Does anyone have experience of a care home using frozen ready meals instead of home cooked food? My Dad 86 is in a good care home where the cook has been preparing excellent home cooked food from local produce and suppliers and caters for all sorts of special requirements. Without any consultation we have discovered that the managers at head office have decided to bring in ready meals from a well known supplier ( within the care industry and NHS). My instinct is "NO!" but I would be interested to hear of if this has worked successfully at other care homes.
Care home catering
- Thread starter Anniewragby
- Start date
At first thought I would say no too. I would want to see what exactly was going into the food as in additives. Then I suppose it would be ‘ the taste of the pudding is in the eating’. My husband’s nursing home had a fantastic chef and kitchen team. It would have been hard to convince me a commercial company could do as well.
Let us know how things go.
Let us know how things go.
Mum is in assisted living with care so we provide the food and in addition to fresh salads , sliced meats, quiches and the like we also provide some TV advertised ready meals. These offer a variety of food mum would otherwise not get if we had to provide all the separate components of a meal. That said, I think a care home setting is a different matter. The fees justify fresh produce and why would you need a chef to provide ready meals?
Hmm...not sure what to think. In dad's NH the meals cooked by chef were appealing and varied...ok the odd stiff rice pudding or runny custard and gravy...but generally all tasty and definately cooked from scratch on site including all the afternoon tea cakes. I think I would be asking their reasons for the change is it a permanent change and making sure the food is nutritious and there is choice for breakfast lunch and supper.
My mum gets fresh cooked food. It's fine but sometimes I feel they're overfed! When at home mum loved toast or porridge, a sandwich and a small dinner. Now it's three courses for lunch and 2 at night. Sometimes i make her up a nice sandwich and she has that for lunch.
Actually thought about this again...no I wouldn't be happy. When I looked round homes as dad was already becoming uninterested in food I asked particular questions about meals..prepared from fresh ingredients on site...variety..choice etc. To change that after a resident has moved in should be justified so I too would complain and ask questions.
I agree that it sounds like a cost cutting exercise. My mother has been in a care home for nearly 6 weeks, all meals are home cooked including homemade cake in the afternoon, the food looks very good. When she was still living on her own (pre-carers) she was having ready meals every day and after a time she started refusing to eat them because they were so repetitive and uninspiring. Ready meals are fine from time to time, but not ideal as the main source of diet.
Thank you all for your replies - good to know that I'm not being over fussy! I doubt I'm going to convince the head office people who have no idea of real life on the dementia floor but I will be letting them know how disappointed I am and how bad this looks to prospective residents.
Care home catering plays a crucial role in ensuring the well-being and satisfaction of residents. Providing nutritious and delicious meals tailored to individual dietary needs fosters a sense of comfort and enjoyment, contributing significantly to the overall quality of life in care facilities. Quality catering services not only promote physical health but also enhance social interactions and emotional well-being among residents.
When my mother went into her care home she had what appeared to be homecooked food which I was happy to eat. Later on, they replaced that with pre-prepared meals which looked and smelt disgusting. I was told that this was because it was easier to cater for people with different dietary requirements. I was very upset about this and am pretty sure that it was a cost-cutting measure (get rid of the cook and get carers to heat up the meals). It's so disrespectful and dehumanising to serve care home residents slop that you wouldn't eat yourself.
