Easy healthy dinners for 78 yr old carer

[Moomoola]

Just that. He’s 78 full time career for his wife who is completely I’ll wit Rheumatoid Arthritis
he really struggles with cooking -he will get stressed about frozen pizza, follows instructions to the exact minute.
now pre diabetic due to too many m and s ready meals.

is gusto or ‘cook’ frozen ready meals any good?

Really really easy healthy ideas please! I have a few, but you all probably have more!

mine -

slow cook a mound of tomatoes with garlic, whizz up and freeze as : soup , over pasta, sauce for chopped up mince ( meatballs)

chopped raw veg over cooked pasta, bung in microwave to melt Brie into it.

stir fry rice

fry chicken, sprinkle with garlic granules, and whatever herbs and spices in the cupboard.
have with noodles.

salmon on veg, bung in oven with lime and soy.

im sure there’s loads more. Thank you!

Gusto is good in that the instructions are very detailed but I would advise reading the recipe online before you order as some of them require just about every utensil in the kitchen!

My parents have some of the frozen cook meals. Portions are generous and they really enjoy them. A bit more expensive than supermarket ready meals but they tell me far nicer.

Couscous salad www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10minute-couscous-salad

Cheat’s fish pie www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/fish-and-seafood/cheats-fish-pie/

Tuna pasta www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/easy-tuna-pasta/

That's still pretty complicated for someone that stresses over a frozen pizza. Fresh pasta that cooks in minutes, some high quality brands for jarred sauces, organic and the like are not too high in sugar, ect. Cooked chicken slices for throwing into anything hot or cold, good old quiche, hot or cold, bagged salad, prepared and ready to cook veg, mash, Chilled soups, little pots of fruit in juice, no added sugar porridge pots. not all ready made stuff is bad, the traffic light coding at the front of the package is great to use as a guide

There's probably a local food delivery service that will supply frozen meals suitable for diabetics, you just need freezer space.

I echo the above that if pizza is a problem then there is no way (however simple a fit, middle aged, non-carer thinks they are) he is going to cope with being given a recipe to follow. I would either find a home delivery service that specialises or a caterer who is prepared to bulk make stuff he can put in the microwave but is at least home made.

m.y son has insulin dependent diabetes and my dh,has type 2 diabetes most foods are suitable as long as they are not heavily processed
My 81 year old dad is a full.time carer for my 81_year old mum.he can manage most meals , a slow cooker is really easy as to just bung everything thing in and leave it too cook.

Try Parsley Box or Wiltshire Farm Foods

Gousto is really fiddly and complicated. You could leave out certain steps but I would say no chance for someone who is struggling with frozen pizza.

I think one pot meal ideas are best unless u can find someone to deliver home cooked meals.

Perhaps Wiltshire farm foods? Know not ideal but prob best quality ready meals out there and healthy. Bung in oven or microwave

Yes, agree with others - if a pizza is a problem I'm not sure easy recipes are the answer. What about just helping him to make better choices on the convenience food front?

So for example, pre made salads, or prechoped veg for the microwave/oven. Served with:

Quiche
Smoked Mackerel
Cooked chicken (or some of the bigger supermarkets do the rotisserie chicken which is even better)
Fish/chicken pates
Fish cakes (although also need to be in oven for a set time)
Crumbed chicken/fish fillets (also in the oven)
Charcuterie (add bread instead of veg/potatoes)
Tinned tuna (bit of mayo stirred through maybe?) or other tinned fish

Or instead of the microwave meals, the oven ones that are less carb/sugar heavy (M&S used to do things like parma ham wrapped chicken on green beans, for example).

I think it needs to be along the lines of healthy/ish student food. The recipes you mention might be quite scary to a non-cook at all.

Beans on toast.
Scrambled eggs on toast
Jacket potato in the microwave served with butter and tuna from a tin/cheese/beans
Toastie maker could be a hit - toastie with cheese and tomato or tuna, onion, olives, whatever he likes really it's hard to go wrong
Easy soup (e.g. Delia leek and potato)
Pasta with frozen peas stirred in just before the end and parmesan added after

Everything served with a bag of salad.

Check whether a local charity or the council do a meals on wheels service (e.g. https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/social-care-and-health/adults-and-older-people/support-to-live-independently/bristol-community-meals)

Is there a local day centre that he could pop to (and take his wife if she's able to) for lunch a day or two a week, get some decent food in them?

Definitely look at Wiltshire Farm Foods. Their meals are designed for elderly people and they have specific low-sugar meals marked on their site (you can also ring them to order, which is useful for him managing it by himself).

