Thoughts On Feeding Loved Ones Processed Foods

Okay, so we all know the story. What we put into our body influences our health, mood, disease risk, and even how long we live. Making good choices about food really can improve health – in expected and unexpected ways.

This may be even more crucial for aging seniors, as they’re often experiencing health issues. Helping them to eat well could easily make a huge difference to their wellbeing.

We’ve talked about ways to do so on this blog before, including how small changes can be powerful, fast and easy meals, and even meal delivery services.

These approaches can all make a huge difference.

But today, I want to talk about a different angle – what happens when you don’t have the energy to get it ‘right’? After all, plenty of caregivers struggle with time and energy. Cooking a full healthy meal every day may seem almost impossible.

Social media and modern trends suggest that processed foods are dangerous and never wise. Is that true, though? Or do these foods have a place in the caregiver’s arsenal?

How Cooking Can Get Overwhelming

Perhaps you’re working long days, then coming home late and trying to do the caregiver thing too. You may even be part of the sandwich generation, where you have both your aging parents and your own kids to care for.

Or, perhaps you’re supporting someone who’s incredibly stubborn about what they eat.

Seniors who have eaten processed food most of their lives are often unwilling to try new things, particularly healthy meals that have a different flavor and texture than they’re familiar with.

Similarly, seniors with little appetite may be resistant to food. It’s often a struggle to get them to eat anything, particularly healthy meals.

Maybe you’re just over it.

I remember that one as a caregiver. Making healthy meals took a lot out of me. I was very willing to do so at the beginning, but less so as I started to get worn out and could never know whether those I was cooking for would even eat the meal.

This is just a small selection of times and situations where cooking might be too much. Caregiver forums and reddit threads are filled with stories of caregivers who struggle in this arena. Even non-caregivers hit into times where cooking is too much.

To put it simply – you’re not alone.

Do Processed Foods Help?

Realistically, many caregivers don’t have the time or energy to cook healthy meals every night.

So, many turn to processed foods instead.

By this, I don’t mean having McDonald’s every night or never eating home cooked meals.

Instead, you might be turning to boxed mac and cheese or pre-mashed potatoes from the store, rather than cooking things from scratch. Or, perhaps you still make your own meals, but rely on packaged sauces instead of individual herbs and spices.

These approaches might not be perfect, but they’re also not the end of the world.

Honestly, there’s this whole elitist culture with food that isn’t necessary.

Sure, in an ideal world, we might cook every meal from scratch using fresh vegetables from our gardens, plus plenty of herbs and spices.

Who lives in that world?

If your life really was perfect, your family member would be independent, healthy, and wouldn’t need a caregiver either. Or, you’d have enough money to hire a cook and someone to clean the house.

Life isn’t ideal. It’s complex, filled with unexpected challenges and plenty of stress.

Why add more stress and judgment to your cooking?

Tips and Tricks for Balancing Health with Energy

A more powerful approach may simply be to do the best you can.

What this looks like will depend on your current capacity. So, still try to prepare healthy foods, but don’t beat yourself up if what you’re making isn’t ‘perfect’.

I mean, honestly, caregivers feel guilty about far too many things already. You’re not superman or superwoman. It’s okay for some things to be less than ideal.

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to balance time with energy. To make meals that are pretty healthy and don’t take too much out of you.

The following tips can help. Some are from personal experience, while others come from discussions on caregiver forums and threads.

Use Slow Cookers and Instant Pots

Slow cookers and Instant Pots do much of the work for you.

Sometimes you just need to throw all the ingredients in, then leave the whole thing to cook for a while.

For example, one Reddit poster talked about making pasta soup using mostly canned foods, including canned beans, corn, carrots, peas, and green beans, along with marinara sauce and boxed chicken broth.

Another suggested combining boneless chicken with a can of cream of chicken, frozen vegetables, rice, celery, and mushrooms.

These examples both show that you can make decent meals without having to prep fresh vegetables or brown meat first.

Besides, canned vegetables can still be very nutritious. Just look for products that don’t use extra salt or unnecessary additives.

Use Frozen Vegetables

Frozen vegetables have been a lifesaver for me.

