Fortisip for very underweight OH

at the weekend i bought some high protein drinks in lidl.
225ml i think.
in the chill cabinet, near the greek yogurt.
about a pound each.
coffee flavour.
also vanilla.
there were some called U_Fit in the grab it and go section too, near the sandwiches.
salted caramel, strawberry, chocolate.
have you tried nurishment cans, available in most corner shops. various flavours.
so check out those aimed at the fitness market, widely available commercially, not just medically needed supplements.
cast your net wide.
good luck.

If Fortisip tastes even remotely like the three different brands we can buy or get on prescription in Denmark, your husband will not like them (they are all yoghurt based and taste revolting) and will refuse to drink more than one or two a day.

So get in touch with a hospital dietrician at once and ask what else she recommends.

You can buy yoghurt and add full-fat cream to it, cocao etc. if your husband can eat dairy products.

Otherwise home made chicken, beef, or vegetable soups, strained carefully are a possiblity, but you need advice on judging how many calories a portion contains.

Mashed potatoes are a possiblity if your husband can eat any solid food, preferably with mince. Mashed carrots, turnip, etc are also possiblities. So is rice pudding or any other kind of milk pudding.

My husband could force himself to drink the coffee, vanilla and strawberry flavoured ones, but as they all have a metalic taste (and tasted them myself to make sure it was not his taste buds that were affected, there was no way I could get him to drink four to six a day.

If you have a Victorian or Edwardian cookery book in the house, it will have a chapter on invalid food, which you may find helpful.

But you do need professional advice as to what your husband may and can eat and drink and unless you are a trained chef yourself advice about the amount of calories in anything you make.

My DH has dementia and his appetite is very poor resulting in weight loss. His GP prescribed Food Link complete, which comes in various flavours he didn't like. I now request the natural flavour. I make a jug full at the beginning of the day and use it to make his coffee, hot chocolate and even use on his cereal. He tolerates it well and has put some weight back on.

IMHO coffee flavour and chocolate flavour are the best closely followed by caramel. I hated banana flavour. There is an interesting pudding available too. After a bit all the food alternatives prescribed became boring but I mixed the drinks with tinned rice pudding and vanilla ice cream for a bit of a change. The aim was to get calories and nutrients into me. The drinks also freeze and can become ice lollies.

My partner was very under weight after illness and was prescribed these he loved them he liked strawberry ones. They actually smelt ok.

My mum tried them in hospital because she had lost weight. She hated them and said they were too sweet (and she had a sweet tooth, loved a cake!). There is some research about taste buds changing as people get older. There are cookbooks available. There is a free cookbook meant for people whose taste and smell have been affected by cancer. It's downloadable from 7th December lifekitchen.co.uk/

My late partner had a repeat prescription and ordered when required. We started off with a selection box, chose what he liked and requested that flavour on the repeat prescription. He liked the mixed berry ensure and the chicken and vegetable soup both together and separately. You can also get them in a type of yogurt. So to recap, we had juices, yogurts and soups all on separate prescription on usual repeat. This is up to 1 months ago when my partner sadly died so should be current information but may differ as everything else does in the various LAs.

I used to work in a Cancer day centre and the dietician used to recommend five or six small snack type meals often and all the things you are normally told not to eat. Just a thought you said he has COPD, check his tongue, sometimes the inhalers and oxygen and not eating can give them a furry tongue , oral thrush, and that can make everything taste metallic , encourage him to brush it when he does his teeth and you can buy something from the pharmacist for it.

Thank you for all the replies. Most of the time he eats fairly well. But sometimes neither of us feel that hungry. Not often. On those occasions I thought a Fortisip would be a good idea together with a small snack.

62 Granny The six small high calorie meals a day is what I ate when trying to get my weight up before chemo started. And that worked. OH has never had a great appetite. I think I will buy the coffee flavoured one and see how he gets on with that.

I have been through this with my mum. There is SO much out there, but the things I found with mum...

- desserts are more expensive but they were a massive success - she could eat those. Flavours are broadly similar but Nualtra do Nutricrem Mint Choc and they were her favourite!
- you can also get yoghurt and fruity desserts but neither of those were a success for my mum
- she didn't like the milky drinks, but found some of the fruit ones more palatable (interesting that seems to be a theme throughout replies!)
- Cappuccino flavour drinks were her favourite
- Calogen can be used in cooking to increase calories

Have a look at the websites for Fresubin, Fortisip, Nualtra and Ensure, but I found Fresubin's website the most user friendly for exploring their range - you can narrow down by flavour or type of product too www.fresubin.com/uk/fresubin-range?#product-finder-filter - I was astounded at the range and number of flavours when I first researched (in desperation trying to find something mum could stomach after the first ones were a disaster!)