Meals for elderly people

Oleander

I know this seems a strange question but what do elderly people like to eat in the way of nice meals (different to stew)? The same for desserts (different to apple pie)?

I'm volunteering tomorrow in a place where elderly people (x 15) come to have a nice meal once a week and I'm looking for some ideas to suggest. The position is a chef job (I'm not a chef and they know that) but I enjoy cooking - saying that, I don't cook a lot of meat but it's a bit of a challenge and it's helping out.

If anyone has any ideas for nice food (and quickish - not braising for hours, maybe one pot recipes) for the elderly, I would love to hear them (before tomorrow Tues 26th if poss).

Thanks.

LaChatteGitane

Oooh ! I am not too sure, but I know in general the elderly lose their appetite due to lack of flavour. Lack of flavour in the sense that their taste buds don't work at optimum rate.

My mum will often say, I don't like this or that anymore. That is until I cook for her.
I pack my food with loads of herbs and spices, but go easy on the hot spices. There is no stopping her then.

olaola

I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with the previous poster. I have had to cook for my own mother (who has Alzheimer’s) and now she’s in a home, I always take a peek at the menus that are up on the board.

It’s really just meat & two veg. Pork, bacon, fish, stews etc. Old people have pretty conservative tastes and like their food to be the old reliables and easy to digest. No spaghetti (the pasta itself is very hard for them to get on the fork!) or things like that. I don’t think curries or anything with rice will work well either, it can be hard to get the food onto the fork with old shaky hands! Also a lot of these people were war babies, so they grew up eating very simple foods. And these are hard habits to break.

Something like a rolled stuffed pork fillet with mash, gravy and two veg will go down a bomb. If you’re doing fish something like salmon works well as it’s not too flaky and is easy to eat. Exclude spuds at your peril!

Oleander

Thanks for the feedback both posters.

I'm guessing they might be on a budget so nothing fancy and I know not to suggest pasta, stir fries or risotto!! I understand that many will be into their meat/veg/spuds - the stuffed pork sounds lovely, wouldn't mind a bit of that myself . Maybe salmon with a nice crust of breadcrumbs, what would go with salmon on the side though? I eat it with cous cous but that's a bit fancy for older peeps! I suppose boiled potatoes.

It will be a challenge seeing as I've only cooked for 4/5 people, maybe helping me mam on a Sunday when the whole lot of us get together which is very rare and usually her doing all the work. It might not be me anyway doing the cooking as they might have other volunteers (I'm hoping they will have someone who is a chef and will step up to the job). But if I can suggest some meal ideas that would be great.

Chickus

Hi, you have remember to make the meal balanced,
Shepards/cottage pie is a good one, and easy to make with a small budget,
sausages and mashed potatoes with beans is easy to do aswell..
You can have nice thick, chunky soups with some wholemeal bread
Fish and homemade chips
chicken casseroles,


bread and butter pudding
fruit crumbles
trifle

christmas2012

Ive worked in these places and its all milk and mash potatoe with over cooked meat,has to be easily chewable or not even chewable just goes down easy..

Some patient dont even eat they have supplements they drink through a straw,the desserts usually consist of semolina and jelly or powdered cream you add water to..

Thats the way it goes there ,most of the meals arent fancy,there practical so elderly can eat them easy,and of course cost effective, its just mash and pea mash etc..

Oleander

christmas2012 wrote: »

Ive worked in these places and its all milk and mash potatoe with over cooked meat,has to be easily chewable or not even chewable just goes down easy..

Some patient dont even eat they have supplements they drink through a straw,the desserts usually consist of semolina and jelly or powdered cream you add water to..

Thats the way it goes there ,most of the meals arent fancy,there practical so elderly can eat them easy,and of course cost effective, its just mash and pea mash etc..

Well, I haven't been to this place yet, but from speaking to the lady who runs it, she wants to provide some nice meals for this small elderly community and rightly so. It's not a hospital or a care home I'm going to.

Oleander

Chickus wrote: »

Hi, you have remember to make the meal balanced,
Shepards/cottage pie is a good one, and easy to make with a small budget,
sausages and mashed potatoes with beans is easy to do aswell..
You can have nice thick, chunky soups with some wholemeal bread
Fish and homemade chips
chicken casseroles,


bread and butter pudding
fruit crumbles
trifle

Thanks for these ideas, they all will be mentioned.

Oleander

I did my volunteering at the Old Folks Assoc on Tuesday and it is as the volunteer centre advertised it, a very friendly place, helping to cook for 12-15 people with myself from the centre, a chap that does caretaking and the other volunteers were a community of local residents, but I think they are looking for more definite volunteers (I'm happy to do it until I find full time work).

It was Irish Stew with Apple Tart yesterday, they are on a budget so nothing fancy. There is fish once a week and that's next week so I suggested a Herb Crust for the fish which gives boring white fish a bit of a lift (I've done it myself and it's tasty) so they are happy with that.

olaola

Oleander wrote: »

I did my volunteering at the Old Folks Assoc on Tuesday and it is as the volunteer centre advertised it, a very friendly place, helping to cook for 12-15 people with myself from the centre, a chap that does caretaking and the other volunteers were a community of local residents, but I think they are looking for more definite volunteers (I'm happy to do it until I find full time work).

