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Meal Prep Tips + Tricks For Seniors

Meal Prep Tips

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, summer is here! The last thing on your mind is standing behind a hot stove. That being said, cooking at home is a much healthier option than eating every meal on a restaurant patio. Cooking at home gives you control over all of the ingredients that you consume. This is particularly important if you have a medical condition that requires a particular diet, like if you require diabetes management. Even if you don’t have to eat a specific diet, being food conscious is a great way to stay healthy! Home care and companion services for seniors are great options for those looking for assistance services for themselves or a loved one. 
 

How can you make mealtimes as easy as possible? How can you spend less time at your stove and more time outdoors this summer? Here are a few tricks to make meal prep for seniors simple and enjoyable. 

Highest Rated Meal Delivery Services For Seniors

One of the best tricks for summer eating is to have your meals delivered directly to your door. Meal services offer healthy options that are quick and easy to prepare. You can customize your plan and order as few or as many meals as you need for the week. Planning an outdoor get-together on your patio, but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, just order enough meals to cover everyone in your party! Here are the top rated food delivery services for seniors

Home Chef

HelloFresh

Factor75

Blue Apron

EveryPlate

Freshly 

Fresh and Easy

Green Chef

Sunbasket

Marley Spoon 

All of these can be prepared in forty minutes or less! Factor75 meal boxes are ready to eat in as little as two minutes, while still packing a big nutritional punch. There are diet conscious options for your specific needs and restrictions. The best box for you depends on what you’re looking for in terms of time commitment. Trial each type of box and pick the best for your needs.

Pros Of Meal Delivery Services:

  • Minimize trips to the grocery store
  • Save money of fresh, seasonal ingredients
  • Reduce food waste
  • Make clean up easier
  • Get access to meal delivery promotions 

Tips For Meal Prepping

If you don’t feel like committing to a meal subscription plan, that’s totally fine. In that case, a hot tip for making meal times more streamlined is to meal prep at the beginning of every week. Here’s how you can do that. 

  1. Gather up the recipes you’ll need for the week. This includes what you plan on eating for snacks. Write down your eating plan. 
  2. Make your list of ingredients. 
  3. Grocery shop on the same day of the week to stay consistent. If you need help getting to the store, hire a senior companion to drive you there.
  4. Prep as much as you can early. This includes dicing vegetables and even cooking proteins that can be reheated later in the week. Again, a senior companion can come over and help you prep if knife work or using the stove is difficult for you. 
  5. Put any prepped meals in microwave safe containers for easy reheating. 
  6. Stick to your eating plan and repeat. 

Shop Seasonally And Locally

Shopping locally can help you make healthy choices and is good for the environment all while reducing your personal carbon footprint. Not to mention that the summer has so many fresh fruits and vegetables to offer. One of the best parts about living in the greater Seattle area is that there’s a big emphasis on shopping local, which means it’s much easier to find these delicious ingredients. Seattle has neighborhood farmers markets that are open year-round. 

Our Favorite Year-Round Seattle Farmers Markets:

  • University District Neighborhood Farmers Market 
  • West Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market 
  • Capitol Hill Neighborhood Farmers Market 

Our Favorite Seasonal Markets:

  • Columbia City Neighborhood Farmers Market
  • Lake City Neighborhood Farmers Market
  • Phinney Neighborhood Farmers Market
  • Magnolia Neighborhood Farmers Market 

Farmers markets ensure delicious, wholesome ingredients for meals, plus parusing a market is a great summer outing for the whole family.

Healthy And Nutritious Foods With Long Shelf Lives

If you’re only cooking for one or two people, ingredients can expire quickly, resulting in lost money and wasted food. For these reasons, it’s a good idea to stock up on healthy and nutritious foods that have longer shelf lives. Next time you go shopping, make sure to pick up some of these healthy items that don’t spoil quickly: 

  • Assorted nuts 
  • Dried fruit
  • Peanut butter
  • Dried beans
  • Dried grains
  • Dark chocolate
  • Honey
  • Protein powders
  • Hard, waxed cheese
  • Extra virgin olive oil 
  • Vinegar
  • Dried herbs and spices

Olive oil is great to cook with and grains can be cooked quickly. All of these foods ensure that you’re getting important components of your nutrition, like fiber, magnesium, and protein, and these foods won’t go bad quickly. 

Best Summer Snacks For Seniors

You don’t have to cut out snacks to stay healthy. There are easy substitutions that will satiate your sweet or salty tooth and provide some nutrition. Next time you’re feeling snacky, try eating something off this list:

Hummus with fresh vegetables, like carrots or red bell peppers

Air popped popcorn seasoned with olive oil and nutritional yeast instead of butter and salt

Frozen fruit smoothie 

Greek yogurt mixed with peanut butter

Guacamole with low fat chips

Meals can be tricky as you age, but Fedelta doesn’t want cooking to interfere with your fun in the sun. A senior companion can help you grocery shop, drive you to the grocery store—or a Farmers market, and even help you cook and meal prep for the week. Spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying the warm weather. 

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