A couple of years ago I was on a mostly liquid and soft diet for nearly a year due to a constricted and distorted esophagus and trachea (fixed after thyroid surgery to remove a calcified malignant tumor). Swallowing solid food ranged from uncomfortable to impossible until a few months after surgery.
So I mostly used a lot of whey and vegan protein supplements, and soups with ground meat or very tender beef or chicken.
Since then I'm back on a normal diet. A lot more meat. Agrees more with my digestion than legumes, and seems to help offset a longtime problem with low vitamin D, calcium and iron. Apparently oxylates in some vegetables including spinach can interfere with metabolizing other nutrients. So I've cut way back on a lot of veggies and other foods I used to eat. Between thyroid supplements, calcium, vitamin D, iron, etc., I have to time my intake fairly carefully to be sure everything is being used as efficiently as possible.
I still have protein powders but use far less now, maybe 10-20 gm mixed with milk and cold coffee, mostly to make other powdered supplements palatable. Unless the protein powder already has it, I'll add creatine, citrulline, niacin and other powders for pre- and post-workout drinks. Some protein powders have all that stuff, which helps.