And I wouldn't recommend Gousto or anything like that. Some of them have a lot of steps, some of which are finicky, and some of the meals require a fair bit of prep and using different pots and timings. I think his best option is just healthy ready meals he can just put in microwave and oven. Does he want to actually learn to cook or do it? Or does he just want an easy way to have food for him and his wife?

Another vote for Wiltshire Farm Foods. I used to work in care and a lot of our residents ate them. They have different "levels" of food from pureed to normal meals. One of the residents used to send DD2 any extra meals she got and DD2 loved them.

Another idea would be for you to batch cook if you had time and portion and freeze. You could maybe batch cook and portion side dishes such as mash, veg, rice etc so all he has to do is grill the meat/fish.

My MIL had diabetes and towards the end of her life used Wilshire Farm foods quite a bit - she used to usually boil up some extra green veg to go with them.

Before that, FIL had used them when she broke an arm and was hospitalised at a point where effectively she was his carer - he'd never been able to cook more than a toastie , we got them an easy to use microwave and he was able to manage.

Agreeing with other posters .

Definitely a no to Gousto or similar - having to follow a new recipe each week!

Yes to Wiltshire Farm Foods - a lot of choice and they all contain a portion of vegetables. The delivery drivers are also experienced with delivering to elderly people on their own and some will offer to come in and pop them in the freezer (they did for my parents anyway)

Yes to other microwave ready meals. Cook was suggested and while they are probably higher quality than Asda basics - they still need to have veg added.

Otherwise very simple meals such as tinned soup, boiled egg and cold buffet style foods - perhaps with an emphasis on protein foods and salad rather than bread or similar .

You mention your father as being pre-diabetic- is this just because of him having gained weight (in which case I would be watchful of some of the Cook meals) or due to the proportion of sugar/simple carbohydrates in his diet?

If he's pre diabetic then going back to old fashioned meat and 2 veg type dinners is the best option, both for ease of prep and cooking and because limiting processed and simple carbs is going to be important

Pork chop in oven, serve with peas/carrots/boiled new potatoes (even easier if he likes the tinned ones)
Chicken breast in oven, serve with broccoli and cauliflower
Gammon steak with fried egg and green beans as a side
Meat pie (shop bought preferably the ones that just have the puff pastry too to limit the carbs and add more fat from the puff pastry)

Breakfast - egg or porridge or fruit

Lunch - cooked sliced meat with salad, quiche (ham and egg pie, preferably crustless), tuna sandwich using multi seeded bread, frittata

Might be worth seeing if there's a meals on wheels service there.

I’d recommend getting them a worktop grill. It makes doing things like chops much easier.

Freezer section vegetables. Both the pre portioned bags you steam in the microwave and the roasting veg options. You can get bags of single veg but also things like Mediterranean roasting vegetable mix or roasting root vegetable mix.

and help with the meal plan. Something like
Monday - pork chop (on grill) and steam fresh vegetables
Tuesday- salmon fillet and Mediterranean vegetables (all on the same baking tray)
wednesday - chicken breast and roasted root vegetables (all on the same baking tray)
thursday - sliced ham and salad
Friday - cheat day fish and chips or ready meal or whatever they fancy
Saturday - half a baked potato and tuna/beans
sunday - Sunday lunch from the pub (lots do a takeout delivery service for older locals but don’t advertise it widely)

etc etc.

Keep breakfast simple Fruit and yogurt. Maybe Porridge. Eggs once his confidence is up.

do cartons (tins seem to become hard work after a certain point) of soup a couple of times a week for lunch or supper (they may want to switch the heavier meal to midday).

I would make or get someone to make tubs of homemade soup to freeze. Then he just needs a buttered roll with it for lunch.
then salad and ham/ pie/ cooked chicken. Bacon roll, scrambled egg followed by fruit in the evening.

Thank you! Batch cooking as you’ve suggested. Was a bit shocked, freezer full of ready meals. No veg. I think our society has it wrong - we should all live near each other x

Thanks for the advice. No wonder relative is ill - I had no idea how much salt and fat is in those things. One pie from m and s is your entire daily salt intake! Add that he doesn’t drink water at all, only a few black coffees and it’s no wonder poor chap.
we’ve explained that it’s best to eat food that’s as natural as possible, and left a freezer of home made stuff to chuck in the microwave.
Obviously we will need to go a lot more. Why oh why did they move a 6 hour drive away?!
thank you so much x

With that level of drive to get to him I would explore Wiltshire farms or do him an online order of healthier ready meals every few weeks.

In between ready meals simple beans, scrambled egg on toast, porridge, soup meals will be easy for him to manage and keep his strength up.

Jacket potatoes are a good one to keep in the freezer, you could batch cook a load, then they can just be reheated in the microwave or oven and topped with tuna for protein.