Patient

Information
Soft diet

This leaflet gives you (and anyone involved in preparing your food) advice about
following a soft, nutritious diet.

It also has suggestions on how to adapt everyday meals and drinks and still make
them tasty and appetising.

(If you have been advised by a Speech & Language Therapist to have a texture D or
E diet specifically, please refer to the guidance to ensure foods are prepared to a
safe texture.)

Your daily food guide

It is important that you eat as varied a diet as possible. To ensure your diet includes
all the nutrients you require, choose foods from the following food groups:

 Base all your meals on the bread, cereals and potato food group.

 Every day, try to include:

2 servings of soft tender meat, fish or alternatives (e.g. eggs, pulses)
2 servings of milk and dairy foods
5 servings of soft fruit and vegetables
Small amounts of foods containing fat and/sugar.

 Drinks, try to drink at least 8-10 cups or glasses of fluid per day (e.g. water, tea,
coffee, juice, milk)

This information sheet is available in other languages and

formats. If you would like a copy, please contact us on
01793 604031 or email [email protected]
Document control
Directorate: Integrated Community Health
Approved Date – November 2013
Next Review Date – Under review December 2015
Document Number PIL-EDRMS001450
 Patient
Information
Soft Diet

Ideas for meals

Breakfast

 Porridge, instant oat cereal, Weetabix or other cereals

(no nuts or dried fruit) with milk.
 Scrambled egg (mashed) with butter or margarine.
 Baked beans* or tinned spaghetti (mashed).
 Stewed fruit e.g. apple or apricots, served with yoghurt or fromage frais.
 Coffee made with milk.
 Fruit juice.

(*considered high risk for those on texture D or E diet)

Main meals

 Casseroles and stews. Use lean, chopped meats and

cook until tender.
 Minced meats or shepherds pie with gravy (use soya or quorn mince for
vegetarian options).
 Lasagne served with sauce or gravy.

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 Corned beef hash, served with a sauce.

 Fish in sauce (boil in the bag), fish pie (potato topping)
or fish cakes with sauce.
 Cheese omelette or cauliflower cheese.
 Macaroni cheese or pasta dishes made with small
pasta shapes in a creamy sauce.
 Serve with potato mashed with butter or margarine and milk.

Use Worcestershire, soy or curry sauce, mint jelly, tomato or garlic purée to vary
the flavour of meals

Vegetables

 Swede, carrots or other root vegetables mashed with butter or

margarine or olive oil.
 Broccoli or cauliflower cooked until soft. Use florets (not stalks).
Add sauce e.g. cheese or savoury white sauce for variety.
 Ratatouille. Finely chop vegetables and cook until soft.

Vegetables, as with all foods need to be chewed well. If you have difficulty
chewing, cook them until soft and use a fork to mash cooked vegetables with
sauce or gravy on your plate before eating.

Puddings
 Milk puddings – rice pudding, semolina, tapioca
and sago.
 Crème caramel or egg custard.
 Yoghurt or fromage frais.
 Instant whip or mousse.
 Milk jelly or blancmange made with milk
 Stewed apple, rhubarb or pear or mashed bananas served with custard, cream or
ice cream.
 Soft tinned fruit e.g. peaches, pears, mandarins served with evaporated milk or
custard*.
 Soft sponge pudding mixed with custard to soften.
 Trifle made with moist sponge, soften with fruit juice, custard, jelly, cream and soft
fruit*.
 Ice cream with sauce topping.

(*avoid mixed consistencies e.g. fruit & cream if following a texture D or E diet)

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Soft Diet

Lighter Meals

 Lentil or split pea soup.

 Soup made with soft vegetables and cooked meat.
 Condensed soups made up with milk.
 Baked beans or tinned spaghetti with grated cheese.
 Jacket potato (avoid the skin) mashed with butter or margarine and served with a
soft moist filling e.g. grated cheese, cottage cheese, baked beans, tuna and
mayonnaise or minced beef.
 Omelette or scrambled egg mashed with butter or margarine.
 Sandwiches without the crusts, filled with soft moist fillings e.g well mashed
salmon, tuna, cream cheese or egg and mayonniase

Basic White Sauce

290ml(½ pint) milk

20g(¾oz) butter or margarine
20g(¾oz) plain flour

Melt the fat in the pan, add the flour and stir well. Cook gently for 1-2 minutes and
remove from the heat. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well to make a smooth
sauce. Return to heat and stir until the sauce boils. Season with salt and pepper.