Honestly, it’s a nightmare to try and buy fresh vegetables and use them at just the right time, especially when there’s so much else going on.

But, frozen vegetables…

They’re already prepped, are often inexpensive, and last for ages.

You know what else is cool? You can actually use frozen vegetables as they are. Thawing them first often gives you a soggy mess, while cooking them from frozen gives you the best outcome.

One of my favorite go to healthy meals consists of egg noodles, frozen vegetables, a pack of stir fry sauce and some packaged shredded chicken (you could also use canned chicken in a pinch). That meal is fast and easy, with no prep work at all. Everything just gets heated together in the same pan.

Some frozen vegetables are designed to be steamed in the microwave. You can do this, then serve them alongside a meal. Doing so still provides plenty of nutrients, while the process is much easier than prepping and cooking fresh vegetables.

Take Boxed Foods and Add to Them

Boxed foods, like mac and cheese, are another easy go-to. They’re also excellent for picky seniors, as the texture and flavor are very familiar. Still, let’s face it, they’re not very nutritious at all.

Not only are such products highly processed, but many are low in protein, so they’re not particularly filling.

So, why not add to them? Use them as the base of your meal, then bring in other ingredients for extra nutrition. Shredded chicken or frozen vegetables could work well (depending on the meal in question).

You can do something similar with prepared foods too.

For example, frozen pizza can easily be loaded with extra cheese and toppings. Doing so makes it taste much better and could improve the nutrient profile too. This is also much easier than preparing a pizza from scratch.

Try Deconstructed Meals

Deconstructed meals can take plenty of forms.

The general idea, though, is that you’re serving the different components on their own, rather than mixing and cooking everything together.

Power bowls are a fantastic example of this pattern.

These generally start off with a carb base, like rice, quinoa, couscous, or even pasta. Then, you’re adding individual ingredients on top.

For example, I often make bowls using precooked quinoa or rice as a base, then top them with salmon (canned salmon would be fine), lettuce, some seeds, and a poached egg. I might include cherry tomatoes, red pepper, and cucumber when they’re in season too.

Most of the ingredients for your bowl either don’t need much prep or can be prepped beforehand, making this style of eating very fast and easy.

Plus, such meals look amazing in the bowl. They can also be easily tweaked to match the senior’s flavor preferences.

You can also make bento boxes, where there are compartments filled with finger foods. This has many of the same benefits as a protein bowl, but seniors can also nibble at the food over time, rather than sitting down to eat a full meal.

There are other ways to deconstruct food too.

Like, a senior might find it easier to eat the individual components of a sandwich than to eat a full sandwich.

Why not experiment with this idea? See what works in your home situation.

Don’t forget about easy ingredients too, like buying a rotisserie chicken from the store and using this for the protein component.

Used Packaged Sauces and Flavor Mixes

Flavor mixes and packaged sauces are a ‘cheat’s’ way to add flavor to your meal.

I say cheat because I was taught to make sauces from scratch. Honestly though, homemade sauces are often overrated.

Such sauces take a lot of time and effort, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll taste better or be healthier than something from the store.

Seriously, there’s a chicken pasta dish that I used to make using a homemade sauce. The sauce took 20 minutes to prepare, was fiddly, and increased the number of dishes we needed to clean.

One day I made it using sauce from the grocery store and we’ve never looked back. Not only is the meal now much easier to prepare, but it actually tastes better too.

However, you will need to experiment – as some products are much better than others.

There can even be vast differences between products of the same flavor (like honey soy sauce).  

Precooked and Prepared Ingredients

Another trick is to look for food that is already partly cooked or prepared, like the following.

• Precooked rice that just needs to be heated up.
• Pre-washed bagged lettuce and salads.
• Minced garlic in a jar.
• Store bought mashed potatoes. Sounds silly, I know, but they were an incredible energy saver for me as a caregiver.
• Pancake mix, rather than preparing pancakes from scratch.
• Rotisserie chicken.
• Canned salmon and tuna (just be cautious about the mercury content).

These foods all save you a little time and energy, making meals much less stressful.

