Which Frozen Meals for the Elderly?

Bowsyboy

I am looking to set up a supplier of frozen ready meals for my elderly mother.
My research has taken me to several supplier websites such as Country Home Foods, Wiltshire Farm Foods and Oakhouse Foods and all seem to be very similar in what they offer.
I have not been able to find any websites that give any reviews or comparisons in quality and value between them.
Hence my post here.
Can anybody offer their input, be it their own experiences or third party experiences to enable me to reach a conclusion and make the right choice.
Many thanks indeed.

andthethreebears

My Grandma, aged 92, has just started buying from Wiltshire Farm Foods.
She still cooks for herself 5 days a week - and relies on ready meals on any day she has appointments etc and is too tired to cook.
She has nothing but good things to say so far, if you order a catalogue from the website it comes with a voucher, and she also got a £5 sent with her first order.

Undoubtedly they are more expensive than buying supermarket ready meals (even M+S) but they are certainly convenient, and the portion size is reasonable!

NO experience with the other companies, but I would be interested to hear what other people have to say!

tbw

I was NOT impressed with Wiltshire FF ! I felt that you'd have to be very old, toothless and used to eating almost liquidised food to enjoy their stuff. Maybe I just picked the wrong ones - other choices may be OK. Didn't think much to the puddings either.

Also, portion sizes are pretty sparse - probably OK for a very small appetite but some Golden Oldies still like a rather more substantial meal.

fiscalfreckles

My Father in law (lives alone now and not used to cooking much) also has Wiltshire Farm Foods & he loves them. There is a lot of variety, he really enjoys choosing them & going through the brochure. He got very excited last Christmas at the seasonal dishes!
The staff on the phone and the delivery guys also seem very helpful & patient so he has a nice little chat with them & doesn't get flustered on the phone as he does with a lot of other things.
They seem a bit dear to me compared to other supermarket ready meals but he likes the convenience & at least everything is served in one tray with veg - if I bought him frozen shepherds pies or whatever he wouldn't bother to cook veg to go with it.
I have persuaded him to stop ordering the desserts though as they really are poor value for very tiny servings. Again he liked the convenience but we have found much better multipack or large desserts that can be cut up and keep him stocked with those.

p4girl

Another vote for Wiltshire Farm Foods. My Dad quite enjoys them occasionally, when he's too tired to cook properly or having a tiring day. Portions are enough for him and he likes that there's no standing commitment to order every week.

Lady on the phone is very nice with him too.

Any

And if you are stucked for big delivery and need to buy something in normal supermarket:

M&S lasagne - fantastic. I won't buy lasagne from anywhere else.
Tesco - frozen steam foods. Especially Chicken sweet chilli with noodles and Thai green curry (also with chicken).

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I hope you don't mind the suggestion - but is there a reason why you can't order a batch from, say, Waitrose, and change the delivery address to your Mum's house? That way you could add bits every now and then which she wouldn't buy but would enjoy.

Vaila

ive had meals from wiltshire myself and i was very dissapointed, especially as they cost so much. a better alternative would be to do online shopping with tesco, asda etc its the same princapal just with more choice and cheaper priced

clemmatis

I order online from Wiltshire Farm Foods and from supermarkets. I agree the WFF food is often disappointing (some is all right). ( I check the reviews on their web page.)
The WFF advantages are their helpful staff and the fact that if you order something, it will be delivered! If something is out of stock, which is very rare, you simply won't be able to order it.

chesky369

Have you thought of Cook Foods online dishes. They're not designed specifically for old folk and I suspect they might be expensive but they are tasty. Haven't ordered them online but tried a couple from one of their shops and they were very good.

http://www.cookfood.net/

Bowsyboy

Thank you for your replies everybody.
It's all 'food for thought'.
Any more suggestions gratefully received.