Cheese Sauce Add 28g (1oz) grated cheese

Parsley Sauce Add 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Lemon Sauce Add zest of 1 lemon (grated)

Suggested eating plan

Breakfast Porridge or soft breakfast cereal with milk
Fruit juice or milky coffee

Mid morning Milky drink such as Horlicks, Drinking Chocolate or

Build Up milkshake

Lunch Shepherds pie

Or flaked fish in sauce
Or cheese omelette
Served with mashed potato and soft vegetables
Yoghurt, sponge and custard, stewed fruit and
custard or milk pudding

Mid afternoon Milky drink or banana mashed with milk

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Tea Lentil or split pea soup

Scrambled egg, mashed potato and soft vegetables
Soft cauliflower or macaroni cheese made with small
pasta shapes
Egg or tuna and mayonnaise sandwiches (without
crusts)
Full fat yoghurt, Instant Whip or soft fresh fruit and
ice cream

Bedtime Milky drink

Soft breakfast cereal with milk

Convenience foods
Ideas for quick and easy meals, sauces and puddings for when you don’t feel like
cooking or don’t have the time.

Frozen foods: Boil in the bag fish in sauce, fish pie (potato topping), lasagne,
shepherds pie, frozen vegetables e.g., carrots, broccoli and cauliflower florets, ice
cream.

Tinned foods: Macaroni cheese, baked beans, tuna, condensed soup, custard, rice
pudding, sponge pudding.

Packet foods: Cheese sauce, Build Up soup, Instant Whip.

Chilled foods: Macaroni/cauliflower cheese, pasta dishes e.g. spaghetti bolognaise,

yoghurt, mousse, crème caramel, trifle.

Am I eating enough?

Ways of enriching foods

If you find that you are eating smaller amounts of food than usual, or you are losing
weight, here are some ideas to add extra nourishment to foods.

 Use whole milk (full fat) or fortified milk – add 4 tablespoons of milk powder to 1
pint of whole milk. Use this fortified milk in place of ordinary milk on cereals, in
custards, soups or sauces.
 Add grated cheese, butter, margarine, olive oil or mayonnaise to vegetables,
potatoes or scrambled eggs.
 Choose full fat or whole milk varieties of yoghurt such as thick and creamy or
Greek style.

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 Add cream to puddings, drinks or soup.

 Add sugar, honey, syrup and seedless jam to cereals, drinks
or puddings.

If you cannot face large meals, try to have 3-4 smaller meals daily with
nourishing drinks or enriched soups in between.

Nourishing drinks

 Coffee, Ovaltine or Drinking Chocolate made with whole milk.

 Milk shakes, fruit smoothies or drinking yoghurts.
 Build Up or Complan (milkshake powders) made with whole milk.
 Nurishment (canned milkshake).

Weight loss
Weigh yourself regularly. Your weight will give you some idea as to whether you are
eating enough.

If you are losing weight, ask your GP or hospital doctor to refer you to the Dietitian.

Prescribable Nutritional Supplements

These are useful for some people and may be offered under guidance from your
dietitian or doctor.

Constipation
Constipation can become a problem if you are unable to eat a normal diet. The
following may help:

 Drink at least 8 cups of fluid daily such as water, tea, coffee, milk, fruit juice or
squash.

 Include vegetables or pulses (beans, peas and lentils) in soups or casseroles.

 Include stewed, tinned or fresh fruit. Try prunes or prune juice 1-2 times daily.

Caution
For some patients fibrous foods may be difficult to swallow even after chewing well
and should be avoided. Examples of such foods are orange pith, fruit skins,
cauliflower stalks, nuts and dried fruit. Discuss with your dietitian, doctor or
specialist nurse.

