Reheating Food

Leftovers are my life. Since I eat so little and hardly ever actually finish a meal I usually eat the same things over and over again in leftover form. This seems to be quite common with other bariatric patients that I know. I also tend to make big batches of things and make a ton of meals out of them since I like to always be prepared.

There is a bit of a catch to re-heating food. When I reheat things that are particularly protein heavy (hello everything I eat) it can change the texture and consistency of the meat (especially chicken) and I can very easily end up having trouble with it going down well. Anecdotally I have heard from other weight loss surgery patients that they struggle with this too.

In terms of food safety re-heating food to the point where its piping hot is recommended. That’s for good reason too but I find the hotter I heat something the worse it tends to go down. It’s not that I can’t reheat anything I just need to be careful eating it when I have.

I’m lucky in that I quite like eating thing that would usually be hot cold the next day. If the food has been handled and stored correctly after first being cooked there is no problem with this. Sometimes though you do want something nice and warm to help you warm up so I have a few tips to hopefully make eating reheated food easier for you.

The saucier the better! I find things like spaghetti bolognaise mince goes down well when it has been reheated because it is quite saucy in its consistency and being mince it’s smaller bits of protein to start with.

Don’t reheat it to death! While there is a balance of getting it hot enough to kill any bugs don’t overdo it. By re-heating it most things will get drier and re-heating it too much will not help you get it down at all. I have found 2 mins 15 secs is the perfect time for me. Anymore and my body says no hence the picture above!

Add gravy! If you had gravy with the meal make extra and out lots with whatever you are going to reheat. I do this especially with roast chicken. Roast chicken is one of my favourite all time meals and my putting lots of gravy with it I know I will tolerate it better when it comes to re-heating it.

Just eat it cold! Why not just avoid re-heating it altogether? I do this with things like rissoles (BBQ season is back!) where I will just chop up the cold ones into little cubes and mix them through a salad. So yum and you completely avoid any potential re-heating issues.

Figuring out your new relationship with food and works well for you and what doesn’t is really interesting after bariatric surgery. This was something that I never expected to be an issue but it turns out at times it can be for me. Have you had any problems eating reheated food after bariatric surgery (gastric bypass in particular), let me know in the comments below!