Gourmet Meals at My Assisted Living Residence

Maybe they're hoping it will improve their eyesight!

#Cheaper than Specsavers.

Looks like lamb to me.

There is about half a carrot on that plate.

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.

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.

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?

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.

^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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Joux....... gravy to you and me grannylynn

Could have been presented better I guess..the carrots looked as they were just thrown on the plate. Is that spinach on the meat? Probably the spinach was saucy.

My roast chicken, on a bed of baked spud with soupçon of melted butter and a side dish of petis pois was delish last night. Poached pears and glaçe ice cream to us plebs was washed down with a mug of tea.

I have no idea what the rest of the weeks meals will be because I haven't bought it yet.

Your meal looks just fine to me lonjay.

‘Joux’ ?!! What fresh hell ?

I will continue to dig myself in a hole by saying that if the person is paying dearly for this and it is held out as gourmet then it is a total con. But if not then I guess it is ok but I wouldn’t eat it.

Btw notnecessarilywiser, it's over a year until we can get M and S meals via Ocado. September 2020.

I am on a desperation diet.

I had a bowl of rice crispies with a sliced banana.

Left DH to get his own oven fish and chips on.

Looks like a well balanced healthy meal, allbeit a bit bland.

What were the other options on the menu? (menu in pic)

Indeed whitewave
Last night I had a mix of stir fry vegetables with a joux of something or other tossed together on a bed of rice (white
I m afraid)
???

Saying all that lonjay don’t for heavens sake take any notice of me what do I know? ??

Welcome to GN

Last night dinner was hake fillet on a bed of stewed peppers.
Tonight’s is a vegetarian Thai Green Curry
Tomorrow is beef stroganoff with brown rice and runner beans

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.

Poor meal.

It’s too late for Bon Appetit, so I’ll just say I hope you enjoyed it, lonjay. Welcome to Gransnet!