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Swallowing difficulties
Swallowing difficulties can occur due to a number of medical conditions, including
stroke, head injuries and also following surgery.

You may have to change the texture of your food and fluids.

You may also find certain foods difficult to swallow. These high risk foods include:

 Stringy fibrous texture such as pineapple, runner beans, celery and lettuce.
 Vegetable and fruit skins including beans for example broad beans, soya beans,
black-eyed peas, grapes and tomatoes.
 Mixed consistency foods, for example cereals which do not blend with milk like
muesli, mince with thin gravy and soup with lumps.
 Crunchy foods such as toast, flaky pastry, dry biscuits and crisps.
 Crumbly items such as bread, crust, pie crusts, crumble and dry biscuits.
 Hard biscuits, boiled and chewy sweets and toffees, nuts and seeds.
 Husks such as sweetcorn and granary bread.

For more help with swallowing problems ask your doctor to refer you to a Speech
and Language Therapist.

Chewing difficulties
Difficulties in chewing can be a result of changes to the mouth, jaw, tongue or teeth.

 If your mouth is swollen, you may find that you can only manage fluids for the first
few days. Try whole (full fat) milk based drinks such as Build Up, warm rather
than hot Horlicks or Drinking Chocolate or cold whole milk. After the swelling
goes down, you will probably be able to manage soft foods which do not need
much chewing. They may be easier if they are of a smooth consistency e.g.
smooth purees rather than foods with ‘bits’ in them.

 There are no foods which you have to avoid – but you will probably find that
some foods need to be pureed or liquidised for you to be able to manage them.

 Many people eat less when they have chewing difficulties. You may find it helpful
to have a whole (full fat) milk based drink between meals to stop you losing too
much weight.

 If your jaw is wired, you will be more limited in the foods you can take because
you will not be able to open you jaw and your teeth will act like a sieve. Try
thinning foods with sauces, gravy, milk or juice.

If you are having problems with teeth, gums or dentures, then visit your dentist.

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Soft Diet

Preparing food to different textures

Texture D Texture E
General  Mashed  Food is soft, tender, moist.
descript-  Food is soft, tender, moist.  Varied textures.
tion  Some variation in texture.  Needs some chewing.
 Needs minimal chewing.
Porridge  Very thick*  Thick**
 Smooth consistency  No hard lumps and no lumps bigger than
 No lumps 1.5cm
Cereal  Wheat biscuit cereals fully softened with milk (all milk should be
absorbed)
Fish  Finely mashed fish in very  Flaked fish in thick** sauce
thick* sauce
Meat  Minced meat (2mm) in  Tender meat casseroles (approx. 1.5cm
very thick* sauce pieces of meat in thick smooth
 Very thick casserole/stew/ sauce/gravy).
curry using soft and tender
meat (needs to be
puréed).
Fruit  Stewed and mashed fruit.  Stewed fruit. Drain liquid and serve with
Drain liquid and serve with thick** custard.
very thick custard.
Yoghurt  Very thick* smooth  Thick** smooth yoghurt (tender fruit
yoghurt pieces less than 1.5cm are fine)
Sponge  Sponge cake with smooth  Sponge cake with smooth filling. Mash
filling. Mash with very with thick** smooth custard.
thick* smooth custard.
Both textures
 Bread should not be taken unless advised by a Speech & Language Therapist (SLT)
 No foods should have thin textures, unless advised safe by a SLT.
 Avoid hard, tough, chewy, stringy, dry or crumbly ‘bits’.
 Avoid ice cream and jelly if you have been advised to take thickened fluids.
*Very thick = holds its shape and cannot be poured.
**Thick = small plastic teaspoon should stand upright if the head is completely covered.

Useful contact
Upper G I Specialist Nurse at RUH, Bath: 01225 821453

Nutrition and Dietetic Service

Tel: (01225) 824398 (RUH); (01225) 833916 (St Martin’s);
(01249) 456512 (Chippenham

Soft 06/16 Rv 06/19

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