What do people in their 80s eat?

[Shoppingagain]

It might sound like a stupid question as I am sure everybody is different but I am wondering as I don’t think my elderly parents (80s) cook any more.

They used to heat things up in the microwave and use the oven for something simple they could put on a baking tray but it seems like too much trouble these days. They haven’t cooked anything like veg on the hob for a long time. They don’t make anything on toast even. So they must be living on snacks and things they can take from the fridge.

I do their shopping but they won’t accept any help in cooking or preparing food as they are very independent. I’m not even allowed to make a cup of tea!

Maybe I won’t feel like cooking in my 80s either so I am wondering what the ‘norm’ is and any ideas on what I can get them to eat that doesn’t involve much preparation.

But she says that several of her friends who have been widowed don't cook as much as they used to, she is very disparaging about the ones who have ready meals

How charming she sounds.

My elderly relative is the same as your parents. Just heats ready meals for one up with the odd snack or bit of fruit. She doesn’t like the mess and cleaning up of cooking

My dad is 85 and lives alone (mum died many years ago). He makes his own bread and is particularly good at pitta bread and focaccia. He’s vegetarian and makes all sorts of- curries, pasta sauces, humous, lots of things with beans and pulses - he cooks everything from scratch the same as he always has. I think the only ready meal he ever eats is a very occasional pizza.

Charlie Bigham ready meals. None of the little packs of veg they buy optimistically. Covent Garden Soup. Scrambled egg. Stuffed pasta.

Don't think my mother has cooked since she moved 2 years ago. She buys ready meals for dinner, eats a sandwich for lunch (tongue/corned beef). She occasionally boils an egg and adds salad. She buys lots of Gü puddings, eats chocolate digestives and drinks lots of red wine. She has a Sunday roast delivered by her bil once a week and it keeps her going for 2 days.

That sounds like a perfect diet plan. Perhaps not balanced or completely nutritious but how I plan to eat when I reach old age.

My mum is in her 80's and I order her shopping to be delivered every week. She likes 'easy stuff' quiche and pre made salad bowls, ready meals and lot of trifles and cakes. She is really skinny and is a good cook but cannot be arsed - it's a real effort for her to cook anything. I live very near and often take round a portion of home made Lasagne/Cottage pie or roast dinner. She has Sainsburys TTD ready meals or things like poached eggs on toast the rest of the time. have recently introduced Charlie Bigham meals to her and can tempt her to cook with really good steak/lamb chops from the butchers.

My parents - mid 80s - have cereal or fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. Lunch is normally cold meat, salad, bread rolls, Brie.
They cook dinner every night, things like roasts, fish, pork chops, stir fry.

My dad gets the parsley box ready meals delivered. He tends to eat weetabix in the morning and then has one of those meals at about 4pm and then maybe tea and a ginger nut biscuit inbetween.

My MIL very much just snacks and no longer cooks or eats proper meals. She seems to live off toast/bread and butter and boiled sweets. We’ve tried to get meals to her but she is very stubborn and won’t accept help. She says at 83 she’s happy as she is!

My Mum eats whatever she's given with great gusto. She can't cook anymore. My in-laws eat a combination of ready meals and fresh veg and fruit. My MIL loves her air fryer so she uses that as often as possible.

My mother seems to exist purely on trifle and baclava… oh and fish&chips on a Friday.

she is well off, still capable and not physically or mentally disabled/ill. She just only eats what she fancies these days.

Plenty of puddings and Charlie Bingham ready meals it seems!

Not a bad plan really

I used to be a community carer, can still remember the daily menu for a 99 year old lady I looked after 12 years ago

Breakfast: small bowl of Cheerios with two prunes.
Lunch: half a snap pot of Heinz beans, one slice of white bread and butter with the crusts cut off, strawberry jelly and custard for pudding. The bread had to be cut horizontally and woe betide anyone who cut it diagonally.
Tea: tomato Cupasoup and a cherry yoghurt.

Same thing every single day with no deviation, not even at Christmas; she never wanted anything else. Must have done her some good as she ate the same thing for years and lived to be 99!

My dad is mid 80s.

He can cook, when my Mum was terminal he went on a cookery course for men of a certain age who were going to be widowers organised by the hospice.

But a lot of the time I think it's too much faff so he gets ready meals.

