Meals for elderly person with carers supporting .

[limetrees32]

What do people think of these planned meals ?

Every morning muesli for breakfast
Piece of fruit after every meal

Evening meals

1 Dahl.,piece of bread of required

2 veggie sausages with frozen veg and bread
3 macaroni cheese and frozen veg
. 4 Dahl and bread if required
**
lunches -

1. homemade leek.and potato soup
Bread if required

.2. cheese and veg pie

3. hummus sandwiches

. 4. baked beans or cheese on toast

Nairn seeded oat biscuits to snack on .
And additional fruit .

Ah yes, I’m familiar with the anti microwave generation. It took me 4 years to convince one man to let me get his wife one. A very frustrating case of his wife doing absolutely everything for him for their entire lives (he won’t even make himself a cup of tea), and now she’s got a brain disease the family have had to get carers in to take care of her, as he’s apparently incapable of helping her get a wash every morning or making her a single meal. Even though he’s fairly elderly he goes for long walks every day, plays sports and is down the pub every week, he’s just not interested in taking care of his wife after she took care of him and raised their children, until she became disabled she always worked too. He won’t look after her but tried to fight us tooth and nail over having a bloody microwave in that house so we could care for her better

Do follow up on the microwave. When MiL broke her arm and FiL was without help, DH got them a simple microwave which FiL could operate. When MiL was back she used it too. (he did get Wilshire FF simply because they delivered straight into the freezer - we live hundreds of miles away and there wasn’t anyone able to do the shopping. It was ok for a shortish period.)

Has the person had an adult social services review? They might be able to get support from actual carers in addition to/instead of their 'partner'. What happens on weekends when the partner doesn't visit?

And yes OP, the drip, drip, drip feed is extremely irritating as you pointed out and are aware of. Hopefully some of the suggestions can help though.

I'm genuinely sorry for drip feed and all the more grateful for the patient replies .
I'm.not quite myself ,have been up.since 5 won't be home until.10.
And meals aside ,it was an.upsetting visit.

Ah @Blackandyellow65 well.done on.your perseverance and getting a microwave.
Words fail.me about the husband you describe
Thank goodness his wife had you on her side .

Not a help in terms of menu diversity, but STBXH is prescribed meal shakes by the GP which he has twice a day with full fat milk.

Prior to this he was losing weight due to his very small and increasingly restricted appetite. Now he maintains not quite a healthy weight, but has enough to sustain him through a short illness.

Could they get something like Wiltshire Farm* meals delivered? My late DM more or less lived on these for the last couple of years.

https://www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com/ready-meals/vegetarian

*Other similar companies are probably available. They're the one I know about because DM used to get them.

Is there a branch of Cook nearby or anyone who sells their range?

They have a variety of meals for one. Late FIL used to like them and we would get them for him to have in the freezer. Just checked and they have quite a good choice of veggie meals for one.

Hi, OP -

The menu plan you describe wouldn’t help my appetite either, even if I were vegetarian (I am happy with periods of vegetarian eating and each dish is fine in isolation).

I like the suggestions above, particularly the microwave, and I share the concerns around protein. Both the elderly and the sick need extra rations.

No one has yet mentioned the importance of leafy greens and brightly coloured fruit and veg for eyesight and the immune system amongst other things. Absolutely crucial.

Happily you can order frozen vegetarian pizzas loaded with this stuff - the tomato sauce is a great start, then load it up with eg spinach or rocket and some cheese - or you can even make a few ( buy the pizza base) and pop them in the freezer. Kale chips? Smoothies with breakfast? Cooked, frozen spinach, apples, frozen berries, perhaps some protein powder? I don’t think a bit of sweetener, if needed, is a bad thing. A bit of a faff to be sure, but even two or three a week would improve nutrition a lot.

Bagged salads with generous amounts of a favourite dressing would fit the brief, or prepared salads possibly with extra dressing (make sure to use in date).

I agree that an egg two or three mornings a week would also help. Eggy fried toast with a preferred topping is a nice way to get calories.

DF is elderly with a small appetite and losing weight. He has recently started on cans of dark chocolate meal supplement drink before bed, 500 kcal each and tasty. This is helping. Could something like this be attempted?

I am glad you are on the case, even though it sounds stressful for you.