Nutrition and recipes

Why is nutrition important for elderly adults?

The health of seniors who live independently may be positively impacted by the meals-on-wheels programs. Providing meals to those who are food insecure has the potential to improve their daily nutrition and reduce rapid weight loss. Delivering healthy meals also allows seniors to remain autonomous and stay in their homes.

At the Roulant, we developed several tools to help us meet the daily nutrition needs of our Meals-on-Wheels clients.

Essential nutritiens for the elderly

Older adults are at a higher risk of many health conditions and temporary or permanent loss of autonomy, and therefore may have difficulty accessing, preparing and consuming safe and healthy meals. Consult the list of essential nutrients for the elderly here:➜


EATracker

Need help to estimate the nutritional value of your Meals-on-Wheels menu? Consult the Eatracker web website and our little guide: how does it work?➜


Dark green and orange veggies

Canada’s Food Guide recommends eating 1 serving of orange or dark green vegetables daily, i.e. 125 mL of cooked and 250 mL of raw vegetables. Below is a list of different orange and dark green vegetables to choose when making your MOW meals depending on seasonal availability, your budget and client preferences, of course. ➜


The plate method

MyPlate is the USA’s equivalent of Canada’s Food Guide (CFG); it consist of 5 different food groups that must be eaten in different portions. All quantities are based on cooked portions, as opposed to raw food. This model gives the benefit of not speficying weight or volume to consume for each food group. Don’t hesitate to print a copy for your kitchen or to offer it to your clients! ➜


Nutrition interns

Soon to be experts, nutrition  interns are precious allies to support your menu evaluation, to develop new recipes or to take the temperature of your meals during the delivery. Discover a few tips on how to welcome them here: ➜


Our recipes

Our Meals-on-Wheels team prepares more that 100 meals per day, 52 weeks per year. We developed an important number of recipes that respond to the needs of our clients, whether omnivore or vegetarian.

Here is a short list of our most popular ones:

And a few special desserts with vegetables: