After many hours experimenting in the kitchen and taking in client feedback, the 2025 meal calendar has been officially released! This new menu features a rotation of 24 delicious recipes, including 8 new dishes: from moussaka to shrimp pad thai to hamburger steak. This lovingly crafted calendar also presents photos of the community taken throughout 2024.
Developing the year’s menu has been a thoughtful collaboration between the kitchen and Meals-on-Wheels teams, which begins by sending out surveys to better understand the preferences and needs of the client community. This year, 79 clients took the time to help us better the Meals-on-Wheels service, offering valuable feedback on how to improve the taste, texture, and variety of the meals. These surveys are an important part of the menu development process: they keep us connected to the clients we serve, give the clients choice and agency in their meals, and include them as valuable members of the community. This year, we were happy to hear that 73% of clients feel that the meals have improved their overall health and energy, and that the majority of clients responded that the quality and variety of meals have improved over time.
We learned so much about the clients’ preferences as a result of the survey data. For example, the vegan meals were not as popular as chicken and fish, and clients would like more protein overall, and have adapted the menu and portioning accordingly for this year. The Roulant’s Meals-on-Wheels service is unique in that it offers daily adaptations for those with specific diets or restrictions, and so meals will always be carefully and creatively adapted to those individuals with a vegan or vegetarian diet, in addition to other important health and dietary restrictions.
One particularly exciting development is the return of fruit salad as a dessert option after it was removed for several years as a result of the dramatic increase in meals being prepared during Covid, and therefore a reduced capacity to prepare them daily. It is already proving quite popular! Over the year, the kitchen will be continuing to further dessert developments by aiming for a greater variety in vegan, gluten-free, and diabetic desserts.
Menu developments are also about giving them more of what they love! 2024’s summertime festive meal of BBQ chicken made such a big impact that we are adding it to the regular rotation of meals this year, for a taste of summer all year long. Our festive and event menus were very well received by the clients. There are more to come in 2025!
The kitchen and Meals-on-Wheels team strives to meet client’s needs and wants while balancing cost, quality, and nutrition. Each meal is crafted with love and creativity. This means that the meals are in a constant process of evolution and improvement, and we are so excited to hear what the clients think of the new menu.