Very quick suppers for elderly parent

[3weeks]

My elderly dad is still living in his own home with help from 4 visits a day from a council paid care agency.

They have 15 mins to prepare him supper and give him some tablets and sign in and out.

Food is bought from a Tescos express down the road.

I'm too far away to help, no other family or friends live near him.

Any ideas what simple hot meals he can have, that the carers will actually cook for him (eg they won't bother with anything beyond opening packets etc).m or washing up as they can't seem to be able to do that either!
(Dad has a cleaner once a week to try and keep into of it)

I thought scrambled eggs might work?

Any carer will be hard pushed to do a hot meal in 15 mins and give meds etc other than soup in a microwave ( I suspect a hot meal is not in his care plan anyway)
If he is unable to manage can you see if his eve visits an be made slightly longer?

If main meal is at midday, surely he just needs a snack in the evening.
The carers will not have time to cook for him - let alone wash up after scrambling eggs.
Opening a packet of sarnies or microwaving a meal is all you can realistically expect in their allotted time.

I'm sure in 15 minutes they could manage to give him his meds, scrambled eggs on toast and wash up the pan, unless there are other jobs they have to do in that time. His plate and cutlery would need to be washed up the next day though I guess.

As pp have said, perhaps beans on toast or a cheese sandwich, or equivalent, if your dad's guts are up to it. What does he like?

But it's such a tight time slot for the carers.

Btw what are the carers washing up from? The previous meal, or the meal they've just done in that 15 current minute slot? (Sorry, previous experience of these 15 minute slots leaves me cynical it can be done properly.)

So the carer comes in, gets coat off, checks on your dad. What's 'checking'? Is he completely continent? Will he need any items moving or fetching?

The carer sorts his tablets out. That involves checking that the last carer signed the book correctly and that everything is safe medication wise. (Mistakes have been made. There is a protocol to follow that takes a lot more than a few seconds to go through.)

Your dad will maybe want to chat to the carer for a few minutes? That's often what holds the carers up, but what the elderly person wants the most.

The carer goes into the kitchen. Have they then got to wash up from
breakfast or lunch or can they start doing the supper straight away? Who will do the washing up from that? Does he need help to eat at all? A drink fetching?
It's a very tight schedule if your dad wants a carer to have even a few minutes of talking with him.

I worked as a carer. It depends who you have on the day really - I'm pretty efficient and can cook well but some can't! These are all fairly "safe" and it really is so little time
Beans/cheese on toast or pate
Toasted fruit bread for something sweet
Frozen jacket potatoes with a topping (they're 5 mins in the microwave)
Soup and bread
Sandwiches/toastie
Honestly most of the stuff we did was microwave meals, I did make scrambled eggs and proper meals for a couple of people but that was a 30 min visit and she judged my scrambled eggs as "good" before I was allowed to make them again

Have some stuff for snacks in that's just opening too so yoghurts, jelly, fruit pots, stuff like that

Jacket potatoes in the microwave are fine. A regular medium potato takes 6-7 mins depending on how powerful the microwave is. Add pre-grated cheese from a packet or tuna (or ready-made tuna mayonnaise/ other sandwich filling). He could eat that most days and it would be economical and reasonably nutritious.

Also, does the carer have to hang around and make sure your dad doesn't choke or burn himself on a microwaved meal (supervision)?

Beans or hoops on toast
Frozen jacket potatoes theb he can have beans or hoops on that
Fish cakes
Tinned potatoes
Packet mash
Fillet of salmon only take 10min in microwave.they can do that with some mash or frozen jacket.
Soup
Can he stand those sausages you can get in jars.
Could you do larger food delivery to time in when they are there.or if you explain to them they can leave it in the front door?
Those tins of mince
Tins of stew
Tins of chicken in white sauce
With microwave rice or microwave pasta
Noodles take 4 minutes,stir thrpguh some smoked packet or tinned salmon
Tinned salmon with salad or rice or tinned potatoes
You can get tinned mixed veg.
Faggots was one of my grandparent greatest meals. If he has an oven with a timer the carer can put them in the oven and put the timer on to make sure it coincides with next carer who just has to serve and cook some peas.
Cheese on toast
Pizzas or muffin style pizzas.
Frozen or fridge isle sausage rolls,beans and an egg.
Is he mobile at all?
Is he mentally stable to perform any tasks?
Does he have local church or charity.
There in some nice parts of the county's some "friends" that offer to come in and befriend and do this stuff.

