Meal idea for my disabled friend

maidincornwall

Hi a dear friend has had a stroke (she is 47) and just come out of hospital after 3 months, she has no use of her right hand at all and is confined to a wheelchair so cant yet do her own cooking, she also has Aphasia/Dysphasia so in finding it difficult to communicate her wishes, however what she is VERY clear about is that she dislikes the ready meals her father has been bringing her! In fact I thought she was going to throw a frozen chilli at him the other day and who can blame her! So I have been going over and cooking home made food for her and am now starting to batch cook and freeze home made 'ready meals' for the carers to microwave for her, she needs her food to be able to be eaten out of a bowl with a spoon, and they cant be too dry, also as she is one handed they need to be chopped up small or in small pieces, she is also diabetic so needs to be careful with sugars, and has a dislike of vegetables so I attempt to hide a few in each meal! Has anyone got any ideas? So far I have done

Spagetti bolognese
Chilli
Stew
Sausage cassoulet
Gammon in parsley sauce
cottage pie
chicken in italian tomato sauce

She likes most food as long as it is home made and not green!

any ideas and tips on freezing home made ready meals greatly appreciated!

Thanks MIC

madvixen

maidincornwall wrote: »

Hi a dear friend has had a stroke (she is 47) and just come out of hospital after 3 months, she has no use of her right hand at all and is confined to a wheelchair so cant yet do her own cooking, she also has Aphasia/Dysphasia so in finding it difficult to communicate her wishes, however what she is VERY clear about is that she dislikes the ready meals her father has been bringing her! In fact I thought she was going to throw a frozen chilli at him the other day and who can blame her! So I have been going over and cooking home made food for her and am now starting to batch cook and freeze home made 'ready meals' for the carers to microwave for her, she needs her food to be able to be eaten out of a bowl with a spoon, and they cant be too dry, also as she is one handed they need to be chopped up small or in small pieces, she is also diabetic so needs to be careful with sugars, and has a dislike of vegetables so I attempt to hide a few in each meal! Has anyone got any ideas? So far I have done

Spagetti bolognese
Chilli
Stew
Sausage cassoulet
Gammon in parsley sauce
cottage pie
chicken in italian tomato sauce

She likes most food as long as it is home made and not green!

any ideas and tips on freezing home made ready meals greatly appreciated!

Thanks MIC

Off the top of my head I'd be looking at things like hearty soups and currys. My OH lives in MOD rooms during the week so I tend to batch cook throughout the week and then send him back on a Sunday with enough meals for the next week. I freeze everything in sandwich bags (takes up far less space) and he just takes them out in the morning and heats them in the microwave for his tea. Recently he's gone home with
Carrot and Lentil soup
Leek and Potato soup
Oxtail curry
Risotto (freezes really well)
Shin of beef stew
Chicken Chausseur
Butter Chicken Curry
Chilli

If you're looking for meat that can be cut up really small then slow cooking is ideal as the meat can then be shredded.

Is this the sort of thing you were after?

blossomhill_2

That's one lucky friend you have there, to have a friend like you, and especially to have someone so prepared to cater for her tastes and strong will -- more power to both of you!

I like to make a thick sauce using tomato soup and cornflour (you'd have to find a low sugar soup), saute some onions to add in then mix in a tin of tuna and some vinegar, simmer til it thickens then serve with rice - she may have to go easy on rice if she is db but I see she has chilli

Baked sweet potatoes are good - less carby than regular pots

No fish on your list;would she eat fish pie? Could sneak in some frozen spinach finely chopped and some parsley

And a nice cold meal that can be left for carers would be basically a potato salad with chopped boiled egg and tuna in it served with cucumber

How about risottos, mindly of the carb restriction, small portion served with tinned tomatoes

Chicken in white sauce in a potato topped pie?
Meat loaf; fun to make! With a sauce to stop it being dry
Homemade meatballs in tom sauce?

3 months of hospital food will have affected (killed!) her taste buds so you may like to retry some foods after a while

Has she tried using a spork for one handed eating
It must all be a very frustrating time and I hope things improve

anguk

My husband only has the use of one hand and he uses a Knork, anything that's a bit tough I chop up for him first.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knork-Knife-Fork-in-One/dp/B000P1OXMA

Bronnie

What is it she dislikes about the ready meals he's bringing? Are they the cheap and nasty ones or is he just choosing things that are not to her taste?

It's lovely that you are making home-cooked meals for her, but realistically most of us could eat a decent quality ready-meal if push comes to shove, so I do think it's worth exploring the better quality ranges and maybe eventually making a short list for her dad of a few tasty stand-by ready meals that she enjoys. For example, Tesco do a Finest Moussaka for 1 and while I rarely eat ready meals, on the odd occasion, that is one I enjoy. M&S are worth a look too and do some smaller portion size ones to, should that be applicable.

Maybe it could be one that you both sit down and try out together ?

Molly41

Wiltshire Foods are lovely - I use them x

maidincornwall

Thanks for the suggestions, she just dosent really like any ready meals though is quite prepared to eat them once or twice a week, yes the finest and m & s meals are better, but they tend to be higher in fat, sugar etc so are not ideal. The Knork looks fab! I shall definatley be talking to her OT about getting her one of them! Fish is a great idea, not being a big fish eater I hadnt thought of that, Im using brown rice for her as its much better than white for diabetics though she isnt too keen on it! Love the idea of butter chicken curry, will have to find a recipe for that! Thanks again MIC

maidincornwall

Molly41 wrote: »

Wiltshire Foods are lovely - I use them x

Which are the best ones of these please? They do look nice though they all seem to have vegetables with them which she will definitely not eat! Hence I try to hide them in the sauces etc!

madvixen

Can be found on the Delicious Magazine website, just search Kashmiri Butter Chicken

HTH

squeaky

madvixen wrote: »

Ingredients
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm piece of ginger, finely grated, and a 5cm piece of ginger, finely shredded
1 tbsp lemon juice

ETC.....

Hi

Could you edit your post so that it is not a full quote from the original site please (because we risk infringing copyright), and a link such as http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/kashmiri-butter-chicken

TYIA

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Need2bthrifty

I just wanted to highlight an area of caution, from my own experience. Have you checked with the Carer's to ensure that they would be prepared/within their regulations to re-heat prepared HM food.

My experience with my elderly father was health & hygiene regulations restricted what the Carers were able to do, they were allowed to heat meals like the pre-packed Wiltshir* F00ds that Molly41 suggested or tinned food. However if I pre-cooked meals and left them in the fridge/freezer they advised that they weren't allowed to give these as they didn't know how old they were, or how they were prepared, how they were transported and whether there was the slightest chance of "cross-contamination"

If I cooked or re-heated the food that I had taken out for him that was OK, as a family we felt that this was H&S gone mad but appreciated the position the Carers were in - if Dad had got food poisoning the buck would stop with the Carer who re-heated it.

I know these rules change depending on the Authority responsible for the Carers, but as a word of caution I would check.