Breakfast is 1 Weetabix surrounded by cornflakes, small orange juice and copious amounts of tea.

He doesn't eat lunch, if the weather is nice his next door neighbours will knock on his window and hold up a bottle of beer or wine at about 2 - 3 pm.

Around about 5-6pm he'll eat.

If I'm visiting or he is visiting me I add fruit to his breakfast but evening meals he likes plain food. I have introduced him to tray bakes, salmon and duck (not at the same time).

I also got him an air fryer (unfortunately it's one that has been recalled).

Have you thought of a an air fryer for your parents OP? the drawers are not heavy and there is no bending involved.

My parents still cook (70s) but only eat properly at lunchtime and just a light tea. But they buy posh frozen meals from the Cook Shop for a break sometimes.

My grandma who recently died aged 95 didn't want the hassle of cooking more recently- painful hands meant she just made the basics, but family moved in to look after her. We used to take her the occasional Macdonald's which she loved.
She was cooking and entertaining her friends into her 90s though. And did her own online shopping until last December!

My in-laws (86 and 92) cook but it's a lot easier to cook for two. Saying that, they mainly eat 2 meals and only pick on small bits for dinner unless they go out.
They do have a healthy diet with also lots of fresh fruit and things like tomatoes or peppers most times they just eat a sandwich.

They are fairly active, still walking a lot or talking a stroll most days.

My mum - lived alone until she was 86 - she did cook but I would say her main problem was to make meals for one. I know that my aunt (lived across the road from her) often brought things like stew or soups my mum then just reheated. I think it was a case of them realising that it's easier to cook a larger meal and sharing it and keeping another portion in the freezer.

Mum did do breakfast like toast with jam/honey and then had a sandwich for dinner. She also ate fruit.

I presume my dad & step-mom (now early 80s) aren't normal. they stopped cooking at home about 30 years ago (!). Neither likes to cook. They can afford to eat out often or happy to have a bowl of cereal or leftovers (from a restaurant) for evening meals.

I live alone & can go weeks without cooking. Canned foods are great.

@coxesorangepippin now I could go with that one -

General observations:

My father's medication seemed to interact with the ginger/garlic combo he had always enjoyed with some noodle dishes to make it repulsive, so I stopped torturing him with that.

Both parents took a cup of full-fat milk at bedtime, hot or cold according to taste - that was really useful for getting a little extra nourishment into them, specifically protein.

Little and often becomes quite important when stamina is low, so even people who never snacked benefit from a biscuit or a bit of cheese from time to time.

Teeth and gums can be less strong, so foods that can cope with that are useful. If someone has other motor muscle problems you might have to work round that - my mother enjoyed an Annabel Karmel courgette gratin she could eat with her hands when her Parkinson's was causing difficulties. It's very easy to make a bowl of 'stewed' apple by sticking a chopped-up Bramley apple in the microwave for a couple of minutes, which is a great source of fibre. As both the last points suggest, think gourmet toddler food.

But mostly people in their 80s eat what they always ate

When my DM was over 90 and in a care home (dementia) one of the care staff* who was dishing out the teatime sandwiches, told her she ought to be taking the brown bread ones, rather than the white.

I told her very firmly that at her age, my mother could eat what the hell she liked!
*she was the only one of the staff I never took to - all the others were lovely.

Mine share half portions of ready meals from their local butcher’s with frozen veg that has been microwaved.
For lunch DF makes up Knorr packaged soups.
At their age I reckon as long as they get some calories it doesn’t matter where it comes from, at 86 and 91 a few UPFs aren’t going to kill them.

Quiche would probably be a good meal at this time of year, new potatoes/potato salad

I reckon tinned or home made rice pudding would be a good one for many, protein and carbs

My 87 year old dad buys ready meal and easy to prep food from ocado/ M&S. I think he likes choosing and ordering his food online. He has things like pies and mash, pizzas, ready meals. We cook him one meal on a sunday.

My mum is in a care home and I know that she is taking daily constipation relief. When I checked with the staff about sending her a chocolate advent calendar as I was concerned about sweets, the manager of the ward only said "at their stage in life they can eat and drink what they want, we sort out any problems". I should just be careful about alcohol and let them know if I bring them some in case there is an issue with their medication.