Yeah, I'd suggest something on toast too. 15 minutes is really only enough time to make toast and heat up a can. Who does the washing up?

Hot chicken which can the be spread and made into both hog and cold meals.
Getting carers that work the oven timer was a godsend for us.a few refused but two did and they bunged stuff in in time for next visit.

Tinned mince on toast is quite a cosy supper.
Or if you can get those beans with sausages in
Tinned ravioli
Also you can get tortellini cooks in 4 minutes

You can cook a nice piece of fresh fish and some green vegetables, soup and some bread warmed in the oven if he has had a proper lunch, omelette and salad, stir fry veg and noodles. On ready meals, my MIL really rates Potage, they are more expensive than lots of the others but you get what you pay for and when you are elderly / housebound, food is one of the last pleasures left. You can also order a gift box of meals. I also think it is worth challenging the council on the length of the visits, nutrition is very important.

Malt loaf and cheese
Pork pie and pickles
Small salad with eg ham
Cheese scones/ fruit scones with jam
Prawn cocktail
Boiled eggs
Filled bagels
Ready-made sandwiches
Fruit and ice cream
Rice pudding or crumble or fruit pie
Sausage rolls
Cornish pasty / steak or chicken slice

Why do they only have 15 minutes ? Is it social paid for or private ?

That's a fairly common amount of time
30 mins are usually for double calls where someone needs hoisting or pads changing or washing
15 mins is for people who need medication/food and that's it

I also used to be a carer in this sort of role. I wouldn't mind cooking but will probably depend on individual carers' time (and abilities). Rotisserie chicken or microwavable boil in the bag fish, with tinned potatoes (or frozen/pre-prepared mash), microwavable steamed veggies is quite a nice 'proper' meal. Can also do similar with fresh 'pies' or pasties. Microwavable/flavoured rice packets with cooked chicken/frozen steamed veggies added. Things on toast are good for lunch, salady bits with pork pies etc.

Decent ready meals with salad bags/steamed veg on the side. Small steamed puddings with individual pots of custard or a bit of cream, or pots of rice pudding are good if he likes a proper pud for afterwards.

It is hard OP, I had just the same a few years back with my PIL who lived at the other end of the country to us. Lots of good advice on the thread but looking back I wish I’d arranged more treats for PIL, eg cake, biscuits, ice cream, I was trying for healthy meals but think I went too far and forgot the fun. Plus, perhaps you are not in this situation, but my PIL were starting to lose weight and needed more calories, so wish I’d swapped to full fat milk and had cream around. PIL loved tinned fruit and cream and its easy to eat.

I was a home caster until recently and 15 min tea calls are common.

boiled egg and soldiers
soup and sandwich
quiche and veg
cheese and crackers with fruit
pasty/sausage roll and beans
micro jacket potato

I often picked up fish and chips on a Friday too, it was always really looked forward to.

Are you able to do a Tesco food delivery for a bit more choice rather than the local Tesco express?

Rana pan-fry gnocchi are brilliant and a nice change from pasta.
Itsu frozen gyoza also very good and come with a nice dipping sauce.
Falafels in pitta with houmous and bagged salad?

I’m a carer, I don’t have a car so I walk. The calls are meant to be a minimum of half an hour, but they give you literally zero time in between them to travel to your next one. So for eg they go from 7.30am-8.00am, then 8.00am-8.30am, then 8.30am-9.00am. The slots end up being 15/20 mins or sometimes even less as you need to allow time to get to your next one.

Icarecuisine - used them occasionally to have roasts / fish n chips delivered to my in-laws

If he has an air fryer - maybe a fish finger sandwich, chips & egg, Cornish pasty, microwave McCain jacket potato & beans - a lot can be cooked in 15 minutes if the carer puts it on when they first get in