Assisted living menus aren’t often compared with those designed and prepared by an executive chef; but what if yours could be?
Although the chef’s recipes and techniques aren’t appropriate for the nursing home or group home environment, you can use some of the same concepts for improving both the look and taste of your menus.
And you can kick your food up a notch or two without compromising nutrition or breaking the bank!
Remember, We Eat First with Our Eyes
This is one of the first secrets a young chef learns in culinary school.
When food looks fresh, vibrant and appetizing, the taste is always better. Unfortunately, the food that typically appears on an assisted living menu has a reputation for looking less-than-appetizing at times.
Of course, when producing meals in an institutional setting, you don’t have an artsy chef in the kitchen, putting together each dish by hand. Nevertheless, it only takes a few seconds to add a bright sprinkle of chopped, fresh parsley or shredded carrot. Or add a dash of sweet paprika for visual interest without compromising the flavor.
You can also improve the visual quality of the assisted living menu by serving on individual plates, rather than institutional trays. Use molds for pureed foods, so they appear more like the real thing.
Adopt a Seasonal, Whole-Food Approach to Assisted Living Menus
Preparing season-appropriate meals in a nursing home or assisted living environment can present a challenge. This doesn’t mean, however, that you need to send someone to the farmer’s market for fresh fruits and vegetables every day.
Serving seasonal foods simply involves choosing recipes and menu items that correspond with what is currently in season. For example, potatoes and root vegetables are traditionally winter fare, while peas and green beans evoke summer’s garden bounty.
Using whole food ingredients is a growing trend in assisted living menus, and one that the medical community strongly advocates. The nutritional value of prepared food is compromised, such that supplements must often be added to compensate. Unfortunately, the result doesn’t provide the nutritional value that whole foods do.
By adding even a few fresh, whole foods to the repertoire, you can improve the quality of your facility’s food without compromising quality or cost.
Leverage Menu Planning Strategies and Tools
No executive chef would be where he or she was today without that precious book of recipes. These are the roadmaps to exceptional, nutritious food.
The Grove Menus program provides just such a roadmap, for planning and executing assisted living menus. Our menu planning tool is simple and effective, utilizing recipes that have been extensively tested and approved by our expert dieticians.
Not only will the Grove Menus program improve the quality, appearance and flavor of your food, it will save time and money in the ordering, picking and preparation stages. You will be amazed at how much happier your residents will be with their meals.
Contact Grove Menus today to learn more. We would be delighted to provide you with a no-hassle, no-pressure demonstration of our system, and to show you how simple and cost-effective it can be to improve your assisted living menus.