You may want to contact your local cancer center for nutrition advice. We had one come in the first week of treatment but with my research, I found easier and cheaper ways to produce much more nutrition. YOu may want to look at my post in Currently In Treatment section -- I wrote about the items I found to use to create his own nutrition. First, you need to determine exactly what nutrition is needed (high protein, carbs, etc). My husband needs both high protein and carbohydrates, plus general nutrition such as vegetables and fruits. Once I knew that (he has a PEG tube), I spent a couple of hours in the grocery store and health food store determining what items were blendable to liquid form and what provided the most of these nutrients for the money. Generally, my recipe is protein powder (from health food store; based on soy protein - you can buy similar at Walmart where the Slim Fast, etc are located), baby food vegetables and fruits, olive oil, Karo syrup (high carbs), milk, yogurt, peanut butter, tuna fish. When you look at the amount of Ensure/Boost, etc. that is needed to get the daily nutrients, it is both cost- and quantity-prohibitive. These shakes I make myself are much less expensive and provide about 4 times the amount of nutrients in a day than the recommended amount from Boost, etc. Now, of course, if a PEG tube is not used, you would consider flavor more than I have to, so keep that in mind. I just would suggest going to the grocery store and writing down what provides X grams of each needed nutrient, the cost, and figure what works best. If you do not have a local cancer center, contact your oncologist, radiologist, whoever and ask them who to talk to -- they surely will know. Good luck.
