Gourmet Meals at My Assisted Living Residence

Yep. It's what the posh pubs call gravy. Probably just the cooking juices with nothing extra done to it.

Give me a nice bit of Bisto any day.

Blimey, it must be me who's greedy ! I wouldn't dare photograph what I eat.

Last Sunday I had a sirloin steak, new potatoes ( about 8 of them ) carrot and turnip, lashings of Lurpak on the pots as well as in with the chopped carrots and turnips, then apple pie and custard. That's what I call a meal !

I keep telling myself that I'll try one of those £10 M&S meals as I've never had one yet. It'll either last me two go's or it won't, depending what it is.

Sorry but I'm with Whitewavemark2 on this one. This meal is too heavy on the carbs for me.

I hope there was an alternative choice. I can't bear pasta and I may be fat, but I can't eat something I don't like. I'd rather go without.

It looks very dry. I'd send it back!

^That meal has far too much carbohydrate. The vegetables are poorly presented and too heavy on the carrots.
The meat which I presume is beef has insufficient sauce, as the pasta used should only be used where there is a lot of sauce to cover it. It should never be presented naked but have a covering of sauce^

Well whitewave you don’t know what lonjay had alongside his main course.
It’s very common in the USA to have a bowl of salad first, before you start on the main course.

I don’t know why you think pasta has to be covered with sauce. We often have it just tossed in butter, herbs, and Parmesan cheese, or mixed in with oven roasted vegetables and the oil they’ve been roasting in.

BlueBelle Your remark about bread and jam took me back to a faux pas I made as a child.

My Mum baked our bread and, as most women did in those days just after the war, pickles and jams.

I came home from school one day to find freshly baked sultana teacakes, dairy butter and Mum's home-made strawberry jam on the table.
"Is that all we're having for tea?' I asked, "jam and bread!"

How unappreciative I was, poor Mum.

janeainsworth I knew this would come back to haunt me.

Really what I’m saying is that if the chef is claiming this to be gourmet then it is a con. If the poster is saying it is gourmet, then fair enough. Each to their own I say.

You don’t really want me to discuss pasta and sauce do you? And yes I am familiar with American eating habits?

I have friends who own a rest home and they strive hard to offer balanced meals and even tried gourmet food at one time, wanting what they saw as the best for their elderly residents.

It wasn't too expensive as most of them had small appetites ( the pictured meal is twice the size of their servings) however, the diners poked and prodded and left most of the salads, hated anything unusual such as goat or feta cheese, "MUCH too salty!"

They were always served an entree and dessert but these too were shot down. "I never took to that yoghurt stuff"
'What's this?
'Lychee.'
'Looks like a drowned sailor's eyeball, take it away it's makin' me feel sick.'

So they asked the residents what, ideally, they wanted to eat.
"None of that foreign muck for starters." Which eliminated a great deal of what had been planned but of course bananas aren't foreign so they got away with that!

And eventually, in true Kiwi style, they requested mince, mashed potatoes, carrots, ("cabbage gives me wind") fish and chips, steamed or rice pudding ("not that brown rice either, it looks dirty") and all the old favourite roast meals, pies and cakes they grew up with. And why not?

The sugar and fat content is still rigorously watched, they have a nutritionist on staff but when you are in the last decade of your life, surely you're allowed to eat what you really want?

It's also not that easy cooking for 20-30+ people and sticking to the budget the bosses have allotted.

My friends also run a large garden from which they get most of the vegetables but the profit-driven commercial rest homes pare down severely and still charge huge amounts.

I think things have probably changed now BradfordLass the older people in care homes now are used to a much more varied diet. In the same way they don't want to hear war time songs etc but would prefer music of the fifties and sixties.

Looks like lamb to me.

There is about half a carrot on that plate.

Maybe they're hoping it will improve their eyesight!

#Cheaper than Specsavers.

Looks far to dry to me, but personal taste and all that. In fact, I don't eat red meat, dislike chunks of pasta used as a carb ( only like it in macaroni cheese, bolognaise type sauces on tagliatelli etc), and don't like chunks of carrot. So, it would be just wine for me then!

We had to take decent food in for our mother in her 'luxury' care home. The allocated budget for food, per person, was just £20 per week!

I live in France notnecessarilywiser so the M&S meals are not possible but they do look good. We have very little choice of take away food locally and whilst in general this is no bad thing, there are occasions when it would be nice to have a break from cooking etc.

grannylyn my joux was a sarcastic description for lovers sake

One of my friends has moved into a very big development of assisted living apartments some rented, some owner occupied. It all looks very smart and airy and inviting.
The monthly charges are pretty high to my mind but what really put me off was the fact that one can only use a debit card in the on site shop and a normal size packet of crisps costs 67p . I haven't asked what the meals in the restaurant cost.

blossom14 Have your friends never thought of buying multipacks from a local supermarket and sharing the packet of crisps/other goodies between them surely it would be much more cost effective for them.

Food is an ongoing issue ..

On the upside, the carrots appear to be fresh, not canned- The leafy greens that accompany the carrot look like bok choy, or something like it- I see something circular beside it, possibly a stalk of some sort, celery or maybe onion- Also fresh, not canned- The leafy green tossed onto the pasta might be parsley or cilantro- And the pasta could be wheat free- An alternative type made from corn and or rice- Possibly potato-

The meat is a mystery, could be beef or smoked pork or ..

All in all a far cry from unhealthy-

Whitewave, please do share your fount of knowledge of pasta, sauces and American eating habits -- broken down by region and ethnicity- Enlighten me ..

rose I can do so if you really wish it, but somehow I suspect your post was sarcastic rather being of than genuine interest. So I won’t bore you.

I am speaking from the bottom of the hole I been busily digging all day??. I shall bow out gracefully now.

You are aware you're knowledge of pasta and sauces wouldn't bore, nor your expertise regarding American eating- I've also dug myself into holes before .. So, let's hear it- I'll help you shovel your way out ..

More Assisted Living Meals

Stuffed Pork Loin

Chicken Marsalla

The first one looks lovely. Stuffed pork loin.