It was Irish Stew with Apple Tart yesterday, they are on a budget so nothing fancy. There is fish once a week and that's next week so I suggested a Herb Crust for the fish which gives boring white fish a bit of a lift (I've done it myself and it's tasty) so they are happy with that.

Fair play to you!

Oleander

olaola wrote: »

I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with the previous poster. I have had to cook for my own mother (who has Alzheimer’s) and now she’s in a home, I always take a peek at the menus that are up on the board.

It’s really just meat & two veg. Pork, bacon, fish, stews etc. Old people have pretty conservative tastes and like their food to be the old reliables and easy to digest. No spaghetti (the pasta itself is very hard for them to get on the fork!) or things like that. I don’t think curries or anything with rice will work well either, it can be hard to get the food onto the fork with old shaky hands! Also a lot of these people were war babies, so they grew up eating very simple foods. And these are hard habits to break.

Something like a rolled stuffed pork fillet with mash, gravy and two veg will go down a bomb. If you’re doing fish something like salmon works well as it’s not too flaky and is easy to eat. Exclude spuds at your peril!

You're spot on, it will be simple food for these folks. Each week they have something different so I'll have to look up some ideas and recipes for Pork, Chicken, Lamb/Beef and Fish. I'll get through next week first and see how it goes. Pork fillet will be bit expensive I think, I'll suggest it sometime and see what she says. Ta.

olaola

Oleander wrote: »

You're spot on, it will be simple food for these folks. Each week they have something different so I'll have to look up some ideas and recipes for Pork, Chicken, Lamb/Beef and Fish. I'll get through next week first and see how it goes. Pork fillet will be bit expensive I think, I'll suggest it sometime and see what she says. Ta.

I don't think it's the fillet - it might be the loin? (you know the long piece you get in supermarkets) and it's usually very reasonable. You'd get one for about €4 that would feed at least 4 people.

LaChatteGitane

Oleander wrote: »

You're spot on, it will be simple food for these folks. Each week they have something different so I'll have to look up some ideas and recipes for Pork, Chicken, Lamb/Beef and Fish. I'll get through next week first and see how it goes. Pork fillet will be bit expensive I think, I'll suggest it sometime and see what she says. Ta.

Simple food doesn't have to be bland. And flavoursome food doesn't have to be expensive.
It's all about layerings of flavours that'll tickle their taste buds. It can be as simple as adding a spoonful of black currant jelly to the gravy, adding chopped parsley, nutmeg to mashed potatoes.

A great way to cook a pork roast is to mix a spoonful of mustard with 3 spoons of chutney and chopped sage. Spread on the joint and cook in the oven (with foil) or in a pot on the hob. Keep it moist with some chicken stock. The juices make a beautiful gravy that has depth to it.

Another one for pork is to serve it with panfried apple slices (you need apples that stay firm) - fry in a little butter with sage and cinnamon. Serve it with mashed potatoes. Simple, looks good and tastes great.
You can even make a savoury applecrumble as a sidedish.
Sautee onions first with thyme, yes and sage, add the apples, seasoning.
Top with breadcrumbs, seasoned with some cinnamon, in the oven to form a crust. Goes well with chicken too.:)

The Sweeper

Rice pudding for dessert will go down a treat.

The elderly also seem less able to cope with very rich food - so mash needs to be milky instead of buttery, for instance.

Oleander

Thanks all for your ideas.

A chef/cook was in yesterday and made stuffed liver wrapped in bacon, with mash and veg, someone else made black forest gateau for dessert and I made some ginger biscuits for them to have with tea and they had some music so everyone was happy indeed. There were 16 visitors and 7 volunteers yesterday so I'm glad someone was there to do the cooking cause I only ever cook for two!! I did have lots to wash up after though , I had plenty of help as well. Glad to do it once a week.

Oleander

olaola wrote: »

I don't think it's the fillet - it might be the loin? (you know the long piece you get in supermarkets) and it's usually very reasonable. You'd get one for about €4 that would feed at least 4 people.

I do know the Pork Loin you mentioned - they're selling it in Dunnes today for €5 so yes that is a good idea, I will mention it the next few times I'm there. I think it's bacon and cabbage next week (though the bacon will be made the day before so that suits me perfectly cause I've never cooked a bacon joint in me life)! And the dessert will be made, I might make a tea brack or something to have with their tea.

Semele

My gran has developed quite a taste for "exotic" foods after a lifetime of unadorned meat and potatoes! She doesn't go in for ultra-spicy but likes chicken curry, sweet chilli chicken pizza, garlic+herb wedges etc. She wouldn't have much of an appetite normally but varying it a bit with new foods and flavours keeps her interested and she loves when I cook when I'm at home!

I also worked in a care home for 2 years as an activity co-ordinator and one of the things that always went down well was tasting sessions, when we would all try different herbal teas, or different cheeses, or cook a new recipe together. It's good to keep introducing people to new experiences- research shows that beyond a certain age the number of novel experiences one has decreases massively and I think it's useful to challenge that, rather than be complicit in it because it's what you think older people themselves want. A lot of the listlessness, apathy and general decline in older people is often boredom and food is such a great way of introducing an element of fun again.