My grandparents, who have always been extremely independent and active, are really starting to feel their age and normal chores are becoming a real strain for them. My Gran, who has always been a wonderful cook is now finding it a lot of effort to cook. She’s now contemplating joining an extremely expensive scheme which delivers ready made meals.
As a result I’m trying to take them up a meal every week that they can just rewarm and eat. I’ve taken them a few which have really gone down well, but I’m running out of inspiration and I don’t want to keep giving them the same meals.
So far I’ve sent them a welsh lamb stew, a beef hotpot and a chicken pie. They’ve had these meals several times now and I want to change things up a bit. I try asking them what they’d like but they don’t want to feel like they are imposing on me so they either tell me not to bother or say ‘what you made last time was nice’.
Here’s the deal- inspire me.
-Ideally I’m looking for one-dish meals that will be easy to transport and will mean less effort for them.
-They’re both quite old-fashioned in their tastes and aren’t keen on anything too spicy or exotic, so things like curries are out.
-Preferably something they can freeze, and something I can make bigger portions of so that they can have two meals from it.
-Bonus points for something fairly healthy, I know they’re both watching their weight.
-Extra bonus points for things that are fairly easy to make. I’m willing to give anything a go, but I’m not an expert cook.
So for the sake of these lovely old people, please give me some suggestions.
Speak to Social Services care of your local council. I don’t think Meals On Wheels is that expensive but my info is out of date and not of your area. Certainly it’s nothing like home cooking: two things I don’t see in your list are lasagna and moussaka. IIRC Angua posted a recipe for the former some time ago.
Otherwise the ready meals from the supermarket are not bad these days.
My easy-meal-for-the-week (and, coincidentally, my impress-the-new-potential-girlfriend meal) is this:
1 pound pork, chopped
Small onion, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 head (yes, head) garlic, chopped
Couple shakes soy sauce
1 small potato, chopped
1 can pineapple chunks
1 tsp vegetable oil
Couple shakes crushed red pepper
Throw it all in a pot, cook it on the stovetop for a couple hours. I like to add the pineapple sometime in the last hour so it doesn’t turn to mush. Serve it over rice. The recipe above will feed two, so multiply it.
Check for allergies and digestive problems – lots of times elderly people have restrictions on what they can and can’t eat, apart from likes.
Meatloaf, shepherd’s pie, potato dishes, mac and cheese, are all possibilities. What do you remember your Gram making a lot when she was still cooking? Maybe you can get her to teach you some of the meals she has made and loved in the past…that way you get some fun interaction, she will feel useful and valued, because she’s teaching you something, and you’ll know what they will like.
For many older people, variety isn’t as important as comfort. Comfort foods, that make them feel loved, will be prime.
The pork and pineapple sounds interesting- I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before. I might try it myself. Beef bourguignon sounds good too, as long as it’s easier to make that to spell.
The idea about asking her to teach me her recipes is lovely. I know that she’s been buying these vintage wartime cookbooks recently so it could be a fun project for us both.
I think it’s great that you’re doing this, but as an old person who also doesn’t get around the kitchen or the grocery store like I used to, I want to tell you that you don’t have to go to great lengths to help them out.
If your grandparents don’t shop like they used to, maybe they don’t know about some of the better convenience foods that are available – things they could have on hand and fix without a lot of trouble. Homemade noodles (fresh or frozen), pre-peeled potatoes (Simply Fresh), microwave bacon, dinner rolls and sweet rolls that you can just put in the oven, Frontier Soup, hot cocoa mixes, etc.
The biggest deterrent (I think) to many older folks eating well is the challenge of shopping. Driving, parking, walking, paying, hauling the stuff home and putting it away. That’s half the trouble right there. Ask grandma to make a list and go to the store for her.
And if she says what you’ve been fixing is fine, I think you can believe her. The older I get, the more I enjoy my comfort food. I have no problem eating a tuna casserole, meat loaf, or chicken and noodles every week. Well, almost every week.
I may try a little cornflour; it can get pretty thin, although the thin sauce makes for an excellent flavoring on the rice. No dish can really have enough garlic for me, but the garlic is completely overpowered by the rest of the ingredients, so the only time you get the taste is when you eat an actual piece of garlic. With all the meat and fruit juices sucked in. That’s the best part of the whole bit. I’ve been meaning to try adding shrimp, too.
