Care home food

In hospital in France my biggest shock was the food. It was disgusting.
The surgeon said that I had to be eating normally before I would be allowed home. I put him straight in no uncertain manner and told him to try one of the meals himself.
He just laughed and turned his nose up.

It is also because big companies like Carillion, competing for these out sourced functions. The prices they bid meant the average daily food spend is pennies rather than £s and all they could afford were over processed denatured foods made from corn starch.

In care homes it is local authorities reducing the fees they will pay to care homes to such a low level they are only cover half of the actual cost of the care supplied. So cheap food and tiny portions.

sodapop...I didn't say all elderly people prefer stodge. I said elderly people USUALLY prefer cakes etc. As someone who has worked in the care sector for many years (and now I run a day centre), I have found that to be the case (in most cases, not all)

I like 'stodge* but try not to eat it!
, puddings - lovely.
But I can't remember the last time I ate any.

Glad you know your own body Bijou so you recognise problems .The trouble with the NHS /Care homes is one size fits all which is true and once you are over a certain age they do not listen to you .My late mother was in hospital and went back to her superb care home in a worse state than she went in .She was partly sited so could not see to get her food and needed help to cut it up .Also did not drink enough could not pour the water ..When she was dying we were asked did we want her to go to hospital and no we did not the care she got in the care home was brilliant to the end ..Mind you we were brought up to eat stoge to fill us up as fruit was expensive and there is so much choice now Hope you get home soon and be active again

I once worked as a cook in a nursing home. It was difficult to say the least because of financial restraints, but I spoke to all the residents and found out what they liked.
Almost unanimously they wanted traditional British stodge!
They wouldn’t look at fresh fruit, so I made smoothies which they loved.
Vegetables were preferred over-cooked, but puréed lightly-cooked veg seemed acceptable. I suppose that badly fitting dentures and swallowing problems were the cause of these difficulties.
Every week there were complaints if we didn’t have shepherds pie followed by rice pudding, but surprisingly, a good curry was popular.
The main thing was cake. Cake every day was essential, or there would have been mutiny! It was also a good opportunity to sneak in some dried fruit and AllBran. .
I really enjoyed my time as a cook - I’m a trained nurse, but cooking has always been the second string to my bow when I felt an attack of ‘burn-out’ threatening.
Bijou I’m so sorry that you have drawn the short straw as regards the food you are being offered. Please do complain and insist that you are fed meals which are at least reasonably appetising. The money the owners charge, the least they can do is feed their patients properly!

Who on Earth thinks that constipation can't be affected through diet is sorely mistaken. Yes of course pain relief can cause it too, but so can too much fatty stodgy foods, it literally stodges up in your guts, especially if its a drastic change! x

Hope you get the food situation sorted. I'm very fussy, not through choice, but because I also get severe migraines with heavy fatty foods. x

Since most people are choosing to go/being put into care homes very late on, it's unsurprising if some like stodgy or comfort food. I think it'll change as the current 50-70 year olds go in with a wider knowledge of food cooked at home or experienced at restaurants here and abroad. And the fact we know more now about nutrition and love our salads. Doesn't mean to say a good rice pudding or steamed something isn't welcome - but not as daily fare.

The food that my late mother's care home provided was lovely.

Breakfasts - a huge choice of cereals, porridge, bread/toast, yogurt, fruit and juices

Lunch - freshly cooked with vegetables and a pudding

Dinner - a buffet that my mother absolutely loved with traditional tea items such as sandwiches, scones, sweet and savoury pastries, cakes, always a fruit bowl or platter and hot dishes such as quiche, hot vol au vents or macaroni cheese etc