By Carin Clegg, Dietitian and Fitness Professional
As we get older, families often change and this impacts what we eat. You might find yourself with an empty nest, kids and grandkids grown up and you no longer need to cook a meal for a crowd regularly. It may be that your life partner’s health means they can’t help in the kitchen anymore, and cooking becomes your job. Or your partner may have passed and cooking for one seems almost pointless.
It is quite common for food intake and nutrition status in these situations decline which impacts falls risk and ability to live independently.
Cooking is not easy. It requires lots of skills: meal planning, organisation, multitasking, food knowledge and even some problem solving when you need to change your recipes to cater for less people.
There is often the question of what to eat and how do I get motivation to cook for just one or two.
Routines make it easy
Routines help to make tasks easy as they help you feel comfortable. For example, if you always cook on Monday evening and not Tuesday evening, there will often be some hesitation if you need to start cooking on Tuesday as well, because you are not used to it and perhaps it had not always been expected of you. It is just human nature to feel this hesitation.
Plan to cook on the days and times that work for you depending on your energy levels and appetite. For example, you may find cooking a hot lunch easier than an evening meal when you are tired and do not have a large appetite.
Eating with others helps us to have a good appetite to eat well and the evidence shows that people eat better when they eat together.
Scheduling regular shared meals and cooking days/times into your weekly calendar is your key to staying strong and independent.
You can:
- Take turns with your neighbour to cook a meal for each other on a certain day.
- Cook meals together with family or friends.
- Make regular lunch and dinner dates with friends.
- Plan a family meal with the kids and grandchildren and remember your leftover container!
- Have lunch at a community centre or with a social group: Church, Over 50s Centres, Meals On Wheels, craft classes, exercise classes, other meet up groups.
- Attend regular social or community events like festivals, celebrations or dances.
Make sure your quick meals are balanced with carbohydrates for energy, protein for strong muscles and vegetables for all the other micronutrients to stay healthy.
A few examples could be:
Pumpkin soup
Carbs: cook with potato or bread.
Protein: sprinkle cheese or nuts or seeds on top, or have some cheese or nut butter on the toast with it.
Alternative: cook your pumpkin soup with some red lentils to give you both protein and carbs.
Salad
Carbs: bread, corn thins, leftover roast sweet potato.
Protein: can of beans, tuna, handful of nuts, eggs or cheese like feta.
Sandwich or wrap
Add plenty of salad to fill you up and make your meal colourfully inviting with grated carrot and beetroot, a favourite of mine, in addition to avocado spread, tomato, lettuce and cucumber.
Protein: cheese, cold leftover meat, egg or can of salmon.
Leftovers are your friend
Get in the habit of when you do cook, make leftovers for the fridge and/or freezer meals. For example, when cooking vegetables, cook extra for the next 2–3 days to lighten the work.
Great leftovers for the freezer include:
- Casseroles.
- Soups.
- Curries.
- Fried rice made with brown rice.
- Savoury mince which can top toast, a jacket potato or used in shepherd’s pie served in a ramekin.
- Bolognaise sauce.
- Leftover roast meat, sliced and separated.
Make a list of freezer meals you like and incorporate them regularly into your cooking schedule.
Avoid food wastage Most people shop once a week, however, shopping twice a week to top up fresh fruit and vegetables might make it easier to prevent food wastage.
Consider:
Sharing or swapping fruit and large vegetables with a friend or neighbour, like melons, pumpkin, cabbage, lettuce.
Remember to move fruit and tomatoes from the fruit bowl to the fridge to prolong their life.
Try growing your food, e.g. lettuce, shallot, leek, celery, spinach, silver beet, beans and of course all your herbs.
Enjoy your mealtimes When cooking or eating alone, you can put on the radio or music to lift your mood.
Sit where you can see the garden, wildlife, and perhaps the sunrise or sunset.
Savour your food. Love your body with nourishment to live your best life in your golden years.