The guy who gave me the recipe calls it “sweet pork adobo”. It’s a Philipino dish.
I have a chicken and broccoli and wild rice casserole -
3 c diced cooked chicken
1 6 oz box wild rice, cooked as directed
1 onion, diced and sauteed for about 5 minutes in 1 tbs butter
1 10 oz box frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 can cream of anything soup - celery is good
8 oz sliced mushrooms, or 1 sm can (fresh is better, IMHO)
1 c mayo
1 sm can water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
1 c shredded cheddar
1 sm jar of sliced pimentoes, OR 1 roasted red pepper, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, then pour into casserole dish and bake for 25-35 minutes until bubbly.
Ham and bean soup is a good standby. Super easy to make, Good comfort food, easy to chew too, and goes a long way.
One ham steak cubed.
One can white beans
One can butter beans
One can garbonzos.
Toss it in a crock pot for a few hours. Becareful not to dry out the ham, you can add that about half way through
I like to add chopped onion, and sometimes a can of artichoke hearts. A cubed potato works too. This is one that you can really just use your imagination.
2 Cups of milk (I use skim milk, but you can use whole milk to make it richer)
1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
Layer the potatoes, onion, ham and 1 tsp of salt in the crock pot.
Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour and the other tsp of salt, cook until bubbly. Then slowly add the milk (do not let it boil), cook until smooth and slightly thick, then add the cheese. Stir everything together in the pan until the cheese melts. Then pour it over the potato/ham/onion mix in the crock pot, stir slightly and cover.
Cook on High for 3 - 4 hours or on Low for 6 - 7 hours.
A-HA! I saw you sneak that in! I’m a Frontier Soup fan, too, and I pimp them whenever possible. At first glance, they’re simple soup starters, but the awesome thing is that the veggies in them are freeze-dried, not simply dehydrated. That means that when they’re rehydrated by simmering in soup, they return to nearly the identical taste, color and texture of the fresh veg. Really!
Plus there’s no salt, MSG or preservatives in the mixes, but lots of flavorful herbs and spices. You add a few things, following the very simple directions on the tag, and have a huge batch of real honest to goodness soup that tastes like you made it from scratch. Really!
And they come out at less than a dollar a serving (plus the cost of the add-ins, usually a pound of meat and a few fresh or frozen vegetables and broth.)
They’re hard to find in stores around here, they’re a small, privately owned and run by women company with limited distribution, but you can order through their website: http://www.frontiersoups.com/c-hearty-meal-soups.html
The Illinois Prairie Chowder is my favorite. No, it’s the Texas Wrangler Black Bean. No, wait, the Nebraska Barnraising Split Pea! Oh, I can’t decide, I just order The Baker’s Dozen and hit random choices twice a year.
Things I have made in advance and frozen so the kids can throw in the oven at 3 or I can heat up quickly:
Crab cakes (freeze uncooked)
Lasagna (I make several at a time) you can freeze a couple of portions in a small loaf pan.
Various soups (to be eaten with a grilled cheese sandwich)
Frozen stuff from the warehouse also in the freezer:
ravioli 2 kinds
tortellini
spinach/feta pastries
re: frontier soups, do they really feed 8 or more like the website says? or is that 8 or more if there’s bread and a salad?
You could also make some quick bread as a breakfast item - nut bread, banana bread, zucchini bread, that sort of stuff. You can make 2 or more at a time and freeze what isn’t going to be used right away.
No, those are generous servings. My family usually eats double the “servings” most manufacturers claim - for 4 of us, I make 8 servings, and rarely have much leftover. A batch of Frontier lasts us for a dinner and a week of leftover soup at lunch for me.
If you click on the name of a soup, it will bring to to a page with the recipe they suggest, and you can see what sort of volume you’re adding. Illinois Corn Chowder, for instance, calls for 8 cups of broth and 2 cups of cream (I use lowfat milk and it’s almost as good; save the cream for a dinner party!) as well as 2-3 potatoes and some fresh corn if you’ve got any. So that’s like 13 cups of stuff right there. Once the corn and other vegetables in the mix swell up, and there’s a little bit of rice in there as well, you’ve got quite a hearty soup.
