General Chat

Joy Louise I wish you hadn't typed scone lol now all i can think is how nice a cheese scone would be right now :-D

In Berlin between the wars, one report on the subject of food shortages, claimed that what was known as 'war bread' consisted of 'part sawdust & part mud, eaten with a smear of turnip jelly'.

Maybe our UK hospital food isn't so bad after all!

Thanks for the replies.

I did see nursing auxilliaries being offered spare meals from the trolley after hearing that the patient didn't want their meal.. So no hygiene concerns there.

I was always under the impression that nursing staff were not to eat the food prepared for patients in case there was an outbreak of gastroenteritis attributable to the hospital food.

The kitchen staff (in my usual hospital) would always offer an alternative to the pre-ordered meal if patients were not up to eating it. Ham and chips was the most popular alternative choice or soup for those not ravenous lol

The ward staff in our Trust aren’t supposed to eat unserved food. The reasoning is that either they’ve deliberately ordered too many meals, so that they get a ‘’free’ one, or they’ve given the patients too small a portion. This particular example is from a mental health ward rather than a medical one.

Just remembered another time I was in hospital, about 20 years ago - with alleged appendicitis (I told them it wasn't, but was ignored - turns out it was diverticular disease).
Anyway, they kept me in, and wouldn't let me out as I live alone, then they lost my records.
Daughter came the next day, about lunchtime. I was trying to cut some 'meat', which was so hard, it 'pinged' across the ward :-S
Fortunately, after a fit of uncontrollable laughter, my daughter (who works for the NHS) found my records, asked for my release to be signed , and I was allowed home.
When I was in a Sanitorium aged about 5, I presume I didn't like the food, as they decided to feed me intravenously (or 'force feed', to be honest)
It was some fishy sort of gloop that was put through the funnel into the pipe.
They got it down, walked out of my room, and, as they closed the door, I immediately threw up all over my very confining 'cot'.
They weren't too happy with me.

But, my point is, I'm not a fussy eater (unless it's out of principle - McDonalds, farmed salmon etc),. My mum was pickling, (and I was happily eating) octopus at the age of 2. I was also picking prickly pears and eating them as a 'snack' at the age of 3 - I've also happily ingested tripe, and any other type of offal that could be offered (including sheep eyes).
I don't call myself a 'cook'. but I can cook an edible (to me, and a few others) meal out of almost anything, so the hospital food I was offered (even 50+years ago) must have been pretty gross.