Food and Cooking safety

[aislingwhite]

My Mum has always been very vocal about food, what she wants and how she wants it cooking but is now unable to plan & prepare food and is at risk around the cooker and microwave. We've tried all sorts of solutions, she has carers at mealtimes and they will prepare food but she will tell them she will do it herself (she won't) and that she's not hungry (but if food is prepared anyway she will eat it) or she complains that it isn't what she wants to eat and won't eat it. We've discussed it with the care agency but when staff change they listen to what Mum says and don't make her anything which could put her at risk of not eating. We've tried meal plans, delivery from local care homes, wiltshire farm food etc but nothing is right for her, I just wondered if anyone has any other suggestions?
Does anyone have experience of an electric hob that locks so she can't switch it on? we're happy to replace the one she has but I am a bit overwhelmed by the choice out there and need something that won't switch on unless you carry out some sequence or code. We also need to either be able to lock the microwave or buy one that switches off if there is smoke/flames maybe? Any advice/tips would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

[Rosettastone57]

My mother in law would only eat a meal prepared for her by a carer if the carer sat with her whilst she ate, making it a social occasion. Left alone, she wouldn't eat it , especially if it was simply a hot meal delivery .

 

[try again]

We disable the electric cooker at the fuse box and are lucky mum won't use the microwave. She also complains like mad that she will cook but has Wiltshire farm foods meal heated by afternoon visit and will eat most. She has porridge at breakfast, rolls at lunch and always has biscuits to hand.
A relief carer didn't do her a cooked meal and I complained loudly, as it is written in care plan.
Luckily I'm usually not their when the meal is heated but my first port of call will be to ask her to write me a shopping list which she has zero chance of doing.

 

[nitram]

You could get an electrician to fit a (hidden) lockable isolator with sufficient capacity, it could feed just the hob or hob and microwave, it might be a good idea to hard wire the microwave so it can't be plugged into a different socket or used on an extension lead.

For the microwave there is product consisting of a smoke detector on the fan outlet and a feed through plug , it would require some adaption unless you can find one with UK connections, it has the disadvantage that the detector can easily be removed although the fan outlet may be at the back. If an American socket and plug were fitted the oven could not be connected to a different supply.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.pioneeringtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/08170128/Safe-T-Sensor-Care-and-Use-Manual-2018.pdf

 

[Jessbow]

I resorted to Iceland ready meals, Rather than saying ''what do you want for dinner'' I would say ''Which one do you fancy this or this'' ( showing her two packs, with pictures on)

She often chose the same thing day after day, but at least she ate something hot. ( It was a noodle meal that she loved, about as far fom what I would have guessed she's have liked!)

 

[aislingwhite]

My mother in law would only eat a meal prepared for her by a carer if the carer sat with her whilst she ate, making it a social occasion. Left alone, she wouldn't eat it , especially if it was simply a hot meal delivery .

Thanks for your response, if Mum is at my house for tea she never complains about what I've cooked. Occasionally one of the carers gets her (and themselves) fish and chips and lunchtime and eats it with her and she enjoys that. Mum is very proud that she has "never had fast food" but one of the carers told me that she didn't bring fish and chips but Kentucky fried chicken! Mum apparently ate the lot and we didn't let on to her what she'd had.

 

[aislingwhite]

I resorted to Iceland ready meals, Rather than saying ''what do you want for dinner'' I would say ''Which one do you fancy this or this'' ( showing her two packs, with pictures on)

She often chose the same thing day after day, but at least she ate something hot. ( It was a noodle meal that she loved, about as far fom what I would have guessed she's have liked!)

Thanks for this, yes we've also found too much choice or just asking "what do you want" overfaces Mum, we now only give one or two meal choices on a pre-prepared weekly plan. I haven't tried Iceland meals so thanks for the suggestion. I'll give them a go.

 

[aislingwhite]

We disable the electric cooker at the fuse box and are lucky mum won't use the microwave. She also complains like mad that she will cook but has Wiltshire farm foods meal heated by afternoon visit and will eat most. She has porridge at breakfast, rolls at lunch and always has biscuits to hand.
A relief carer didn't do her a cooked meal and I complained loudly, as it is written in care plan.
Luckily I'm usually not their when the meal is heated but my first port of call will be to ask her to write me a shopping list which she has zero chance of doing.

Thanks for the response, just hearing of similar experiences is so reassuring. I'm going to look into disabling the cooker at the fuse box, we and the carer switch if off at the wall but it's a big red switch and Mum can switch this back on. Thanks for the suggestion