Hide Vegetables in Meals

If your loved one is picky, you could experiment with hiding vegetables. This includes using richly flavored sauces and also blending vegetables so that their texture isn’t noticeable.

Don’t forget about smoothies either. You can often blend spinach, tofu, or even beans into a smoothie without noticeably changing the flavor or texture.

Make Foods That Can Be Used for Multiple Meals

I love ingredients that can be prepared in bulk then used in a variety of ways, like shredded chicken, taco mince, and the like.

For example, shredded chicken could be part of a protein bowl one day, then served with a baked potato or mashed potatoes the next day. You could even use it on top of tortilla chips with cheese.

Reusing ingredients like this is a great way to save time and energy.

Doing so also makes it easier to tweak meals if you’re feeding a picky eater.

Don’t Forget About Leftovers

Leftovers are always powerful.

I love meals that make enough for multiple days, as this means there’s something in the fridge that can be just heated up.

I’ve often taking this approach with my own food. So, I prepare something healthy and delicious that I can eat for multiple days. Then for the next day or two, I would only need to cook for my loved one.

This considerably lowers the stress.

You might also prepare multiple meals at the same time. If you plan well, you might be able to make two or even three different dishes in a single kitchen session – without taking much more time than if you just prepared one.

Doing so gives you plenty of variety in your leftovers. You can even freeze some of the food for later in the week or the month.

Look For Easy Recipes

Some recipes are complex, relying on many ingredients, plenty of prep work, and nuanced flavors. Plenty of others aren’t.

So, keep an eye out for the simple recipes, ones that can be easily prepared. Cooking blogs are a great place for information. You can also look for cookbooks, like this one, which focuses on easy shortcut recipes, or this one, which is designed for kitchen beginners.

It’s important to be critical though. Look for what fits your needs. After all, someone else’s definition of easy mightn’t be the same as yours.

Forums and reddit threads (like this one) are great places to find extra ideas, as you’re hearing experiences and recommendations from other caregivers.

Breakfast For Dinner

Don’t underestimate the power of having your breakfast for dinner – or other ways of mixing up what you eat and when.

American tradition means that your large cooked meal is normally eaten last thing in the day.

This is difficult for so many families, as the evening is often when you have the least amount of energy. So, why not mix things up?

The simplest option is to sometimes have breakfast for dinner. This could mean cereal, oatmeal, grits, or something else. Most breakfast foods are easy to prepare, so they’re a perfect choice when you’re short on time and energy.

You could also switch the meal times around.

For example, if you’re working from home or are being a full time caregiver, you could make lunch the big meal, then dinner becomes something light.

I’ve done this many times myself, as I have much more energy at lunch time. Plus, this means we’re not eating a heavy meal just a few hours before bed.

Try Meal Kit or Meal Delivery Services

If you have the money for them, meal kit and meal delivery services can be a lifesaver.

Meal delivery is the easiest, as you’re getting meals that just need to be heated up. Plenty of these services are also targeted at seniors.

The services aren’t ideal though.

For one thing, they can be pretty expensive. The food often isn’t amazing either. As such, this is best for when you’re completely out of energy and options.

If you are considering this approach, Home Bistro is a good place to begin

Meal kit services can be much better.  

With these, you’re still cooking, but the ingredients are typically portioned and perhaps even prepped for you. There’s a recipe too and everything you need right at your fingertips.

Recipes and services targeted at busy parents with kids are often perfect. Not only do these focus on accessible meals, but the food is easy to prepare and is still nutritious.

Final Thoughts

This post hasn’t covered every way that you can make cooking easy. But, hopefully it’s given you ideas about how to make the journey a bit easier.

We’d love to hear more about your experiences too. What are your tips and tricks? What secrets have worked well for you? What are your go-to meals?

Finally, don’t worry about getting it perfect.

This is true for every aspect of caregiving. You’re already doing an amazing job. There’s nothing wrong with taking shortcuts to save a bit of energy. Doing so is critical for your mental health and saves energy for the times when you do need it.

Besides, most of us want to have junk food every so often. This is true for seniors too, even when they’re in poor health. Why not let them enjoy themselves occasionally?