If your mouth or throat becomes sore during the course of treatment, or chewing or swallowing is more difficult, a soft diet may be easier to manage.  The following advice and meal plan provides some tips on how to provide a soft diet, and gives some ideas for soft meals and snacks 

• Taking foods ‘little and often’ may be more manageable-aim for small frequent meals and snacks every 2-3 hours
• Try using sauces, gravy, butter, cream or custard to soften foods e.g. have fish in sauce, sponge with custard or cream
• Soften foods by chopping, mincing or mashing
• Small sips of drink with a meal can help to moisten your food
• Meats should be well cooked and tender by stewing, casseroling etc
• Warm foods may be more soothing.  Allow a piping hot meal or drink to cool before eating or drinking
• Try to avoid foods that require a lot of chewing and are difficult to swallow e.g. tough gristly meat, raw vegetables and nuts
• You may need to take nutritious drinks between you meals to supplement your intake.  Your Dietitian will advise you about this
  

 Menu ideas for meals and snacks 

Meat and Poultry

• Shepherds pie, cottage pie, corned beef hash, meat loaf
• Minced meats and gravy or sauce
• Sausages (may be easier to manage if skinless)
• Tender meat in stews, hotpots or casseroles
• Potted meat and pates

Fish

• Flaked fish in white/cheese/parsley sauce
• Fisherman’s pie, fish mornay, fish and potato nests
• Fish mousse or light pate
• Tinned fish e.g. tuna, salmon, sardines

Eggs

• Serve scrambled, poached, boiled or as an omelette (add cheese if desired)
• Egg Mayonnaise (Ensure that eggs are well cooked) 
• Egg dishes e.g. sweet/savoury egg custard, soufflés
• Whisk into milk puddings

Pasta Dishes

• Lasagne, moussaka, bolognaise sauce over pasta
• Macaroni cheese, ravioli
• Pasta in creamy sauce e.g. carbonara

Potatoes and Vegetables

• Soft carrots, turnip, swede, cauliflower, marrow are easily mashable
• Add extra butter/margarine
• Try adding grated cheese
• Serve with a white/cheese sauce or gravy
• Instant mashed potato is a quick alternative
• Mash the insides of a jacket potato with butter and add a suitable filling

Desserts and Snacks

• Sponge pudding with custard/cream/ice cream
• Milk puddings e.g. rice pudding, semolina.  Milk puddings can be made with fortified milk (4 tbsps of dried milk powder to 1 pint of full cream milk)
• Whip, mousse, fruit fool, jelly, crème caramel, blancmange, trifle
• Dip biscuits in warm drinks to soften
• Pancakes-savoury with a sauce, sweet with cream/ice cream
• Yoghurt, fromage frais, milk jelly
• Ice cream, sorbet
• Dairy lea triangles, Primula cheese spread
• Tinned/stewed/mashed fruit with cream, custard, ice cream, yoghurt

Menu Plan For Soft Choices 

Breakfast:

• Porridge, Ready Brek, Weetabix, Cornflakes made with fortified   milk     and sugar or honey
• Scrambled eggs made with milk and butter/margarine
• Soft fruit e.g. banana, stewed apple, pear, melon
• Fruit juice e.g. pear juice or rosehip

Mid-morning:

• Milky drink (ideally make with fortified milk)
• Snack (see list)

Lunch:

• Meat e.g. shepherds pie, chicken stew
• Fish e.g. fish in parsley sauce
• Pasta with sauce e.g. macaroni cheese
• Mashed potato with added butter, cream, cheese
• Soft vegetables e.g. carrots, cauliflower with butter, cheese, sauce

* If you feel full up after your main course, you may prefer to leave your sweet until later

• Milk pudding e.g. rice pudding
• Sponge pudding and cream, ice cream, custard

Evening Meal:

• Jacket potato with butter and soft filling e.g. tuna with mayonnaise
• Soup with added pasta, cream, cheese, meat
• Soft bread and butter/margarine with cream cheese, pate
• Omelette with cheese
• Yoghurt, ice cream
• Trifle, whip, mousse

Supper:

• Warm milky drink e.g. hot chocolate, Horlicks, Ovaltine
• Biscuits (soften by dunking in a warm drink) or soft cake
• Cereal with fortified milk and sugar or honey

For those who may be experiencing weight loss, full fat and sugar products should be used e.g. full cream milk and creamy yoghurts

You may also like to refer to the sore mouth and food fortification advice sheets available

Further general information Your doctors and specialist nurses are in an ideal position to give you relevant information on your disease and treatment as they know your individual circumstances. Cancerbackup has a help line (0808 800 1234) and a prize winning video available in English, Italian, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati & Hindi explaining Radiotherapy & Chemotherapy. Cancernet.co.uk has over 500 pages describing cancer, its management, practical tips and tool which patients, their carers and their doctors have found helpful during the cancer journey.