Organising meals

[Worrywart]

Hi all - some advice please.
Mymother has carers 3 times a day. That is great but we still have to provide the food for the carers to prepare. Having been out of hospital some 8 months my mother is sick of the M&S ready meals. She also doesn't like the Wiltshire farm food meals either. To be honest I don't think she is hungry enough for a meal at lunch time as she eats a decent breakfast. I need therefore to leave snacks inthe fridge for the carers to give her. Mymother is really fussy and she doesn't like many foods. Prior to the brain haemorrhage she had a dinner lunch time which she cooked from scratch and occasionally fish and chips from the chip shop. Her appetite and tastes have changed. What do you buy in for your carees main meal. I have bought some cooked chicken breasts today for tomorrow but to find things for 7 days is difficult. I'm going into hospital soon so I need to get some ideas going.
Thankyou
Xx

[Anne001]

Hi Worrywart,

IF only I knew the answer to this one, I would be a rich woman. Mum also complains bitterly about supermarket ready meals and doesn't like Wiltshire Farm Foods.

Things I have tried which work for a few weeks and then don't is batch-cooking of casserole type dinners, ditto roast dinners, local fish n chips shop will deliver, Sainsburys does frozen cheese omelettes which went down well (carers won't cook eggs!), and Covent Garden carton soups.

Will be watching this thread as I too could do with a few new ideas.

Anne

[Worrywart]

Thanks Anne - I could prepare her a meal everyday but I am trying to withdraw a bit . We all know how quickly this can take over your whole life. But on saying that she doesn't eat any of the meals we eat - pasta jacket potatoes lasagne or anything spicy are completely out of bounds. Maybe I am worrying too much - I know she won't starve!
I'm trying to get more organised to I get some of my life back. Previously we would go to marks and spencer and buy say 5 ready meals which would be put in fridge ready but she now hates them!! So we shall see how things go. I will check if our chip shop delivers - that would be handy - thanks for the tip!

[Bluebird]

You could try the website just-eat.co.uk for takeaways, we have a local one that does fish and chips. We also have a company that delivers roast dinners and some other meals, google 'roast dinner delivery' in your area and see if you have one, they may have meals that your Mum likes for a change.

My Mum's appetite changed following her first stroke (like your Mum) and now she only has sweet food which she didn't like before, so maybe try your Mum with crumble and custard, rice pudding, trifle or stewed fruit etc? My Mum has trifle for breakfast ! (Mum can't chew or swallow properly so everything has to be soft and easy to swallow).

Hope this helps

[Tristesa]

My mother never enjoyed cooking (though she was actually quite good at it), and after my father's death, she just didn't bother any more. Also, her eyesight was failing, so it was probably a good thing for her not to be messing around with sharp knives.

She had great neighbours who would often bring her a portion of their dinner, but I also used to have a major cooking session whenever I visited her (I live on the other side of the country), cooking up quantities of things like mince with onions, garlic, tomatoes, courgettes etc., or chicken breast with veggies — red peppers, leeks, tomatoes, ginger etc. I would then portion these up in really tiny plastic boxes, the kind that hold only a couple of tablespoonfuls, and freeze them. She could use the microwave quite well, and was willing to prepare a little rice, pasta or potato to go with the meat/veg mixtures I had made. Even bread or toast was okay if she didn't want to bother with potatoes.

In her 90s, the size of a meal on a plate, the look of it, made a lot of difference to her: a normal-size plateful (let alone a big plateful!) just put her off completely, and she would say she wasn't hungry and would not eat any of it. But if one gave her a teeny little portion, she would eat it all and then sometimes ask for more.

Tristesa

[jenny lucas]

Just to say that the 'ready rice' you can buy in packets or cartons now in supermarkets is great - you just microwave it hot and it's done. Really easy. Then you could add cold chicken, ham, mayo, vegetables etc to make a filling meal.

However, I agree that as they get older, many people simply go off 'proper food' - my elderly father loved what I called 'nursery food' - cheese on toast, boiled eggs, that sort of thing, and lots of starchy puddings. (Speaking of starching puddings, there are loads of individual serving syrup sponges and that sort of thing now, plus cartons of custard etc.)

To be honest, does it matter if they are not now getting a healthy balanced died with lots of fresh fruit and veg and loads of fibre and fish??

As long as they enjoy it, and get enough energy from it to keep going, why not? I've given up trying to coax my MIL to eat 'greens' because at her age does it really matter that much??

[JohnT]

My better half isnt too bad feeding wise she does the Sainsburys online shopping etc and has a say in what she wants to eat cooked meat wise from the market hall on Saturday and i just plate it up for her.I will say that sometimes she doesnt want owt to eat.Mind you my apetite has dropped to what it was say 30 years ago.Organising meals here is a doddle real thank goodness She loves fresh fruit and has stuff like Grapes and Oranges.Sometimes i have to cook her some veg in the microwave if we are having a meat dish for tea.The days of having bubbling pans on the stove seem to have gone.The only veg i like are spuds and peas.

[Abby]

try things like instant noodles, pasta and rice. you ban buy it already flavored or put whatever flavoring you like on it.

if getting her to eat normal food i a challenge ask the doctor to try her on ensure. its a liquid food, and can be used as a main meal if that's what she would prefer.

[Worrywart]

Thank you all for your imput. The problem is she just doesn't like many foods and turns her nose up at most things. This week lunches have been -chicken breast and bread and butter, then toastie, then Chips from chip shop. Tomorrow is toastie again. She eats a good breakfast and loves coffee and cake so I think she is getting enough calories. Thanks again for your ideas and for allowing me to have a little moan