7 Simplest Ways To Make Easy Meals for Seniors

As we get older, mealtime can sometimes become more of a chore than an enjoyable experience. If we struggle to get around the kitchen or to prep ingredients, it can leave us feeling frustrated. When you’re frustrated it becomes harder to eat healthy. Frustration could cause you to resort to unhealthy, carbohydrate and sodium-loaded frozen dinners. It sure seems like it’s tough to make easy meals for seniors that are also nutritious.

The good news is, you aren’t doomed to a life of bland TV dinners! Instead, you just need to learn a few tricks. They will help you out in the kitchen so cooking can be a fun process again. This post shares seven simple ways to make easy meals for seniors.

1. A Crock Pot or Instant Pot Makes Easy Meals for Seniors

We all want mealtime to be quick and easy, right? Well, that’s just one more reason to invest in a crock pot or an Instant Pot. With one of these slow cookers, you simply need to add in your ingredients. Then let it cook low and slow throughout the day. Once dinner time rolls around, you’ll have a delicious and easy meal for seniors that’s ready to eat.

This is perfect for those who want something simple. Plus, it helps to cut down on kitchen mess. One single pot cooks everything. There’s no need to use multiple pots and pans or tons of utensils that will have to be washed later. This ends up leading to an overall less-stressful cooking experience.

2. Invest in Food Storage Containers to Meal Prep for the Week

Planning ahead is a sure-fire way to make easy meals for seniors during the week. Plan out all of your meals in advance (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks). Then you can make one trip to the grocery store each week. Plus, there won’t be any reason to wonder what ‘s for dinner at 5 PM because it’s already been planned.

Not only should seniors be meal planning, they should also be meal prepping. Meal prepping is when you take one day each week and prepare your food for the week ahead. You can choose to prepare all of your meals or just some of them — whatever works for you. The best piece of advice here is to purchase food storage containers so you’ll have plenty of room to store your already-prepped meals. Then, when it’s time to eat, you simply need to cook them up.

Here’s a tip for avoiding spoilage. Place post-it notes on the meal containers to remember what the meal is and when you cooked it.

3. Try a Meal Delivery Service

If you haven’t already, you may want to try using a meal delivery service because they can help take almost all of the stress out of meal planning, prepping, and cooking. The key here is to figure out what kind of meal delivery service you’d like to try. For those who enjoy cooking and are still able to do so, a service that provides you with a recipe and fresh ingredients would be a great option. Some examples of these services include Sun Basket and Green Chef, which both offer healthy plans. We reviewed another meal delivery service here.

Maybe you have limited mobility and struggle in the kitchen? You can choose a service that sends healthy, pre-made meals. Then you simply heat them up in the microwave or oven. A great example of this type of service would be BistroMD’s Silver Cuisine. Seniors love their pre-made meal kit. The delivery service really makes easy meals for seniors. All you have to do is pick up the phone.

4. Keep Ingredients & Kitchen Utensils at Eye-Level

Here’s a simple kitchen tip everyone can abide by. Make sure all of your most-used ingredients and kitchen utensils are at eye-level. Try not to keep items too high or low as reaching high or bending over too low can cause falls and other accidents. Unfortunately, our mobility and balance can decline as we age. That makes it challenging to get around the kitchen and get to the things we need. Keep everything easily accessible. You’ll have no problem whipping up a delicious and easy meal for seniors or anyone else in your family.

5. Use a Serrated Nylon Knife to Reduce Kitchen Accidents

No matter your age, knives can be a little dangerous in the kitchen! To avoid cutting mishaps, a great idea would be to use a serrated nylon knife when possible. This set from Curious Chef is perfect for chopping things up, plus they’re affordable as well. They may not be perfect for every cooking endeavor. But these types of alternative kitchen utensils can make things a lot more safe.

6. Supplement Mid-Day Meals with Smoothies

You can meal prep these as well by portioning out in your smoothie ingredients into individual packages or zip-lock bags. Once you’re done, pop them in the freezer. When you’re ready for one, you simply need to pour everything into your blender. Add a liquid base of your choice. In just minutes, you have a delicious, nutritious lunch to enjoy at home or on-the-go. Talk about an easy meal for seniors!

7. Consider Moving to an Assisted Living Home with Meal Options

For those who don’t enjoy cooking or aren’t able to easily get around the kitchen as they once used to, you can always consider relocating. Specialty assisted living facilities such as A Paradise For Parents provides meal options to residents. They make easy meals for seniors part of the price. You can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner prepared for you every day of the week. All of your personal tastes and dietary needs are taken into consideration. Good ones ensure you receive healthy and delicious meals. While this is a change, it could be incredibly worthwhile if it takes away the stress of cooking meals. Plus it also puts seniors in an overall safer environment.