What can I make to feed my gran up?

babyshoes

How about asking her for recipe ideas? If she used to enjoy cooking there may be something she could give you instructions for, and see if you can make it the same as she remembers.

Paulie'sGirl

I would second asking your Gran what she fancies.

I know it sounds a little daunting if you're not used to cooking that style of dish, but maybe you could ask her what one thing she would love most, or for a choice of say, 3 things, and we here could help you with how to make it (we did it for MrBE!!)

Its a lovely idea, I've done this in the past for my Granda when my Grandma was in hospital and he was a little lost puppy without her. I found he was pining for traditional stuff, a pot roast beef (for the two of you, a tiny joint of brisket wouldn't be more than a few pounds), eggs and chips, steak pie, that style of thing.

There's a lot of calories in suet, and there's a thread on here about a delicious suet and bacon roll. A slice of that and some veg (carrots, cabbage - cooked til soft, I found my granda didn't like my modern take on what "cooked" was for veg!!!) would be nice? Simple too, since it doesn't need a basin, its just rolled up and baked / steamed.

Suet pastry is a doddle. Half the amount of suet of flour. So 4oz suet to 8oz SR flour, add seasoning, and herbs to help it along. Add water a bit at a time while you stir the mix with a table knife, until it forms a ball. Then roll as normal

To line a pudding basin, roll it into a rough circle, cut a quarter out. It'll now form a sort of cone shape as you fit it to the basin (buttered!). Use a wet finger to squish the join (make sure it overlaps a little). Then re-roll the quarter to make the lid.

We also sneaked a lot of calories into an aged friend's soups by making them rich. Butter not oil, cream where possible (think in leek and potato, chicken and leek [made with the carcass off a roast chicken?], cream of whatever, brocolli and stilton).

Hope some of these ideas help! I've rambled on for longer than I meant. PM me if you want any other ideas, we've looked after grandparents on both sides so have a few tricks

Mummyroo

Well done you! My gran was very similar before she went into a care home now she has to cut down to stop her getting so huge she can't get out of her seat!! I think the main difference in her diet has been the sorts of things already mentioned like smaller portions more often and a pudding with every meal, regular snacks with a milky drink eg biscuits, fruit ( cut up already as a PP said) and a slice of cake. Obviously it is alot easier to motivate yourself to eat if you have someone doing it for you! so maybe try to leave her with easily warmed meals and convienience snacks and puddings. The other thing I noticed is that Grans care home feed the main, hot meal earlier in the day at lunch rather than at tea time, then sandwiches, pastries salad etc for tea.
Porridge is a good option for breakfast you can get very easily microwaved sachets which will be nutritious especially if you encourage her to add honey or a handful of frozen berries perhaps. Also Gran really likes Jelly and icecream!!
Good luck your gran is lucky to have you care so much but don't kick yourself if she doesn't put on weight just try to help her get into a new routine of eating abit more.

windowshopper100

Firstly - good on you for being proactive in this regard. She's a lucky granny.
Agree with modest portions, it's far better she eats all of what's on a smaller plate than leaves most of what's on a big one.

Try fortifying everything you can with milk powder (whole NOT skimmed). It'll add a few more calories without bulk or making things like mash too sloppy.
Try:
Adding to mash - use as well as liquid milk and butter (and cheese).
If you make a milky drink, add milk powder too.
If she has milk on cereal, add some powder to the milk.
Add to custard.
Will she take cream in coffee? (That's a random thought, no need to add powder to it)
Add it to scrambled eggs.
Add it to soups
You get the idea.

debbym

I totally agree with the other posters who have said ask her what she likes to eat. One of the biggest things about being cared for is that you lose a lot of your choices, what you want to eat when being a significant part of our lives that we take for granted. Once she has given you some ideas you can then "doctor" the food to include things like butter, cheese, eggs to boost the calories. But if it is food she really longs for she will want to eat more anyway.
Well done you for caring about your grans diet in such a practical way.

boo81

When my mum came out of hospital she lived on nutritious soups, they are easy, cheap and can be stored in a fridge or freezer in microwavable pots.

My mum had mixed veg, mushroom, tomato, chicken, stilton etc

She also used those drinks which the hospital gave her on prescription. cant remember what they are called but they are a meal in a milkshake. If she needs to build up her strength I would think about asking her doc for some to be prescribed, my mum had to ask for them but they were happy to let her have them.

Silaqui

Just a thought - when my nan came out of hospital I did something similar for her and my grandad (he has arthiritis in his hands), but she was obviously really uncomfortable in having things done for her, she's always been so capable!

So I asked them the sorts of things they would like to eat, and asked her to teach me how to do it - got her a chair in the kitchen with a cuppa and some biscuits, and basically got her to boss me about. She loved it :rotfl:and they both got a good meal out of it so everyone was happy!

I don't know if it would be suitable but thinking back to what shandyclover said about fruit would it be worth getting something like those graze boxes? You can get freshly cut fruit for vitamins, nuts are quite calorific, chocolate for a bit of a treat, there's all sorts of things and it's in little snack size portions as well so might be good for inbetween times? http://www.graze.com/products

(Reading through has made me want one now lol)

Good on you for being so lovely xxx

frugalsar

boo81 wrote: »

When my mum came out of hospital she lived on nutritious soups, they are easy, cheap and can be stored in a fridge or freezer in microwavable pots.

My mum had mixed veg, mushroom, tomato, chicken, stilton etc

She also used those drinks which the hospital gave her on prescription. cant remember what they are called but they are a meal in a milkshake. If she needs to build up her strength I would think about asking her doc for some to be prescribed, my mum had to ask for them but they were happy to let her have them.

The build up drinks are called ensure, fortisips, fortijuice, procal and complan. x

SUESMITH_2

when i had to do the same for my dad i also did the take away containers freezer thing (home bargains sell aluminium ones). i knew what food my dad liked, well after all my mum taught me to cook so i made corned beef hash, mini plate pies, portions of mash, mushy peas, a mini sunday dinnner, sheperds pie, crumbles and stuff. i also made a rich fruit cake that dad could cut and come again - this lasts for ages if you make it like christmas cake.

my lovely mum in law aged 88 has just come out of hospital, she too lives on cups of tea and biccies and due to what was wrong with her needs building up so i sent a orange drizzle cake which she could have a slice with her tea (lots of sugar and butter)- she really enjoyed it as she said she has been having problems with everything she eats not tasting of much but she could taste the orange.

sorry for long post

bitsandpieces

Great that you're looking to help with this. If your gran's having problems maintaining weight, in the medium-term it's well worth arranging an appointment with a dietitian: so you can sort out appropriate foods. It's also important to make sure the carers are helping appropriately.

While you're there, an easy way to up the calories in most things is to dress/enrich dishes with some kind of fat. E.g. if you're having salmon with ginger, dress it and the veg with rapeseed oil, if you're having soup, add oil/cream/butter as preferred, dress hot puddings with some butter peanut butter or add cream, that type of thing. Having lots of tasty, high calorie snacks - and drinks - around is also helpful. You can get special drinks to help build up weight, too, if your Gran can tolerate them (the taste is pretty bad).