods. Or they might tell you about the types of textures that are better for you.

Everyone is different. One person may be able to eat certain foods that cause problems for another. Some people may not be able to manage high fibre foods such as vegetables and grains. People vary in the type of textures of different foods they like.

You might need some specific advice from a dietitian too. Ask your doctor or nurse to refer you to a dietitian at your local hospital. They might suggest that you try liquid supplements to boost your diet.

What you can do

It can be difficult to eat the right variety of food if you need a soft diet. You need enough calories to stay healthy and keep your weight up.

The following tips can help you make the most of a soft diet.

Eat slowly, little and often

• Having small frequent meals with snacks in between is often easier to cope with. And it will increase your nutritional intake each day.
• Take your time when you eat your meals and make sure you chew your food well.
• Take sips of liquid between mouthfuls.

Try soft foods

• Eat more stews and casseroles. Long, slow cooking softens meat, beans, pulses and vegetables.
• Use more sauces, gravies, cream, butter, milk or custard to soften foods. Moist food is easier to swallow than dry food.
• Make milkshakes (banana, chocolate, strawberry) and add ice cream for extra calories.
• Use dairy free alternatives to butter, milk, cream and ice cream if required.

Use a liquidiser to process solid foods

• You can eat most of your favourite foods this way, with a few changes here and there.
• Mince or finely chop meat and vegetables in a food processor before or after cooking.
• Liquidise meat or vegetable casseroles or curries to make tasty soups.
• Try pureeing vegetables and mashed potatoes.
• You can liquidise ready meals if you feel too tired to cook.
• Foods like bread and fish with bones are less suitable to liquidise.

If you are trying to put on weight

• Use milk or cream instead of water when mashing or liquidising foods.
• Have plenty of high calorie drinks.
• Add butter to liquidised foods.
• Have more soft snacks between meals.

Have your food at the right temperature

• Let very hot meals or drinks cool before you eat or drink them. Warm foods may be more soothing.
• Cold foods such as ice cream, yoghurt, mousse or jelly can be soothing too.

Foods to avoid

Avoid foods that need a lot of chewing or are harder to swallow. These include:

• nuts and seeds
• raw fruit and vegetables
• fruit or vegetables with tough skins
• tough meat
• dry or crispy foods
• bread
• stringy foods

The Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust have a video called 'What should I eat if...I find it difficult to swallow? Tips to support you during cancer treatment'. 

Meal ideas

You can turn most of your favourite foods into a soft meal.

Breakfasts

Some ideas are:

• porridge or other soft cereal

• mashed or stewed fruit

• boiled, poached or scrambled eggs

• yoghurt or fromage frais

Soft savoury meal ideas

Some ideas for soft savoury foods are:

Meat or vegetarian:

• casseroles, stews or curries
• shepherd's pie or cottage pie
• moussaka
• chilli con carne
• soup with added cream

Meat:

• chicken in cream sauce
• savoury mince
• corned beef hash
• tuna mayonnaise
• fish and potato in a creamy sauce

Vegetarian and vegetable dishes:

• lentils made into dahl
• ratatouille
• mixed vegetables mashed with butter and melted cheese
• cauliflower cheese
• soft cooked risotto
• mashed potato with butter, grated cheese or cream cheese
• baked beans with grated cheese
• tinned spaghetti with grated cheese

Pasta:

• pasta with different sauces, such as goats cheese, mushroom or creamy tomato
• bolognese
• lasagne
• macaroni cheese
• noodles

Egg dishes:

• quiche or flan
• egg mayonnaise
• omelette or scrambled egg

Dips and pâtés:

• smooth pâté (fish or meat)
• hummus
• guacamole
• taramasalata
• cream cheese

Soft desserts

Buy full fat yoghurts and puddings, not low fat types. Dairy free alternatives for most of these are available. Some ideas for soft desserts are:

Pudding, trifles and pies:

Try these with egg custard or homemade, powdered, carton or tinned custard.

• sponge pudding with custard or cream
• homemade or bought trifle
• lemon meringue or banoffee pie without the crust
• milk jelly or blancmange
• milk puddings such as rice, tapioca, semolina or sago with added cream, jam or chocolate sauce
• instant pudding mixes such as Instant Whip or Angel Delight

Desserts:

• mousse
• ready made chocolate desserts
• crème caramel
• cheesecake

Yoghurts:

• whole fat yoghurts, thick and creamy or Greek yoghurt with honey or stewed fruit
• fromage frais

Fruit and ice cream:

• fruit fools and purées
• mashed fruit with ice cream, custard or evaporated milk
• ice cream or sorbet
• tinned or stewed fruit with yoghurt, cream, evaporated milk or ice cream
• fruit crumble or pie with custard or cream