Hello, newbie here. We have a friend whose symptoms have got much worse over the last couple of years, the most visible being ataxia. What do others do on here for healthy supportive food when she cannot prepare food herself? Our friend has home help/ carers come in once a day but she and her daughter seem entirely dependent on ready meals and the microwave. We take them a from scratch meal when we can, but it’s not a sustainable solution, tried teaching her daughter a slow cooker veggie stew but … I have sent her articles on Wahl’s protocol but the reality keeps coming back to the fact they cannot prepare food. Any helpful tips would be appreciated.
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Hello. I can’t prepare food just now waiting on diagnosis and I swear by the micro Birdseye veg bags. Healthy and gives me what I need alongside slow cooker meals. My slow cooker is my go to. I make bolognese. Soups. Lasagne. Pasta bakes. Stews. Garlic chicken. Sweet and sour chicken. All has plenty veg in them. I buy prepped freezer veg. Things like chopped onions garlic peppers ginger butternut squash leeks. Makes my life easier and safer for now. Hope some of this helps x
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Putting myself in your friend’s shoes for a minute, I would welcome the friendly gift of good food, but would have little appetite for advice, however well-meant. The line between friendly support and interference can be a fine one. A good friend takes care to stay on the right side of it.
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Alison’s right. Telling someone how to eat may not help. Living from ready meals is often as healthy as one can get.
The other thing is that some people just don’t like cooking and couldn’t care less about what food they eat.
Me, I’m a total foodie. I love food and would do anything to be capable of proper cooking again. But that’s not everyone.
Maybe let them eat how they are comfortable and buy them some multivitamins?
Sue
I do appreciate your interest in helping your friends, but I rely heavily on microwavable meals and am okay with that. They can be a little pricey, but there’s a wide variety available in bags and boxes, and (at least here in the US) they also have ones that are vegan or gluten-free.
What many people (including my mother) don’t understand is that to use a slow cooker, one must generally cut up the meat and vegetables, which could be a big problem depending on how well we can move that day. Many times, it’s too hard to stand, too uncomfortable to sit, and too difficult or downright dangerous to use sharp knives.
Then there’s just the walking back and forth to gather all the supplies, plus the extra dishes that have to be washed. Even just using a one-person slow cooker involves a very heavy crock that can be hard to lift.
When we’re planning our meals, we have to take all of these things into consideration, because it’s so much more than just the food itself.
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Thank you all for your advice.
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Hi,
I live on my own and struggle to walk or stand so cooking is tricky. I eat mostly microwave meals or ‘throw in the oven’ meals.
Recommend quite a few ideas.
Mixed pack of fresh vegetables - carrot/broccoli/beans/cauliflower - cook small amount in the microwave.
Birds eye frozen rice and vegetable packets - I add ready cooked bacon/cheese/tomatoes.
Frozen roast potatoes/mash/chips cook as much as you want.
Frozen peas, beans, carrot/turnip mash (The orange flesh, I’m Northern ha)
County beginning with W Farm foods - different portion size and low salt etc - includes vegetables.
Supermarket ready meals.
Just a few suggestions - nothing wrong with eating what you want at any age!
Jen
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I was offered Meals On Wheels from social services but the meals were coming at 11 am lol. so i had to stop it.
I dont even have a cooker. I use a halogen or microwave, but I rarely cook myself. I kind of eat mostly cooked fish or meats and salads. i have little appetite.
However i do buy microwave meals from sainsburys or Ocado and some are very very healthy. More so then you can make.
ARE THEY VEGGIES? AS sainsburys has a great veggie range of meals. I was taught to eat mediterranean by my Italian mother, and i always eat a ton of veg, and no fat meat, and lots of fish. In fact i have eaten an ocean of fish over my time lol. I love organ meat too.
so my food is simple. Yesterday for example. 2 lovely stuffed mushrooms with low fat cheese with salad yum. Halogen 20 minutes.
Today hum what to have… ah yes salmon with salad lol. My salads are a mix of veg and rice noodles, (bought), with a ton of beetroot (yum) and a dollop of low fat cottage cheese. no effort no cooking. My doctor said my bloods were some of the healthiest she had seen.
My breakfast is small shreddies with fruit and coconut milk fortified. I dont eat a meal in the evening as it gives me indigestion so i have low fat yoghurts with fruit, and pom bears lol.
I have lost weight am not under weight and even my blood pressure has gone down. I wish i could cook for myself but i burn myself easily even with a halogen i have to be careful.
anway i would just let them deal with it themselves. I think these protocols are way to complicated lol. One say eat lagumes another says dont eat lagumes.
For example i cannot tolerate soya beans no way and i am sensitive to gluten. Maybe the mum thinks like I do, i am 70 years old, and actually fairly healthy just neurologically challenged.
so i must be doing something right lol.
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