Meal Planning and Preparation Tips For Older Adults

Introduction

Eating a healthy and nutritious diet whilst maintaining an active lifestyle can help support healthy aging. Meal preparation and planning can sometimes be a challenging task for many older individuals due to reasons such as mobility issues, physical limitations and dietary requirements or a change in appetite. A few simple adjustments can make a big difference to your weekly meals.

Make A Plan

Having a plan in advance will ensure that you have variety and healthy options readily available within your weekly meals. Planning can also save lots of time and effort during the week. A shopping list will become much easier to make once you create a list of meals for your weekly meal plan, making your shopping trips more efficient and means less food waste, saving money.

Check Your Current Food Levels

Make a list of the food you already have in your fridge, freezer and cupboards to see what meals you can easily make from the food you have in. Add food to the list to make full nutritious meals out of your left-over items with things like fresh vegetables, this will save you money on your next food shop and you will be using up the food you have before buying new which may keep these foods in the bottom of your freezer risking the food going bad or being kept buried and hidden.

Be Prepared

You can also consider making meals in advance and freezing for future meals. Batch cooking is also an option so your meals through the week only require heating up. By cooking your main meals on one day this will save energy as you will be using your oven for the one day. Also freeze any leftovers from meals these can make for easy lunches too. 

To see more tips on saving energy, take a look at our previous post - Helpful Ways To Reduce Household Bills

Keep It Simple

When planning your meals try to keep your recipes simple, choose easy to prepare dishes with minimal ingredients and steps. Slow cookers, air fryers and pressure cookers can reduce the time and effort when it comes to cooking meals. Search for 30-minute meals or quick and easy recipe ideas. See our previous article – Autumnal Slow Cooker Recipes for a Hearty, Healthy Diet

Check Labels on Ready Meals

Be mindful to check the traffic light labels on prepared food at the supermarket. Convenience and ready-made meals can offer a great time saving option it is important to be aware of their nutritional values. Hunt for items lower in salt, sugars and fat. Stay away from red labelled items as these are high.

Know Your Nutritional Needs

If you suffer from a chronic condition you should speak with your doctor for information on your dietary requirements if you are not already aware. Make sure to have plenty of fruits, vegetables, protein and whole foods in you diet. If you would like to know more ways of how to pack in more fruit and vegetables into your diet please see our previous article – Getting Your 5 a Day, Healthy Eating Advice For Over 50s.

Food Delivery Options

Consider if you require a food delivery service, this may be beneficial if going to the supermarket is difficult for you due to mobility issues or other challenges. Have a look into meal delivery services like Wiltshire Farm Foods who offer a range of meals, in different sizes, dietary needs and also offer a softer foods range. You can also get meal boxes from Hello Fresh where you receive the meal kit and a recipe card detailing how to cook the meal with no food wastage.

How We Can Help

If you have found preparing your meals has become more difficult and would like some assistance, our friendly home carers here at CareYourWay can offer support in your home to help ensure you are getting all the nutrition you need by assisting with meal preparation, they can also help with other areas if required such as household cleaning, hydration assistance and medication prompts.